Fuji E550 or Panasonic FZ5 digital camera ?

[jose]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a digital camera between $245 - $370 range.

Currently I have a film based Nikon N80 w/ 28-105 & 75-300 zoom lense w/ a SB-28 flash. I really don't know too much about digital camera's..

I need one to take pics of computer's & stuff to post on the web, vacation type pics..

So I really don't want to get a N70 for $1000 just for this type of stuff.

I check'd out the Fuji A345 at Bestbuy for $160 and found it to be horrible.. It's too small and very slow to focus. I guess I'm spoiled by my current film camera.

I'd like to find a camera close to the focus speed that my current Nikon has. Also with some flexiblity.. ie shutter, apeture & manual focus .

I know nothing short of a digital SLR would satisfy me, but I want to keep cost down.

I've found these 2 camera's on the web:

Fuji E550, 6.3MP, 4X opt zoom, 2.0LCD $242.99

Panasonic FZ5, 5MP, 12X opt zoom w/ image stab. $370

What do you guys think of these camera's ? Do you have a better
recomendation ?

Thanks for the help.

Regards,
Jose

 

[ProviaFan]

I shoot a Nikon DSLR, a Kodak P&S (rarely, I usually use the DSLR), and a Mamiya film camera. Some people around here are Canon fanboys to the same extreme as others are AMD or Intel fanboys, and you will hear a lot of "Canon > everything" comments, which are not necessarily true. A good website for testing that is about as unbiased as it can get is DPReview. Be sure to check out the Feature Search and Side-by-side comparison under their Buying Guide.

 

[jose]

Thanks, I checked the review of both camera's at DPReview and both were Highly Recomended.. Also I checked at Steve's DigiCam's.

I went to CC and tested out both camera's and I think I prefer the Panasonic FZ5 because of the size and the long zoom range.

I found the FZ5 for $370 online, do you think this is the best camera at this price point ?

Regards,
Jose

 

[WalkingDead]

I had used similar fuji and pan models. It depends what's important to you. The Fuji has better image quality, colors, low noise level and physical size. The Panasonic has better lense and image stablization.

 

[jose]

Another question, it there a difference is SD memory cards ?

The salesperson at CC said there is a big diff. , so he recomended the higher priced sd card..

Regards,
Jose

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: jose
Another question, it there a difference is SD memory cards ?

The salesperson at CC said there is a big diff. , so he recomended the higher priced sd card..

Regards,
Jose

Don't buy that stuff from Circuit(Sh)it(t)y (who also push "Monster" cables - monstrous not in performance but in marketing BS and price)... With that said, buy your SD card(s) from Newegg, and use Rob Galbraith's CF speed test (which includes SD cards) to find out which card offers the ideal price/performance ratio for you.