Radio63
06-07-2005, 08:37 AM
I've been shooting an Olympus C2100 Ultra Zoom for several years and have been happy with the results. Last week, I bounced the baby off a parking lot :( , so now I'm trying to decide whether to shell out $200 to fix it or $500 to replace it.
I definitely want to keep the ultra zoom and the manual overrides; smaller would be great; I get quite a bit of use out of the macro settings; hardly ever use a flash; do some printing at 8x10 and occasionally larger, but primarily I use/view the images electronically; I would consider giving up the image stabilization, but now that I'm used to it, I'm a little leery of trying to hold that zoom without it (a sentiment that a couple of friends have reinforced with their experience with non-IS ultra zooms).
I've read a lot about the Canon S2 and the Panasonic FZ20, and both sound like good cameras. But are they really great improvements over the C2100? I'd get a lot more mpx, but the UZ prints at 11x14 without any problems. I'd get a somewhat more compact package (especially if I go with the Canon), but it's not like either new one is tiny. I'd get 12x instead of 10x optical zoom, but is that really that great a difference. But is any of that worth $300?
I guess what I'm looking for is people who have made the jump from the Olympus to either the Canon or the Panasonic to tell me whether or not the step forward is worth the price.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
I definitely want to keep the ultra zoom and the manual overrides; smaller would be great; I get quite a bit of use out of the macro settings; hardly ever use a flash; do some printing at 8x10 and occasionally larger, but primarily I use/view the images electronically; I would consider giving up the image stabilization, but now that I'm used to it, I'm a little leery of trying to hold that zoom without it (a sentiment that a couple of friends have reinforced with their experience with non-IS ultra zooms).
I've read a lot about the Canon S2 and the Panasonic FZ20, and both sound like good cameras. But are they really great improvements over the C2100? I'd get a lot more mpx, but the UZ prints at 11x14 without any problems. I'd get a somewhat more compact package (especially if I go with the Canon), but it's not like either new one is tiny. I'd get 12x instead of 10x optical zoom, but is that really that great a difference. But is any of that worth $300?
I guess what I'm looking for is people who have made the jump from the Olympus to either the Canon or the Panasonic to tell me whether or not the step forward is worth the price.
Thanks for any help you can offer.