Trying to decide: Sony DSCH1, Kon-Minolta A200, or Canon S2 IS

I'm looking for a digital camera:
1. has a stong optical zoom with image stabilization
2. can take action shots of ballroom dancers without a flash [not allowed
at these events]
3. can shoot well in indoor conditions without a flash for portraits (given
good indoor light, of course)
4. has a good Macro mode

I mostly use AUTO settings, and would consider DSLR, but don't have money
for a DSLR plus telephoto lens.

For what it's worth, my experience with digital cameras consists of the
following. A Sony Mavica 400,
which takes breathtaking portraits, is excellent in low light, has a
marvelous Macro, but cannot
take action shots worth a damn (even when put on manual control and speeding
up the shutter speed). A couple of Kodak 7440's: I find the portrait
quality simple not as good as the Sony's with the Carl Zeiss lenses, and the
red-eye was very bad. And I borrowed an Olympus C720 for about a week and
it was horrendous in almost every category.

My reading at steves-digicams and dpreview as well as some other sites
convinced me that I want image stabilization, since I will rarely have a
tripod for the action shots. That rules out the Kodak Z7590 and Z740
anyway.
I thought my choice was going to be between the Sony DSCH1 and the Canon S2
IS. Then a friend recommended I take a look at the Konica Minolta A200.
I've read reviews of all of them at the sites I just mentioned, but since
they don't do a lot of comparisons, it's hard not to read all the reviews as
essentially, "This is a good camera."

So I thought I'd go for the Sony DSCH1, since I had a very positive
experience of my Sony, and it received good reviews at those two websites.
I almost ordered one, when I read some negative reviews at Amazon for
defective cameras, and then I read a very good comparison review somewhere
between the Sony and the Canon, which argued that the Sony simply cannot do
burst mode very well: which I'd like to be able to use when filming
ballroom dance, though I might be able to live without it. Perhaps my
biggest worry about the Sony is that the DSCH1 does not have the Carl-Zeiss
lens I so love on my previous Sony, and on my brother's Sony, so I paused.

Then I started looking closely at sample photos uploaded by people on their
cameras at Amazon, and I thought the Sony DSCH1 photos were the best:
rather breathtaking, compared with the S2 IS and the A200 photos people
uploaded -- don't know if I should pay attention to this or not. This
confused me more as to what to do.

I'm burning out on reading these reviews, which often seem to list features
more than try to evaluate. Is there anyone out there who has used two of
these cameras, or maybe all three, who might put in a word and say, "Hey,
Cordo, I've used these cameras and the A200 is in a league above" or
something like that?

Thanks for any help.

Cordo

Cordovero wrote:
[]
Then I started looking closely at sample photos uploaded by people on
their cameras at Amazon, and I thought the Sony DSCH1 photos were the
best: rather breathtaking, compared with the S2 IS and the A200
photos people uploaded -- don't know if I should pay attention to
this or not. This confused me more as to what to do.

Photos which appear "rather breathtaking" would worry me - too much colour
saturation? I would prefer "realistic - matches the scene well".

I'm burning out on reading these reviews, which often seem to list
features more than try to evaluate. Is there anyone out there who
has used two of these cameras, or maybe all three, who might put in a
word and say, "Hey, Cordo, I've used these cameras and the A200 is in
a league above" or something like that?

Cordo,

The A200 strikes me as a dumbed-down A2, and looses that's camera's main
good feature which was the VGA-resolution electronic viewfinder.

The Sony is their first attempt into image stabilised still cameras, and
uses the proprietary memory stick cards as opposed to the widely used CF
or SD memory cards, which would rule it out for me.

The Canon S2 IS is their second attempt at that type of camera, and whilst
it has a lot to commend it, the sample photos and purchasers reports
suggest that the lens quality may not be quite as good as on the Panasonic
FZ5 and FZ20 cameras.

Panasonic has been making image stabilised still cameras for some time
now, and have been using Leica lenses on their top of the range models.
You may want to add the Panasonic FZ5 and FZ20 to your list of candidates.
I have both and they are excellent - the FZ5 being the lighter and
cheaper, loosing manual focus and the flash hot-shoe compared to the FZ20.
Their main lack is a swivel LCD. A new FZ30 model has just been announced
(which does have a moveable viewfinder).

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz5/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz20/
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/panasonicfz30/

Cheers,
David

Any idea..when is the FZ30 coming to market..

In article .com,
wrote:

Any idea..when is the FZ30 coming to market..

Late September, give or take a fortnight. Amazon are taking orders.

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