If I could make a couple of suggestions, look for a camera with the
largest sensor you can get. It makes a big difference in the
flexibility of using it as well as the quality of the image. The
smaller sensors generate more noise even at lower ISO settings and the
the aggressive noise reduction that gets built in to deal with it
frequently smears fine detail resulting in a plastic look at greater
enlargments. 1 1/8" is the best size sensor being put into a small
camera currently. They range between about 4MP up to 7MP. The 7MP seems
to be a major breakthrough in handling noise, dynamic range and
resisting blowouts for small sensors, performing better than their 5MP
predecessors.
Handling these cameras is paramount before buying one. Some have really
worked on the speed and shutter lag issue, but not always across the
whole line. The top of the line Olys like the C-8080 and C-7070 are
very good, but they are not small. Some of the small Sonys are very
good speedwise, and a couple of the small Coolpixes are not bad
especially if you turn off their little start up movie. The new Canon
SD500 is supposed to be very quick unlike the prior models. You have to
check to see what settings you may think are essential have been left
off to make it small and simple. I like to just see if I can use it
after picking it up without reading a manual.
Winsor
Long Beach, California, USA
http://homepage.mac.com/wincros/PhotoAlbum3.html
On Apr 26, 2005, at 5:07 PM, Lawrence Woods wrote:
>
> While researching P&S cameras, I also looked into what was out
> there that I might want for myself even though I'm not getting
> anything yet. Among "advanced digital" models, compared to
> the Panasonic Lumix FZ models, the Olympus UZ models don't
> even look like they are in the same league. One caveat is
> that this comparison was made on-screen, without actually
> handling any of these "advanced digital" models. I'm not
> making the digital plunge yet, but I hope that Olympus catches
> up before I do.
>
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