Which Bridge Camera: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38EB vs Sony DSC-H50 vs Canon S20 is

jimihat

jimihat

Suspended / Banned
Messages
34
Name
Jim
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi All

I have a Sony DSC-H50 megazoon type bridge camera at the moment and am wondering in the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38EB or Canon S20is would represent a decent upgrade.

I am generally happy with the Sony and battery life is very good; my main issue is that it's not fantastic at low light/high iso and I'm fairly usefless with a flash. I wonder if either of the others would be better in this respect; any thoughts??

Any other comments for/against any of the cameras would be appreciated; does anyone have any feedback on battery life in the Canon (it takes 4xAA's).

Thanks in advance for your help.

Jim
 
One more thing guys, and excuse me for being a total noob on this front.

Would an entry level SLR give me better results in poor light even with standard kit lenses? the only thing that puts me off SLR is the cost of the lenses....

Please help; I am painfully clueless...
 
The FZ38 gets the better reviews has a all in one solution it's hard to beat. Any entry level DSLR will give you less noise up to about ISO 800 because of the much bigger sensor, the FZ38 probably start seeing noise up to ISO 200 - 400 but as you say the extra lenses will bump up the price and weight. Plus the FZ38 walks away with most awards.
 
The noise at high ISOs is where bridge cameras really fall down, because afterall, they still have tiny sensors just like compact cameras. I notice noise at ISO 200 on compacts, but for my SLR it only creeps in at 800, and 1600 in some situations can also produce acceptable shots. (And, by any stretch, the 450D doesn't have very good high ISO performance, either - many newer cameras can easily go above 3200).

The problem with compact cameras these days is the absurd amount of megapixels squeezed onto the tiny sensor. it's just a noise fest waiting to happen, really.
 
OK, thanks for the advice; I'm leaning toward the Fuji FinePix HS10 now...any thoughts?
 
Looks an interesting camera users a CMOS sensor unlike the cameras you mentioned before, its more like the Canon SX1 And Sony HX1. I'd wait for the reviews first cos the other bridge type cameras that use a CMOS sensor seem to suffer with image quality, Though the HS10 as a back side Illumination sensor may improve things. Not available till March - April though. Was priced at £380 on Amazon.
 
yes, it does look interesting. The previous Fujifilm bridge (s200exr) has very mixed reviews. it got 10/10 on trusted reviews and I've seen it as low as 6/10 elsewhere; this appears to be a worthy successor to that camera on paper but alas no actual reviews as yet. I'd imagine they will be along before too long though.
I've pre-ordered one from Amazon; obviously if reviews turn out to be poor I'll give it a miss.

Back on the SLR front for a second; some of the Sony units look decent for beginners, the A300 has caught my eye; just how much better would it be than a top end bridge camera keeping in mind that I often shoot indoors in poor light (and also like to do outdoor landscapes etc). I could only really afford the camera and the standard kit lens; anytime I look at SLR it starts looking like 3 lenses, camera, bags, before you know it you're easily talking £1000+...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top