Which of the 2 cameras?

[Haidden]

I posted before but I have changed choices and its def between these 2 but I cant decide.

Canon Powershot S5 IS

or

Fuji s6000fd (or S6500fd depending on where you live)

What I will be using it for is just regular old traveling pictures when I take vacations, pictures of animals such as my dogs and I go to concerts where its really low light and I would be using it there to get shots when allowed.

So the question is for all of those uses which camera would be best for me? I know fuji is the king of low light and would be best in concerts.

Just wanted to get a few opinions and if you have another suggestion go ahead and post what you think (if you think another would be better)

Thanks.

[angelsix]

I'm sure you glanced at my post on the S5 features, so it's nice to see someone else's narrowed choices. Here's a few thoughts, having looked at the Fuji on their site.

The concerts I go to aren't usually low light -- the band is lighted brightly -- the audience is just in the dark. The problem is that I don't have $500 tickets, so am not close to the band. Do you usually sit close enought that with the Fuji you'd fill the frame? If not, you may be cropping the picture which is when the Canon's 8mp would be better than the Fuji's 6mp. On the other hand, the larger Fuji lens would surely capture more light. On the third hand (what kind of animal is this anyway?) most peoples' photos at concerts are more memento snapshots than actual print & frame quality; if that's your situation I'll bet the difference ultimately wouldn't be a big deal.

As you travel around, you'll likely be aware of the Fuji's extra weight (570 g vs. 450 g) and size (Fuji 130.7 x 97.2 x 119.5 mm vx. Canon 117.0 x 80.0 x 77.7mm). As I ramble along here, I'd guess in the long run, big lens vs. weight/size will be the tradeoff you'll care about most. That's very subjective. You might well feel good about the extra weight/size, knowing it's in the lens and improving the pictures.

The Fuji, with a bigger lens and ability to use RAW format will appeal to very serious photographers who want to be able to print large photos. I had a Canon that used RAW, and found, for me, it wasn't worth the extra memory space.

Personally, I think it's a bit crummy that the Fuji is still at 6mp. I'll bet they're about to come out with one that's 8mp. That's what happened to me when I bought my S3, and it does generate a bit of frustration.

I end up cropping almost all of my pictures, so a 6mp picture might end up being only 4mp when I'm done, and that starts to be noticeable.

For animal photos, the Canon hot shoe might come in handy. Animal photos seem particularly susceptible to red (or green or whatever) eye.

Have you tried to take a photo in a crowd while travelling, but couldn't get a clear view, so ended up just going with wide angle and holding the camera up to shoot by guess? If so, you'd love the ability to angle the S5's view screen down so you can actually frame the photo.

Fuji makes a big deal about their Face Detection, so it probably works better that Canon's, but the S5 does have Face Detection too. I haven't found a comparison about how these two cameras match up on that factor.

I hope some of these thoughts might be helpful. Good luck. Let us know what you decide.

[Haidden]

As far as the concerts go, yea the band is lit up by lights like you said and crowd in the dark but its still considered a low light shot and would need a higher ISO.

I am usually sitting pretty close, 6-10 rows away, just really depends on the layout of the auditorium.

The animals are just like dogs etc, not anything like running deer. I guess I will go play around with the 2 at a camera shop, if i can find one that carries them both, and see which one feels better to me. I like them both and they both have there good and bad things.

On the note you made about fuji about to put out a 8mp camera. That is one of my worries also, the s6000 came out last year and I know when I buy it they will announce a newer one, its just how my luck goes.

I will keep you posted on which one I decide to go with though and I appreciate your thoughts and comments they really did help.

[angelsix]

Now that I know you're talking about auditorium type concerts, from 6-10 rows, here's an addt'l thought. I was surprised by my S3 at how it was able to meaningfully use that little flash from distances like the 6th row. If you find a store that will let you play -- try shooting pictures at an internal wall at about the distance you're thinking about, with the built in flashes, and see how they do. Also, at those distances, a 'real' flash, on the S5hotshoe, would really brighten things up.

Glad you found some of my comments helpful.

[Haidden]

I wont be able to use flash at the concert, they will take the camera and if you refuse to give it up simply throw you out.... it will have to be directly off the light that is usable which higher ISO would come into play..

Mainly auditorium and club concerts.