NIKON P500 – P510 / CANON SX40HS / PANASONIC FZ150 / SONY HX100V – HX200V

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PaladinOfLight

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Good day, I am planning to buy a ultrazoom digital camera (not DSL) but I am not able to choose between the models mentioned on the title. I read many comments about them but none of them was totaly usefull for me, because each people have different needs and the comments were for these people. Per example for someone an external mic. connection can be a good feauture but I will never use it. Also some comparision sites gives good points to X camera for some feature that I will never use it. So I decided to write my own post and so people who knows about cameras can help me.
Until now I was a very amateur camera user, always taking photos with automatic mode and with small compact low quality cameras. I dont know any photografer tricks and techniques (except I know that the sun should be on my back :) Now on the eve of my 1 month Canada trip I am decided to buy something good and improve my photografer techniques. Because until now all the pictures taken by me were full of noise decent pictures and looking to these pictures doesn't gives me any satisfaction.
Probably some of you will ask me the question: why not a DSL? In fact I am not planning to be a pro on taking pictures nor to go around with heavy cameras and a lot of lenses. I would like only to be able to take nice and good quality pictures for an average amateur knowing some techniques. Since taking pictures is not a passion for me, I dont want to spend too much on this hobby.
So ultrazoom compact cameras attracted me, both for they high optical zoom feature and both for their several attirbutes. But I am comfused and dont know what to buy. I checked:
NIKON P500 – P510 / CANON SX40HS / PANASONIC FZ150 / SONY HX100V – HX200V
These are my few remarks about these models:
Did the GPS system is it a usefull thing or is something never used? I read about some websites that you can mark your pictures but is it really used or I will never use it?
Since I am not a photografer I think that the 0 cm or 1 cm macro will not be a serious difference for me.
I am planning to take max 3MP pictures beause I will just check them on the PC or even if a print them they will be a small size pictures. So the Panasonic FZ150's Intelligent Auto zoom which increases its actual 24x optical zoom to 32x can be usefull for me?
Canon SX40 has a 2,7inch LCD which is smaller and with its 230.000 dots low resolution have the smallest and worst LCD between all the other models. Is this really an important point or I will never see the difference?
I think some of these cameras have a slower zoom and some of them have some difficulties to focus. Is think that this is real important.
Per example Panasonic FZ150 have also a manual zoom and this manual zoom attribute can be changed to manual focus too. This seemed to be a real good attitude for me, am I right?
I don't know anything about the processors of these cameras and which could be better, but I think that all of them have a CMOS sensor.
Some of them have the Panoramic pictures abilitie which is an important point for me. But some have only the panaromic picture helper, which I think is helping to take a panoramic picture but you are able to merge these pictures only with the software on the PC. Is it an important negative point or with the software this operations is easy and fast?
In general the comments that I heard and read were not reccomending me the Sony between these cameras.
For the Nikon and Sony I put two models, probably the new ones are better but I dont want to discard completely the old ones due to their lower price.

I would be really glad if you can comment on my post and recommend me something compering them. Thanks in advance.
 
hmm..I've used the Canon SX40 HS, I can say that it definitely zooms fast because it has a dedicated USM motor - which also means it's silent which is important if you're planning to shoot movies and zoom at any time. The Nikon on the other hand doesn't use an ultrasonic type so you hear it zooming in movies, it also felt a lot cheaper to me so I discredited it. I was impressed with the image and movie quality from the Canon.

I'd ignore the whole 24x optical to 32x Intelligent zoom - it's just digital zoom so it's just cropping into the picture and sharpening it a bit.

GPS, yes useful if you forget where you took your pictures, if you're organised you can do without it.

That's all I have to say on them..so here's a review of them all to help you decide

http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/eq...ra-2011-our-top-5-superzooms-of-the-year.html
 
I recently owned a Lumix FZ150.
I write this with the best possible intentions, but apologies if it comes over a little harsh.

If you have been spoiled with DSLR image quality, you wont be happy with this camera. I shoot with a 5Dmk2 and 40D, both of which I am really happy with and will happily zoom to 100% and expect the shots to be sharp and detailed.

The FZ150 simply couldnt match, or get close to this. When viewed at full size, the images are fine. But you want to get your framing perfect, as you really dont want to have to crop at all. There is quite a lot of noise (in comparison to a DSLR) even at ISO 100... so much so that if I had to go above ISO 200 to get the shot, I wouldnt bother, because it would be unusable IMO.

The fact it shoots in RAW I thought would be great... however this isnt really the case, and the JPEGS were much better. The advantage of shooting RAW is more adjustment potential and customisation of your images..but with an image that is full of noise, and not very high detail I never felt like I wanted to process any.

This might sound harsh, but if you havent used the likes of a good DSLR, then any of the above cameras is probably going to be just fine :) Although, I would steer clear of the Sony models as they are notoriously bad for noise reduction which ruins your photos.

For me it was between the SX40 and the FZ150 - and the FZ150 won because of the RAW shooting, but as stated above, with use, I found I didnt actually like the RAWs anyway, so I wish I had got the SX40.

As it happens I sold it recently as I just wasnt happy with it enough, after deleting every single picture I had taken with it, for the above reasons I didnt see the point in keeping it.

HTH and sorry if it sounds harsh!
 
The guy said he wants to print small or for web so the 100% quality I don't think will factor into the decision
 
First of all, cmonkey and futureal33, thanks for your comments!

After readed a lot of review's and spent so many hours in front of the PC finaly I reduced my choice to 2 cameras: Panasonic FZ150 vs. Sony HX200V
Why I deleted the others? I read a lot of negative comments on Nikon P500 & P510. In 95% of the houndreds of user reviews they are not recommended. Maybe I cannot say negatives comments but people are reccomending other cameras instead of Nikon ones. For Canon's elimination, I can say that the 2,7 low res. LCD disappointed me too much. Yes maybe it has no effect on the pictures quality but I didn't liked it :( Maybe it's not a good reason to eliminate a camera but how to say, I didn't liked the apparence of the camera.
Now before asking again your precious comments I would like to say why I choosed these ones:

Common points:
1.Both of them have 3 inch LCD
2.they have another zoom button on the lens which can be also programmed as Focus.

Pros of the FZ150 and cons of the HX200V:
1.Fully articulated LCD. I am a tourist and not a photo pro, so on my trips I like to take pictures of myself. Since now I was doing it without seeing myself but the possibility to see myself on the LCD while taking the pictures is a great advantage, but on the HX200V that's not possible.
2.The burst mode of 5,5 fps without any stop is perfect. Can't remember if Sony have something similer, if it have thit then I should move this one on the common points.
3.In all the reviews Panasonic is the winner of the fastest zoom & focus. (that should be maybe the most important point)

Pros of the HX200V and cons of the FZ150:
1.Sony have a Ponarama mode when FZ150 have just a panoramic assist mode which I think helps to assemble your panorama pictures on your PC and not directly on the camera. I don't know if it's a real problem? Yes I like Panorama pictures but if they can be assembled easly on the software maybe that's not a big deal.
2.Off course the GPS :)) Never used and don't know if I will use it but as a technology lover I cannot resist to the attraction of the GPS. Pitty that Panasonic dont have it :(

Things that are not important for me:
1.The RAW format is something that maybe I will never use. First I don't know exactly what it is, I think that is the raw file of the picture which can be totaly edited with softwares like Photoshop etc. Never did it! One friend of mine which have a DSLR and knows little bit about cameras and taking pictures told me that neither he is using it. So I don't think that will be too important for me. Maybe in a distant future....


Another idea bothers me. Since I should pay $400-$450 for this camera, buying a DSLR at this price can be a good choice for me? Or at this price I will have a very small and basic camera without too much options and 0 zoom. To explain better myself I am a tourist and not someone who will go outside specially to take pictures of a tree or bird etc. But when I am travelling (like my long trip to Canada) I would like to have a camera to take good pictures, of myself and of the nature. Yes maybe if I start to like this photografer think maybe I can decide to increase my knowledge on this matter but I am not sure.
 
Just now that I was in the confusion of buying FZ150 or HX200v or a real DSLR, some suggests made me more confused. The suggest was:" a DSLR like camera is nothing than a compact camera in DSLR body." Now is it real? Am I only paying for the look and maybe few more zoom? I was thinking that a DSLR like is a bridge between compact and DSLR and not only for the apparance but also for the quality and all the manual settings.
Now when I checked the web for the most sold compact cameras I found Sony HX9V. A 16,2MP, 16x optical camera, equiped with Sony G lens and GPS, CMOS sensor etc. Now if this camera have no difference than my favorite FZ150 & HX200v (except the extra zooms), why should I pay more and carry a heavyer camera?? But if the quality of FZ150 & HX200v are better then this one and if they contain some manual commands which DSLR's have then it could be a good idea to buy them. I am not a pro and I am not sure that I will be one. But I want to take some good quality pictures even if they are not perfect. DSLR like cameras seemed to me a good idea, but I will carry an extra weight for no benefit, I prefer to buy a smaller compact.
Thanks again...
 
The HX200V and HX9V the major difference is zoom power, size (because of the lens) and a few more megapixels, the image sensor is basically the same type in both cameras.

The 'bridge' cameras you originally mentioned give you a huge and flexible zoom range, the handling of an SLR and some manual control but the quality will still be in the realms of a compact camera because they share the same sensor and image processor in many cases. It's not the same as getting an SLR. The whole point is in one of these cameras is you don't want to invest in an SLR body and all the lenses you just want one camera that does everything.
 
PaladinOfLight, i have the Nikon P500 and i have found it to be excellent, i'm not going to tell you all about it, as you have done your research, all i wanted to say was check out my threads and you will see what the pictures are like from the nikon.
 
I own the HX9V for about 5 weeks and purchased it for the following reasons; Compact, excellent zoom, defocus background option and quality. I have not being disappointed with any of those requirements. However, the main drawback for me and this will be the same for most LCD viewing is reflections. I have put a matt anti glare cover on but due to my poor eyesight combined with bright sunlight I struggle not using a viewfinder.
However, as a further endorsement of this camera Im probably selling it buying the HX100V very similar internals but with a viewfinder!
 
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