Technical Forum

My old camera is breaking down, and I've decided I really need a new one. A store here is having a sale, but I don't know too much about the different models.
I'm looking into the
Canon Powershot A 2100 IS or the Panasonic DMC TZ 5
or, if I decide to spend some more, the
Panasonic DMC TZ 7 or the Olympus E420 .
Does anyone have one of these cameras and is either very happy with it or very unhappy? I'd appreciate any tips. Thank you.

I have a Tz5, bought only a couple of weeks ago after my belowed Ixus 700 died the sorriest death a camera could die. (The poor thing drowned in the loo - STOP LAUGHING!!!)

So far I am happy with my new darling, photo quality is very good, better than the Ixus. The 10x optical zoom with a good wide angle is clearly a plus. I have not yet figured out all details of those many modi and programmes, there is a lot you can do with it. It must have been designed for VT use: The thing even has a special "food" modus!
My Ladenburg photos were taken with it, so you have already seen examples;-)
The software that comes with it is rather lame, but there are worse problems in the photographic world than that.

I'm very happy with my Canon Powershot camera, though I don't have that exact model.

Thank you both very much. Kathrin, your Ladenburg pictures are a big point in favour of the TZ5.Right now I have a Canon Powershot A 520, and was really happy with it, but it keeps telling me the batteries are low- even when they are brandnew - and as a result the pictures are very dark.So I have to look for a new one.

We had a 6 person VT-meet today and 50% of the attendees where equipped with LUNIX; I really recommend the Panasonic (just bought the FX40).


PJ

Another vote for the Panasonic.Thank you, Pieter.

Yeah, go for it (and I mistyped LUMIX).

PJ

I bought the Panasonic and have started reading the manual. But I was very surprised when the sales person told me the battery will only last for about two hours. That seems to be a very short time.
I bought a second battery, but not from Panasonic. It was 40 Euro less.
What is your experience with the battery, is it really empty after just two hours? Would you use another brand of battery as a back-up? I've heard of mobiles exploding because of the wrong, cheap battery.

My wife and I both have spare batteries for our LUMIX models.

The display will take most power and on my FX40 you can set the brightness level to an energy saving level.

I am used to switch off my camera (read display) very quickly.

My wifes needs her two batteries in a full day of photo shooting.


I also have a battery with 4 connectors + - T D it reads. D is the latest; I guess it stands for discharge to guarantee a longer lifetime with the special charger. BTW We only use Panasonic batteries (it's more a thing of guarantee; be sure your spare has the same mAh).


PJ

Thank you very much, Pieter. I must admit I had to google mAh and saw that the original Panasonic says 970 mAh and the other one 1000. Should I better not use it? I'd rather spend another 60 Euro on a Panasonic battery than have my new camera explode on me.
The cheaper one was recommended by the sales person, but of course it may be that the store makes more money with it.

No, 1000 mAh will last a little longer.

Lifetime is something else. There's no way you can see if the not-Panasonic battery will stay that powerful over the time you use it.


PJ

Thank you, Pieter. As long as it doesn't explode,it's okay.

The main thing is, it poweres your camera :)


PJ

I've taken my Panasonic DMC TZ5 on a couple of trips now (my opening shot in Kiev on my home page is from that camera), so far I've been happy with the quality of the photos and ease of use. I'm sure there are a lot of features that I'm not using, the auto setting works great though :-) And I'm really pleased with the battery life, I bought a spare just in case but have not had to use it.

It's small enough that if I have shorts or cargo pants on that I can slip it in a pocket, not as small as the Elph but much more manageable than the Canon Powershot that I replaced.

Sorry, I missed the post where you said you bought it! I recharged the battery every day after I used it but I never ran out of juice during the day. And for everyday use, I seem to be able to use it for days on end without recharging. My spare is a non Panasonic battery, I read the reviews of it and people seemed to like it and it was about 1/4 of the cost.

Thanks Kristi, that's good to know. I used it today for the first time just for some pictures and had no problems.I still haven't found out all it can do, though.

Just read a review on my FX40. It got 8.5 points out of 10 and ended as the second best in its category!

PJ

Bookmark.

Hi everybody.

I know I'm coming very late to this discussion but just came on the posting and wanted to ask some questions.

Firstly, do you not get a rechargeable battery pack with the Panasonic Lumix ?

My ixus, I recharge every night when travelling but at home it could go for days on end.

Christine is the model you mention a Lumix as well ?

And finally... On Monday I went into a camera shop and asked about the Lumix.

Explained that my SLR + zoom lens was too awkward and heavy to carry round for very long and that I wanted something inbetween that and my ixus.

The salesman immediately tried to push me towards the new Canon powershot, saying I shouldn't be influenced by Panasonic advertising.

I told him I was influenced by the amountof great pictures I'd seen from Lumix cameras and he still said you just couldn't compare the quality of lens in a Canon with that in a Lumix.

What do you think ?

<the quality of lens>

He could be right with that in the sense the Canon will loose less light.


I think this sales person was not customer oriented. I agree that the Lumix will have "noisier" pictures over the Canon (with low light situations), but he should have asked you what kiind of pictures you normaly would take.

It's not easy to compare the full features of the 2 models as some are special and exclusive to one brand.

I say, read some of the reviews in the latest magazines.
As I wrote, I was happy to see my camerea get a 8.5 (out of 10).


PJ

Hi Katherine,
the camera I got is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5, that's its full name. It was one of the cameras on sale, for 229 Euro, and there was no spare battery. I have taken a few pictures, but haven't seen them on the computer yet. I still have to get around and install the software.On the display they look much brighter than on my old Canon Powershot, but that was the reason I decided to get a new camera.The camera didn't recognize the batteries any more and the pictures were too dark.
The salesperson told me to buy a spare battery, the name looks like GPi. He said that's the battery compatible for Panasonic, and it's about 50 Euro less.

Don't wait for me to decide which camera to get, by the time I've got around to check it out completely summer will be over, I fear.

I've been reading reviews all morning and am square-eyed at this stage.

The only negative I can see with the Lumix is the short battery life and having to have a spare.

Pieter, can I ask you, where do you read your reviews and which camera came first in your category ?

Seems that with all the reviews , opinions are mixed and positive reviews are almost always countered by negative ones.

Back to the drawing board :))

A Dutch Magazine called "Foto Magazine".

My Lumix Panasonic SMX-FX40 price is given as Euro 299, with offers as low as 239.

Only the Casio Exilim FC100 scored a bit better with a price of Euro 349/259.
The only plus on that camera was the special macro setting. The Lumix had far effective picture stabilsation and was cheaper; it was an easy choice for me.

PJ

http://www.hubstore.nl/images/artikelen/500_foto092_1.JPG

If you are interested in a Dutch review.

PJ

Unfortunately the Dutch review is bit more advanced than my current command of the language:)

But if I want the wide angle lens , 12x zoom and HD video on a compact camera it really comes down to just a few makes and models.

Right, have your personal requirements at hand and compare, compare, compare.

PJ

I suggest you check out some of the on line review sites regarding the specific models you are interested in. One of the best ones that I know is:

http://www.dpreview.com

That being said, we have owned point and shoot cameras from Canon, Nikon, Panasonic and Sony. Personal recommendation would be the Panasonic - you seem to get more camera for your money.

you really should not worry about the cheaper batteries/accus, I have both types for my Panasonic Lumix LX3 and I cannnot see any other difference than the much lower price.
Something else that you should know : turn off the camera as often and as fast as you can, that saves a lot of energy, although we once learned something else, but for modern batteries/accus that seems to be different !
---
btw. Olympus E-420 is one of the older models of the system, a bit smaller that E-520 and E-620, but the stabilizer is totally missing in it !

Bought the Canon on Saturday.

So far I think it's superb - vast range of auto settings and the ability to operate it manually and control aperture and light speed as well.

All this in something I can put in my pocket.

Only critique so far is that you cant' zoom in and out when videoing but perhaps there's a way round that I haven't found yet.