Camera Labs

Hey there, new to site. I am in the market for a new camera. I currently own a Canon Powershot A80. I want a camera with a ultra-zoom that takes great indoor pictures. I have a new baby and use the camera a bunch indoors. I have read every review I can find on the Olympus sp-550uz and Canon S5.

I know the Olympus has some problems, but hoping most of them will be corrected in the new model 560-uz. I love the zoom and wide angel lens on this camera. Just no ratings on the 560 as they are not in stores yet.

Everywhere I look, the Canon has a pretty good rating, just doesn't have wide angle lens, and not as much zoom.

I'm more a point and shoot picture taker but wouldn't mind starting to explore with manual settings if they will improve my pictures.

Any advice?

Hi tleray

A very warm welcome to the Camera Labs forum.

You have no doubt already seen Gordon's best super-zoom digital cameras buyer's guide as well as his Olympus SP 550 Ultra Zoom review. I see that your A80 has an equivalent 38-114 mm optical zoom. If you are happy with the wide-angle capabilities of this camera then you have a pretty good choice of "super-zoom" cameras. If you want a wider angle then at first glance it looks like the Olympus SP 560 Ultra Zoom with its 27-486mm zoom may be worth the wait.

Have you a firm maximum budget in mind? Pretty likely with a new baby in the house I guess - congratulations by the way! I am not going to point you towards the world of DSLRs because I don't think that's where you want to go right now but for fun why not have a look at Gordon's Canon PowerShot G9 review? You may well not be tempted (but it is a Canon and you currently are a Canon owner ) but perhaps you would value the compactness of this camera (very easy to have it close at hand for those baby photos) compared to a more bulky super-zoom. It has a proper flash hot shoe as well as built in flash for those indoor photos. If you haven't ruled out a compact form factor from your upgrade then you might want to check out the best compact digital cameras feature on this site.

Good luck with your decision. Let us know how you get on.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Hi tleray, I'd also consider the Panasonic Lumix FZ8, or if you want the wide angle and face detection, the new FZ18 which we'll be reviewing very soon...

I really wanted to go to a camera shop and ask what brand seems to be the best and get an expert opinion. Unfortunetly we do not have any camera shops here in the area, only walmart, best buy, etc. I have been to all of them and can not find all cameras at one store:( Everyday I keep reading reviews to help me decide but still I'm confused.

I do know I do not want another small camera and I want the zoom at least 12X. I have looked at the olympus sp-560uz (online), sony H9, Panasonic FZ18, Canon S5. They all seem to be compariable, in your opinion which is best for indoor photos. All the sample shots seem to be outdoors. I would just hate to spend this money and buy a camera that takes lousy indoor photos.

Hi, we always post indoor shots on our Gallery pages!

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/SonyH ... ages.shtml

and

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Olymp ... age5.shtml

and

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panas ... ages.shtml

Gordon

Well I went ahead and found the Olympus 560uz @ Circuit City and purchased it. Went home last nite and played with it. I find it's way too complicated with clicking this and that to get a photo. I'm returning it today. I like all the features just not wild about about all the maual changes you have to do to achieve a good shot.

Let me ask....would the others mentioned, panasonic FZ18 or Canon S5 be the same as far as having to manually change the settings? I was thinking about returning it for one of these and playing with it this weekend.

Again looking for mostly long zoom, so compacts seem out.

We've just posted our review of the Panasonic FZ18 here:

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panas ... _DMC_FZ18/

I have to say I was very impressed by the Intelligent Auto mode which seemed uncannily accurate in recognising the type of subject and automatically selecting the most appropriate scene preset for it. The FZ18 also doesn't suffer from the fringing of the Olympus and Fujifilm when zoomed-in - see our first results page in that review.

Gordon