bridge camera or ultrazoom?

[rebecca]

Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? around $350-500

Size

* What size camera are you looking for?
relatively compact would be nice, but still considering nikon p90 and panasonic fz35 despite that they are bigger.

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you? 10ish

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x) considering both standard and ultrazooms, depending on image quality

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10) 9-10

Do you care for manual exposure modes (shutter priority, aperture priority, manual)? yes

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for? travel, weddings, some action/sports (skiing)

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? some 8X10, probably not much larger


Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate? not really

Are there particular models you already have in mind? canon g11 and s90; the lumix series--i think the fz35 (i had a lumix tz5 and liked it, though i found it had sometimes had problems focusing); maybe nikon p90.

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD) i like the rotating lcd but it is not essential

[Andy Stanton]

If your interest is mainly excellent picture quality, the Canon G11 and S90 are probably the top point and shoot cameras. They are quite expensive though - for about the same price you can buy the Pentax K2000 or Olympus E520, two very good entry-level DSLR's that have even better picture quality than the G11 or S90.

The Panasonic FZ35 is an excellent ultrazoom but its picture quality is not in the same class as the cameras mentioned above. It does have the advantage of a very long, versatile zoom lens, though.

[jetstar]

The Canon PowerShot SX200 IS is another option to consider.

[rebecca]

besides the size and price, what differences should i think about between the s90 and the g11? i would love advice on whether you think the 4x vs 5x zoom would matter, and whether the g11 would be appreciably faster (shot to shot/startup/etc).

[rebecca]

also, how does the Fuji F200EXR compare?

[Andy Stanton]

The Canon G11 was recently awarded an "Editor's Choice" by this website. The reviewer judged it to be the best point and shoot camera he'd ever tested.
http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/d...+powershot+g11

DCR has also reviewed the Fuji F200EXR and gave it a very good review, noting among other things its very low noise. However, the review also noted a few flaws.
http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/d...inepix+f200exr

I'm currently working on a review of the Canon S90. At this point I can definitely say it's an excellent camera, especially in low light, though whether it's as good as the G11 is hard to determine.

The Fuji is certainly the bargain of the group - it's available for under $300, while the Canons are well over $400.

[J. Keenan]

Originally Posted by rebecca

besides the size and price, what differences should i think about between the s90 and the g11? i would love advice on whether you think the 4x vs 5x zoom would matter, and whether the g11 would be appreciably faster (shot to shot/startup/etc).

Having just finished the G11 review, I'll throw in my $.02..............

Looking at the specs for both Canons it appears that the sensor/processor might be the same, and if so, then image quality betwen the two may boil down to lens performance on the S90. The G11 lens is quite good optically - if the S90 lens is too then you will probably have a hard time telling the images apart.

You mentioned shooting some sports/action - the f/2 lens on the S90 is faster at the wide end of the zoom than the f/2.8 of the G11, but the G11 is slightly faster at telephoto, f/4.5 to f/4.9 for the S90. Faster is better for sports or action if stopping the subject(s) is the goal of the shot, and the G11 has another advantage over the S90 in this regard - a shutter speed range that goes to 1/4000th of a second (shutter priority or manual mode) instead of the 1/1600th of the S90. In all probability you'll be shooting sports at the telephoto end of the zoom, so the extra 35mm offered by the 5x zoom of the G11, while not a huge amount, would still get you a bit "closer" than the S90.

These cameras are expensive, but once you get past the initial sticker shock the MSRP of the G11 is "only" $70 more than the S90. Unless you need to get a camera immediately I'd wait and see what the S90 reviews like - and absolutely try both before you buy, as the S90 is slimmer and lighter than the G11 and size may become an issue.

[rebecca]

thanks for all the advice! in the sample shots in your G11 review i noticed that there was a lot of color fringing (i'm not sure that this is the right term for this) along many of the higher contrast points/lines. do you think it's worse with the G11 than some of the other cameras you mentioned, or am I just expecting too much from a point and shoot? i'm not looking at any DSLRs because of the size, but that effect is something that i don't like about a lot of digital pictures. Making large prints is not my top priority, but I would like to be able to print 8x10 images occasionally.

Thanks again!