I'm ready to get a better camera

[Judaeus Apella]

My Sony W150 broke under store warranty so I got my money back, and I'm ready for the next level up! I'm thinking a super zoom?

I'm liking the Lumix DMC-FZ35, but your review says its not great with low light and shadows. That really concerns me!


Budget:

~ $300-350


Size:

I don't want something small, but I don't want a big chunky DSLR either. I wear BDU pants with large pockets going down the leg. I could have carried around four or so W150's in the largest pocket. So I'm hoping to find something that might fit in that big pocket.

My dad bought an older version of the Lumix DMC-FZ35 camera for the company he works at, so he's going to let me play around with it and see what I think. (I'll see if it fits my pocket, and tell you guys)


Features:

- ~12mp

- Custom white balance.

- Between 10x and 18x zoom would be nice.

- Movie mode a big plus, but I'd want 720 or 1080.

- Some manual features would be nice.

- Decent battery life or better is a plus


General Usage:

- Still life, action shots, nature shots, and macro. (Insects, birds, flowers, landscapes, and random wildlife) I'm not into portraits... just during family events which aren't common. I don't use flash much.

- Yes I want to make some decent sized prints, at least 10x14 of my nature shots. This is vital!

- Needs to accurately portray vivid color. (exotic flowers, sunsets, etc)

- Half my pictures will half dark scenes, shadows, and objects with dark coloring, so I don't want a camera that can't handle that without making grainy pictures.

[Judaeus Apella]

Dad gave me the FZ7 to play around with and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Its too big and clumsy to put even in my big BDU pant's leg pocket.

I put it in a fixed position and took a picture of a stereo's face to see how all the small printed numbers and letters came out, from about 2 feet away. They came out in focus but slightly fuzzy. I understand its an older 6mp, but my W150 was only 2mp higher and could handle that task with absolute clarity and cost $130 less. I could take a picture of a small street sign from 300 feet away and if I zoomed in on the picture, you could read the sign perfectly.

The stereo I used is black with a gray plastic frame around the LCD screen. The camera couldn't handle the many shades of black so there was a little too much noise for my taste, and the gray came out with an incredible amount of noise. So I'm really hating this camera. The LCD screen is total garbage as well, it's like looking through a window screen, and sometimes it vibrates slightly if you look at it closely enough.

My gawd I hope they made the FZ35 a hell of a lot better than this junk. Otherwise, I won't even remotely consider it.

I think I want something more compact anyway. I'm not liking this super zoom now that I've had a chance to play with it. Its too big for me. I need something more compact...

I'd kill for something like a DMC-GF1, but there's no way in hell I could afford something like that.

[Screenclutter]

I know little of movie capabilities, but maybe take a look at the Panasonic ZS3/TZ7 if you want more "zoom".

For low light, maybe the Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR, or the Canon S90 may work for you.

[jekostas]

Point and shoot cameras are not good in low light. Ultrazoom cameras are generally even worse than standard zoom cameras because they have smaller sensors.
I think you have your expectations a little bit too high for what you want.

As it is, the cream of the crop for low-light point and shoots are the Fuji F70 and F200, and Canon S90.

[Judaeus Apella]

Thanks, I'll look these cameras up and tell you what I think.

[Judaeus Apella]

The Fuji looks promising, but can I get a nice 10x14 print out of that camera?

[David Metsky]

The Fuji looks promising, but can I get a nice 10x14 print out of that camera?

Yes. You can get a good 10x14 print out of any camera with 5MP or greater.

[Judaeus Apella]

Oooo, so I can go larger. That's what I wanted to hear! Woot! Looks like Target has them, I'll go check them out and tell you what I think. But that won't happen till the weekend. I have a medical procedure to check my throat and stomach, and they're using sedatives.... so I'll be out of it the rest of the day tomorrow. As soon as I have a chance to test that camera, I'll let you guys know what I think. If I can, I'll even use our own SD card, then take it back home for analysis. Blow it way up on my 40" Sony and see how they look when I magnify them close up.

Got any suggestions of test photos I should take while keeping in mind I'll be in a well lit store?

[David Metsky]

Not much is going to look good on your 40" Sony TV if you are pixel peeping. That's just too much to expect.

How are you going to use these large poster sized prints? If you are going to be putting them on the wall and observing them from a few feet away they'll be fine. Looking up close like an art print won't be as successful.

[Judaeus Apella]

No, I'm talking about looking for noise and artifacts.

For 8.5x11 prints I have an IP5000, but I can't go larger than that unless I go get it printed elsewhere.

Anyway, I just noticed something about the F200 that makes me really paranoid about considering that camera. The plastic tripod mount... I don't like the sound of that one bit. Does that mean that part is cheap and going to easily strip and break... or is it really durable space age hardened plastic or something?