On 27/05/10 8:07 AM, Dave Cohen wrote:
On 5/26/2010 6:19 PM, F wrote:
I'm looking to replace my ageing Panasonic FZ30 and am considering the
Canon SX1 IS and the Panasonic FZ38. Does anyone know whether or not
either of these is likely to be replaced in the next couple of months?

TIA

According to the Canon site, the SX1 IS is replaced by SX20 IS. This
seems to be essentially the same except for HD video and more pixels
which it didn't need anyway.

The SX1 IS does higher resolution HD video than the SX20 IS.

There may also be an update to the
processor. Although Canon dosen't list the SX1 IS, reviews state it's
still available. My A95 went kaput and I'm back to using the old A40, a
2mp camera that takes excellent shots withing it's limitations.

Yeah, I have an old A60 that I got my son many years ago. Great camera,
but I upgraded the kids to two of the A570 IS because of the IS and the
video capability. There's also no CHDK available for the A60, and since
I helped write the documentation for CHDK I wanted cameras that it
supported.

It's
that 2mp that convinces me that ever more pixels are just a marketing
gimmick plus the reinforcement of comments in this group from people who
are more dedicated photographers than myself.

There's definitely some negatives as the pixel count goes up and the
pixel size goes down, but it wasn't reached at 2MP for the P&S cameras.
I really like the Canon models with the 7.1MP sensor, a sweet spot in
P&S for Canon. I also have an SD800 IS which was the only pocket camera
with a wide angle lens AND an optical viewfinder. It was also the only
P&S I ever saw go UP in price during its lifteime, because it was in
very high demand. There is no replacement for it--there are pocket
models with wide angle-lens but no viewfinder, and models with a
viewfinder but no wide-angle lens.

If I do upgrade again, I would get the SX20 unless the SX1 IS were
available at worthwhile cost saving. I don't find the AA batteries to be
a disadvantage except for a little more size and weight and I insist on
having some form of viewfinder, something that seems to be omitted from
more and more p&s's.

Good points, though I find a Li-Ion battery preferable because a) it
lasts much longer, b) it's more reliable in terms of the physical design
of the contacts and battery holder, and c) you get a much better
indication of the remaining energy in the battery because the Li-Ion
battery has a linear voltage/capacity curve. If there are after-market
Li-Ion packs for the camera they're also generally cheaper than buying
the same capacity in Sanyo Eneloops or other low-discharge AA NiMH cells.

Even with the CHDK battery feature on AA powered Canon cameras, which
gives you more information about the state of the battery, it still
can't fix the inherent flat discharge curve of an NiMH battery (if you
use disposable Lithium AA batteries then you don't have the problem).

I'd be very wary of the SX20 IS in terms of noise. It uses a higher
resolution sensor, and it's CCD not CMOS. The SX1 IS is pretty good in
terms of noise because of the CMOS sensor and because they didn't go
crazy in terms of megapixels.

In any case, the original poster should just get the SX1 IS. The battery
type is a minor issue. Even if Panasonic comes out with an FZ-38
replacement it will likely suffer the same noise problems as the FZ-38
unless Panasonic does some radical shift in their designs. It's a shame
about Panasonic because if you look just at the specifications they have
some compelling models that seem like just the perfect camera with
combinations of features that you often can't get from other
manufacturers. But they just have never been able to get a handle on
their noise problems. The most amusing review I read of the FZ-38 was
the faint praise that 'the noise is not much higher than the FZ-28'!
Yeah, I guess that's a good thing, LOL.

One problem with these super-zooms is that their often unfairly compared
to D-SLRs rather than to P&Ss. Of course they'll never be able to be as
good as D-SLR with a much larger, much lower noise sensor, and the
AF/lag will never be as good with contrast detection AF as it is with
phase detect AF. Guess one should "never say never" but it's hard to get
around the basic physics.