The Canon S5 IS will have the best image quality. I think the controls on the Panasonics are a little more user friendly. I don't think the Panasonic has a better lens. It's longer. But that's not necessarily better. It depends on what you want the camera for, how much you want to spend, and what's most important to you. As for image stabilization - all of these cameras have it. And if you're looking at these, you should also look at the Olympus SP-560 UZ. It also has an 18x zoom lens with image stabilization. I'm just about ready to post a pro review for it. Should be up tonight or tomorrow.

For me, it comes down to lens vs image quality. The S3 IS will be a less expensive alternative because it's older. The S5 IS will have the best image quality, unless Panasonic has had something magic happen to their cameras. I'm not saying their image quality is bad, though. It's just not as good as Canon's. So do you want the 18x zoom, or do you want the best image quality? If you want the 18x zoom, I think I'd go with the Olympus over the Panasonic. But to be fair, I haven't had a chance to use the Panasonic and I have used the Olympus. So I'm a little biased towards the SP-560 UZ right now.