Looking for Personal Recommendation

[the3ntropy]

Price: not an issue / will be purchasing high speed 2/4GB+ memory card and additional battery with whatever camera I purchase

I am primarily looking at the following cameras:
Sony DSC-(N1 T30 P200 W100), Cannon SD-700IS, Lumix DMC-FX01; any others you may suggest?

Ultracompact is a must, this will be a pocket camera that I will keep on me.

I have been using high end digital SLR's for a few years, I currently have a Cannon EOS-1Ds and Digital Rebel XT and enjoy them both for professional evnts.

The primary use of the camera will be for small 3x5" ( occasional 5x7" shots, never larger ) of action and low-light conditions. The camera will be used indoor(several different bulbs) and outdoor(at night, no sun). Many of the occasions will have to be without a flash and all will have to be with very small shutter lag ( with < 0.2 second half to full press, < 1 second full press, < 3 second off to full press ).

Most shots will have moving subjects so high ISO and IS will be important but with the small requirements of images is the IS really significant ? Since the image print size of 3x5" is so small will I achieve better results with a larger lens without IS (such as N1/W100/P200 instead of SD-700/T30/FX01) ? Or will I get better results from IS beacuse of camera/subject shake, even though I am printing 3x5" from a 7+ megapixel camera ?

I am very comfortable with using manual settings and can easily adjust ISO/whitebalance/EV/f-stop, however if the auto-control of the camera can handle it good enough for a 3x5" print then I don't care about the manual settings. But if necessary to manually adjust the camera in order to get enough quality out of it, I am able to do so.


So, any recommendations or preferences for the cameras that I have listed? Any other suggestions that you might have? I am looking for any advice that you are willing to give.

Thank you in advance.

[bascom]

The P200 only has ISO 400 and no IS, but the 7MP are nice.

[marvins4]

Have you considered the Fuji F30? No IS but it has ISO up to 3200 supposedly with very low noise. So it should be able to handle low light better with faster shutter speeds. It also has manual controls. Not many reviews yet, but it looks promising.

Also Fuji F10 (ISO 1600, no manual controls)

[Duwenbasden]

My recommendation is SD700IS, Panasonic TZ1, Fuji F30, and the Leica C Lux1.

[John_Reed]

The Panasonic TZ1 and the FZ7 (larger camera) both have "high sensitivity" scene modes for shooting up to ISO 1600, but use "pixel binning," so that the resulting images aren't useful for anything larger than a 4X6 print. But I've seen good results from this mode, within its stated limits. Such a mode should suit you well, given that the TZ1 has 35-350mm optical zoom range, with image stabilization (helps only shooter motion, not subject motion). Add that to the fact that the TZ1 is the smallest ultra-zoom camera you can buy, and that its price is reasonable (< $300 on-line), you can't lose much to try one on for size, I'd say. I won't say that I'm biased, but I love my "Tizzy."

[the3ntropy]

bascom > could you please explain your choice or elaborate more please

marvins4 > would iso 3200 really be necessary ? that is an incredibly fast speed, would shooting that high be able to produce better, similar, or worse results then the other cameras I listed above ?

Duwenbasden > any reasoning ? some explanation would be nice . . .

John_Reed > the FZ7 wouldn't be of any use in my situation, I already have some nice dSLR cameras that I can grab if I am doing a pro job, I need a camera I can easily carry in my back pocket and forget it's there. The TZ1 does have an impressive 10x optical lens on it, but I would never use the zoom at all, and besides it's very nice zoom, it doesn't appear to stand out too much considering almost all of the other cameras listed can be set to 1200-1600 ISO.



Sony DSC-(N1 T30 P200 W100),
Cannon SD-700IS,
Lumix DMC-FX01,
Panasonic TZ1,
Leica Lux1,
Fuji F30

I realize that with any of these cameras, I will get descent snapshots; I just don't want to end up with the digital blur'ed, out of focus, improper flash/ISO, etc, shots that I have seen so many times in the past from digital cameras.


By the way, does anyone know of a location in the Detroit, MI, US area (within 8 hour drive) where I would be able to get my hands on most or all of these cameras and physically play around with them ?

[marvins4]

bascom > could you please explain your choice or elaborate more please

marvins4 > would iso 3200 really be necessary ? that is an incredibly fast speed, would shooting that high be able to produce better, similar, or worse results then the other cameras I listed above ?

Duwenbasden > any reasoning ? some explanation would be nice . . .

John_Reed > the FZ7 wouldn't be of any use in my situation, I already have some nice dSLR cameras that I can grab if I am doing a pro job, I need a camera I can easily carry in my back pocket and forget it's there. The TZ1 does have an impressive 10x optical lens on it, but I would never use the zoom at all, and besides it's very nice zoom, it doesn't appear to stand out too much considering almost all of the other cameras listed can be set to 1200-1600 ISO.



Sony DSC-(N1 T30 P200 W100),
Cannon SD-700IS,
Lumix DMC-FX01,
Panasonic TZ1,
Leica Lux1,
Fuji F30

I realize that with any of these cameras, I will get descent snapshots; I just don't want to end up with the digital blur'ed, out of focus, improper flash/ISO, etc, shots that I have seen so many times in the past from digital cameras.


By the way, does anyone know of a location in the Detroit, MI, US area (within 8 hour drive) where I would be able to get my hands on most or all of these cameras and physically play around with them ?

I am certainly no expert, but you said that you will be using it indoors a lot without flash, and from the examples I have seen, the F30 gets better results at ISO 1600 than most compacts get at 400 (maybe even 200). However, I don't know much in particular about the other models that you listed, except the Pan FX01 which I was quite interested in but I have read that it has quite a bit of noise at highter ISO's. If you are interested, you should check out the F30 gallery that DCRP has listed on their homepage.

[Rhys]

All compact digitals have massive shutter lag. You won't be able to use them for action.