[Slugman]

Canon Powershot SX10is Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 I've decided that I am going with a digital ultrazoom. These two seem like the best I can find so far. I like their ability to shoot extremely close-up, and also zoom in big time on any bears I might see. The Canon is a bit more expensive, going for around $325, about $50 more than the Panasonic (depending upon where purchased, of course.) I don't mind the large size and weight of the cameras, as they are both similar to what I've been carrying for seven years now. So, any thoughts on which is the better camera? Image quality would be more important than features to me, in general.

[Magellan]

Looks good. Get em both and see which one you like best. Sell the second place finisher here for a sweet price.

[captain jack]

Ya, I like those too. And as long as you're soliciting unbiased feedback from the masses, I would like to add one more camera I find enticing in the " Superzoom Bricks" category to your queery. I like the slightly more svelt, yet nearly the same mass offering from Olympus, the SP-565UZ Any thoughts ?

[Slugman]

CJ, you're a b*stard. I finally get my choice down to two, and you have to re-open the can of worms. Arrgh! Where's the "pulling hair out by the roots" emoticon when you need one? And to make matters worse, you pick an Olympus, the brand I already have and like quite a bit. I can't find any reviews of the Olympus at dpreview or digitalcamerareview. One thing I noticed at Amazon: both the Panasonic and the Canon have all customer reviews in the 5 star or 4 star category except for a couple of cranks. They both have 12 people choosing 4 stars over 5. The difference is the Canon has 29 5-star ratings, the Panasonic has 67. I'm thinking that the price difference between the cameras would buy me extra batteries and memory for the Panasonic.

[kleet]

I've owned both brands. My current camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5K. I've had it for a couple years and I really like it. I bought ree a Canon SD870 in August and I like it even better. The lens quality is probably pretty equal. Mine has more zoom and takes better quality video, but the Canon's photos seem to need less PS tinkering with color and exposure. Some of that is certainly due to the capabilities of the photographer, but I also think it has something to do with Canon's Digic III image processor. I realize neither of these is the exact model you're looking at, so YMMV.

[Slugman]

I like to do zero tinkering in photoshop. It's just too much trouble. And one of the reviews of the Panasonic did mention (and show examples of) some color variation from the natural colors of the scene, mainly some colors being too vivid. One thing I like about the Canon is that it uses AA batteries. I already own two sets of high capacity (2,500 mah) NiMH batteries for my current camera, and I have really good chargers as well. I usually bring brand-new Lithium non-rechargeables as my spare batteries since they are light weight, long lasting and very rarely get used so I am not filling landfills with dead batteries.

[naturealbeing]

I own a Panasonic DMC FZ28 and an older FZ5 and have been very happy with both. If you want to see images produced with the FZ28, check out the ones I've posted to flickr for the last couple of months. Most of the images are available here as well, they're in the picture of the day thread. Is this the detail your looking for? Taken 10' away at 18x, close cropped, and slightly reduced in size.

Beak Maintenance , 12.8.08.

[Tom]

Image quality is probably going to be similar. DCResource should have a review out pretty soon of the SX10 so I would wait for a credible review before buying (actually I would wait 3-4 months to see what else comes out before hiking season). I am not a big fan of bulky / heavy AA batteries so that would push me toward the FZ28, but the SX10 has a flip out and twist LCD so that would probably win me over to the Canon. I experimented with a FZ18 for a while (previous version of FZ28) and the thing I really didn't like about it was that to shoot with a polarizer you screwed it onto the lens instead of using an adapter tube. The upside is the polarizer retracts into the lens housing when you turn it off so it's more compact to carry. The downside is it's a pain to quickly remove the polarizer since you have to screw it off instead of the split second bayonet mount you typically have with canon adapter tubes. Also, the polarizer for the FZ18 / FZ28 is a smaller diameter and it's hard find a quality filter in that size. Also, you can't find thin polarizers in that size and I found mine would vignette at wide angle. You can't go with a step up ring and a bigger filter to avoid the vignetting because it would break the camera when you turn it off when it retracted into the lens housing. So after trying it out, I decided to pass on the FZ18 because shooting with a polarizer is of critical importance to me. I would probably go with the SX10 unless the image quality proves to be less or the SX10 also requires screw on polarizers.

[captain jack]

The Olympus just looks sexier to me. The Panny looks like a plastic intergalactic transporter or something,very 22nd century Sci-Fi in its appearance. The thing I like best about the Canon is the auto focus, which always seems to be crisp and tight, even at maximum zoom. Some other brands I have played with leave me thinking I need glasses they are so blurry.

[Slugman]

I was just at Fred Meyer and they had an SX10 there, so I was playing around with it. I was pretty impressed. The autofocus stayed spot on during zoom. Too bad they didn't have the FZ28 on hand for comparison. I was also pleasantly surprised that the camera wasn't as huge or heavy as I had imagined. It's only slightly worse than my present Olympus C-3000Z. I must say I really like some of the Panasonic's pictures that I've seen. Naturealbeing's picture above is a perfect example. I may just wait until after the holidays and make my decision based on which camera I can get the better deal on.

[captain jack]

I was just reading on the Olympus camera website that the 565 works wirelessly with thier FL-50R flash unit. I like the option of having an outboard flash for bounce and diffused shots. Wireless with the timer means I can spot light objects too, walking away from the camera, but holding the flash unit.