Garry Knight wrote:

measekite wrote:



The Pan FZ8 has an improved EVF while the S5 is the same as your camera, the S3. How bad is it?



I don't know. I'm used to using it. It's the first camera I've owned that has an EVF. At 115,000 pixels, it's the same resolution as the LCD, but looks smaller. At that resolution, it's sometimes difficult to tell if the subject is in focus. If I'm in any doubt, I'll take the shot and then zoom right in while reviewing it. Or I'll focus at infinity if that's appropriate.



Do you notice at longer zoom that the camera focuses slow or hesitates?



It depends on the light conditions. When there's not much contrast, it tends to hunt a bit. And sometimes, when I half-press the shutter release, it takes a while then focuses, then goes out of focus and stays out of focus. But this usually happens under conditions when I could just focus at infinity. I don't know if the S3's AF is any worse than any other camera's under low-contrast or low-light conditions. The only other camera I can compare it to is my Casio EX-Z700 which seems about the same.


I compared the Panasonic FZ5 against the Canon S2 and I found that even in the store the focus on the S2 would hunt a longer zoom or when you change zoom and refocus but the FZ5 did not do that.

At this time I do not want a DSLR so I am going to choose between the Canon S5 when I see it in June and the Panasonic FZ8.  The reviews say that the image quality on the FZ8 is compromised due to noise even a low ISO and using the raw mode will help but then you have a lot of work on all of the shots.  The Canon only has jpg mode and that is a disadvantage.  One thing I value is a framing grid which the FZ8 has (not sure about the S5.

To summarize the S5 is missing raw or tiff mode and has a low res EVF instead of 188,000 pixels.  It does have face recognition focusing but I do not know how valuable that will be.  Both cameras seem to be built good.  The FZ8 is somewhat smaller and has an easier to use menu and control system.  The noise is the big think.