Small, Compact Camera with great Video?

[tian]

Hi everyone, i recently broke my Ixus 400 (S400) by breaking the screen! I am now looking into a new camera. I loved the Ixus 400, and hated my previous camera before that (Kodak 4330) anyways, im now looking to buy a new camera!!

Ok..
I want it to be
Small and strong (will fit into pocket) preferabbly Powershor S400 size or smaller
Good zoom (3x)
Good videos (640x480 at 30fps) (unlimited preferably)
Great photos (anywhere from 4mp to 7mp will do), though dont care about high amount of pixels too much!
Good flash!
It also has to be reasonably cheap (under £250), which is about $400 (basically something cheaper than the SD500 (as that costs 300 pounds here although it costs about 350 dollars over in america!

I will be using this camera for nights out, and just generally point and shoot, i dont care about manual controls! thanks

Please help!

[tian]

Please help!

Edit: sorry i just noticed the rules where it says no bumping, wont happen again!

[straden]

SD300 or SD500 (yes, im canon fanboi) :)

I'd go for SD500

[tian]

SD300 or SD500 (yes, im canon fanboi) :)

I'd go for SD500

No, i can't afford the SD500 (as said above, sorry if i wasn't clear).

Any other suggestions, so far it just seems like SD300 or SD400 are my only choices :S

[trikster2]

Sounds like the Casio Z750 meets your specs. I was in a similar market (though upgarding from the original S100 for my wife) . The Z750 is 7 megapixels and has comparable quality to SD500 BUT has way more manual controls and an MPEG4 movie mode that will let you fit 2 to 3 times more video on a card than the SD500. It is $399 over here in the states. But it seems the SD500 goes on sale for that price here so maybe they are the same price for you.

No pro reviews yet but a lot of user opinions (and static) over at dpreview casio forum. Will be interesting to see how it stands up to the SD500/W7 et al when jeff does his review later this month....

[tian]

Its between the Fuji F10 and the Casio Z750 now.
The Fuji is bigger, but takes better photos, and is cheaper in the UK. Any suggestions? I just wish there was a cheaper version of the Casio Z750 (with 5mp instead, but everything else the same).

Whats this about the Fuji 910 or something which will blow all other competition away? what type of camera is it (ultra-compact?)

[speaklightly]

Tian-

The Fuji F-10 comes the closest to meeting your requirements I believe. It is a real ground breaking digital camera with the ability to use up to 1600 ISO. No doubt, there will be follow-on cameras from Fuji based on that same CCD technology, perhaps the Fuji F-910 will be one of those follow-ons.

Sarah Joyce

[tian]

Tian-

The Fuji F-10 comes the closest to meeting your requirements I believe. It is a real ground breaking digital camera with the ability to use up to 1600 ISO. No doubt, there will be follow-on cameras from Fuji based on that same CCD technology, perhaps the Fuji F-910 will be one of those follow-ons.

Sarah Joyce

Yeh the camera sounds fantastic, and the photos look great too, the only things which put me off are the size (is it really a pocket camera?), no viewfinder, and the fact its not made by Canon lol. When you get the camera, could you upload some photos and videos please? I would love to see what the videos are like!

[trikster2]

I read the dpreview of the F10 yesterday.

I had seen some bad press on the image quality/low light performance but dpreview seemed to think the camera lived up to the hype.

Really tempted to cancel my Z750 order for the F10, the extra megapixel will mean nothing if the F10 lives up to it's ISO 1600 promises.....

Unfortunately F10 has no MPEG4 movie mode. A 1GB card can only hold 14 minutes of video.......

[tian]

I read the dpreview of the F10 yesterday.

I had seen some bad press on the image quality/low light performance but dpreview seemed to think the camera lived up to the hype.

Really tempted to cancel my Z750 order for the F10, the extra megapixel will mean nothing if the F10 lives up to it's ISO 1600 promises.....

Unfortunately F10 has no MPEG4 movie mode. A 1GB card can only hold 14 minutes of video.......

I've only heard good things about this baby in low light conditions, due to its highly sensitive and large sensor

Yeh the MPEG4 movie mode is a great idea, 14 minutes of video is nothing!...
I also like the idea of being able to zoom in movie mode. The things which put me off the Casio though are the fact that the photos don't look too great (from what i've seen) and the flash seems very weak, also i'm not too fond of the make 'Casio'), though it's size and movie mode seem much better than the one on the F10 (due to smaller video files.etc)

[speaklightly]

Tian-

Take a few minutes and honestly evaluate the Fuji F-10. Read the www.dpreview.com review on the Fuji F-10. This is a really great digital camera, thatb has a lot of very worthwhile features. After being in this business for over 50+ years and having posted over 1,300 posts in an attempt to help folks, just take a few minutes and take a look at the Fuji F-10, please.

Sarah Joyce

[trikster2]

The things which put me off the Casio though are the fact that the photos don't look too great (from what i've seen)

Really? Where have you seen bad photo's? I've been trolling dpreview and most things I have seen posted (photo's / video) look great.

Jeff has posted some F10 and Z750 pictures. I'm not picky but to me both look pretty good. Just wish he had done the inside shot with the Z750 to see a comparison of low-light performance.

My Z750 just shipped, should have it in a couple of days. Got it from costco, so if I don't like it, back it goes...

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f10-review/gallery.shtml
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/casio/exilim_z750-review/gallery.shtml

[tian]

Here are some comparison shots between the two cameras, as you can see the F10 destroys the Casio.


http://www.geocities.jp/ytun/F10_vs_Z750.htm#2


http://google.com/translate?u=http://www.geocities.jp/ytun/F10_vs_Z750.htm&langpair=ja~en&hl=en&ie=UTF8

(translated)

I need to get my new camera before the beginning of june, and the reviews from dcresource i trust the most, and the review for the F10 wont be ready till sometime in June... damn... im not sure whatta do :(

[trikster2]

That's funny, I reviewed those pictures and they helped me decide against the F10

If you read the review the author picked the Z750 over the F10. Looking at the lowlight shots the Z750 at ISO 100 is giving the F10 a run for the money at ISO 800 (same shutter speed).

Check out the 100% crops in the thread discussing this guys picts at DPREVIEW:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1015&thread=13436881

Undoubtly the F10 does better in lowlight but it sacrifices some image quality.

For me it's going to come down to the video. I'm not going to switch to a video camera everytime my daughter does something cute; 14 minutes of video on a 1gb card is pretty terrible for my uses....

[myid]

I'm not a pro but the Z750 has brighter pictures and colors while the Z10 seems has better close shots.
I dont know which one would I choose.
Do you have some similar between P200 and Canon SD500 or Nikon CP7900?
I don't know, feels like speaklightly is an agent for Fuji.. ;)

[speaklightly]

Myid-

No, I am not on the payroll at Fuji. However, I have been a professional photographer for over 53 years and I enjoy keeping up with new developments in the digital camera industry. I have also posted over 1300 times on this forum trying to help people.

Sarah Joyce

[speaklightly]

Myid-

Yes, the Casio Z750 should be a better digital camera than the Fuji F-10 because it is priced almost $100 higher.

Sarah Joyce

[trikster2]

Myid-

Yes, the Casio Z750 should be a better digital camera than the Fuji F-10 because it is priced almost $100 higher.

Sarah Joyce

When I was shopping the difference was $50 (casio was $399, the fuji $349) . The Casio also included a 256mb SD card and a case while the Fuji only included a 16mb xD card. Add the additional cost of the xD memory cards when I upgrade to a 2 GB card and for me the cost were about the same...

I don't doubt SJs sincerity, both camera's look like good choices. If the Z750 doesn't cut it when it gets here tomorow, it goes back and I'll probably try the F10.

[tian]

That's funny, I reviewed those pictures and they helped me decide against the F10

If you read the review the author picked the Z750 over the F10. Looking at the lowlight shots the Z750 at ISO 100 is giving the F10 a run for the money at ISO 800 (same shutter speed).

Check out the 100% crops in the thread discussing this guys picts at DPREVIEW:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1015&thread=13436881

Undoubtly the F10 does better in lowlight but it sacrifices some image quality.

For me it's going to come down to the video. I'm not going to switch to a video camera everytime my daughter does something cute; 14 minutes of video on a 1gb card is pretty terrible for my uses....


The colours of the Z750 are so fake though, compare the colours of the two, one makes the eiffel tower look like its real colour, the other makes it VERY bright and almost orange!

[ALIAS]

Why not Sony DSC-W7

[myid]

Why not Sony P200 ?

[speaklightly]

Myid-

The W-7 from Sony and the P-200, also from Sony really don't figure into this mix. The reason they do not, is simply because their maximum ISO setting is 400. The Fuji F-10 has a maximum ISO setting of 1600, just like the Canon 350XT and the Nikon D-70, which are dSLR cameras.

So, in a $325, point and shoot digital camera, you have a max ISO number that only the dSLR's really get to, and they are priced at $900-1,000+.

So please, myid, you make the choice. Do you want to spend approximately $325 for the Fuji F-10 or do you nwant to spend $900-1,000 for a dSLR. The choice is yours.

Sarah Joyce

[trikster2]

Finally a pro review on the Z750

Well many would argue that cnet is not pro!


http://reviews.cnet.com/Casio_Exilim_EX_Z750/4505-6501_7-31319589.html?tag=tab

They rated the camera above other favorites here, better than the G6, SD500 etc. The only thing that beat it in the 6-8mp range was the D70....

Can anyone point to a Fuji F10 video sample? DPreview does not seem to include any in their samples. Normally fuji does video well but I would like to compare it against my Z750 when it gets here tomorow.

Regarding the video: Z750/P505 have video modes such as "past movie mode" (click the shutter, video starts 5 seconds before shutter click) no one else seems to have copied yet. Will see how useful that is if I get time to play with my P750 tomorow. Does the F10 have any inovative video modes?