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Advice Needed - High Optical Zoom - Relatively Compact



 
 
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  #1  
Old March 28th 05, 08:02 PM
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Default Advice Needed - High Optical Zoom - Relatively Compact

I'm totally overwhelmed by the wide range of choices out there and just
need some advice now.

I'm looking for a digital camera with:

1. At least 8x optical zoom
2. At least 5 megapixels
3. "Relatively" compact

I'm used to a Canon PowerShot S110 on the digital side and really like
its portability. My film camera is a Canon Rebel XS (about 10 years old
or so).

Image quality is important - I'd give up some of the compactness for a
good quality image. I'm unlikely to do prints greater than 8x10.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

  #3  
Old March 28th 05, 10:56 PM
Eric Babula
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wrote in
ups.com:

I'm totally overwhelmed by the wide range of choices out there and
just need some advice now.

I'm looking for a digital camera with:

1. At least 8x optical zoom
2. At least 5 megapixels
3. "Relatively" compact

I'm used to a Canon PowerShot S110 on the digital side and really
like its portability. My film camera is a Canon Rebel XS (about 10
years old or so).

Image quality is important - I'd give up some of the compactness
for a good quality image. I'm unlikely to do prints greater than
8x10.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!


I'm looking for a very similar camera to the one you're looking at. You
didn't mention price.

Some of the options I was looking at:
Nikon Coolpix 8800 (8MP, 10x Optical zoom)
Nikon Coolpix 8700 (8MP, 8x Optical zoom)
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 (5MP, 12x Optical zoom)
Panasonic FZ20 or FZ5, as David Taylor mentioned

Crap! I left my info at home! I can't remember the other ones I was
looking at! Tell ya what. I'm leaving for home now. Gotta run a couple
errands first. When I get home, I'll jump online and let you know the
other ones I was looking at.

FYI - I'm currently leaning to the Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5. Seems to
have most eveything I'm looking for.

But, you should do your research, go to a camera shop, ask questions,
and hold various cameras in your hand and play with them. What works for
one might be terrible for another.

--
Eric Babula
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA


  #4  
Old March 29th 05, 03:00 AM
Eric Babula
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Eric Babula wrote in
1:

I'm looking for a very similar camera to the one you're looking at. You
didn't mention price.

Some of the options I was looking at:
Nikon Coolpix 8800 (8MP, 10x Optical zoom)
Nikon Coolpix 8700 (8MP, 8x Optical zoom)
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 (5MP, 12x Optical zoom)
Panasonic FZ20 or FZ5, as David Taylor mentioned

Crap! I left my info at home! I can't remember the other ones I was
looking at! Tell ya what. I'm leaving for home now. Gotta run a couple
errands first. When I get home, I'll jump online and let you know the
other ones I was looking at.

FYI - I'm currently leaning to the Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5. Seems to
have most eveything I'm looking for.

But, you should do your research, go to a camera shop, ask questions,
and hold various cameras in your hand and play with them. What works

for
one might be terrible for another.


Ok, doesn't look like this went thru the first time. Here's try #2:

I'm back. The other cameras I heard about/looked into a

Kodak DX7590 (5MP, 10x Optical zoom)
Kodak DX6490 (4MP, 10x Optical zoom) - if you can go down to 4MP
Nikon Coolpix 5700 (5MP, 8x Optical zoom)
Olympus Camedia C765, C750 or C770 (4MP, 10x Optical zoom)

Check out the reports on each of these that interest you. Consumer
Reports picked the Nikon 5700 and 8700, the Kodak 7490, and the three
Olympus cameras as their top picks. PC Magazine, CNET.com and PC World
all picked the Nikon 8800. Others were picked, but didn't meet my
requirements, so I didn't list them here. Check out the reviews on
www.pcmagazine.com, www.cnet.com, www.pcworld.com, www.dpreview.com,
www.dcresource.com and www.steves-digicams.com.

Well, there ya go - more information than you probably wanted. Sorry,
but I have no practical experience with any of these cameras. I'm in the
market for my first digicam, so I can't help you with any real-life
expereince. Maybe others can. At least I got you some choices for you to
look into.

HTH a little,

--
Eric Babula
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA


  #7  
Old March 29th 05, 10:05 PM
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Thanks for all your ideas - there were quite a few on the list that I
hadn't considered.

One last question - most of the reviews of the Dimage Z5 seem to say
that the picture quality is "OK" - does anyone have any thoughts on
this? I tend to get too caught up in some of the picture quality issues
of reviews without really having a good sense of how it compares to
what I have now (the Canon Powershot S110 - a 2.1 megapixel/2x optical
zoom/compact camera).

Thanks again!

Michael

  #8  
Old March 29th 05, 10:05 PM
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Thanks for all your ideas - there were quite a few on the list that I
hadn't considered.

One last question - most of the reviews of the Dimage Z5 seem to say
that the picture quality is "OK" - does anyone have any thoughts on
this? I tend to get too caught up in some of the picture quality issues
of reviews without really having a good sense of how it compares to
what I have now (the Canon Powershot S110 - a 2.1 megapixel/2x optical
zoom/compact camera).

Thanks again!

Michael

 




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