Good Digital Camera with 10X

[ironlegsracer]

I'm looking for a decent digital camera with 10x,3.0mp or more,in the $300-400 area.
Got any suggestions.I wont say which ones I've been researching to keep it open to your suggestions.

Thanks!!!

[OlympusGuy]

well olympus has a nice 10x one 740-750-765-770. 740 is 3 megapixels. and rest is 4.0. Cannon have some nice ones. Thing is with olympus has nice lens. but cannon makes there cameras with digital stabilization. bolth are good. digital stabilization really helps with a 10x camera ALOT!

[ironlegsracer]

I've been looking at the S1 IS Canon,and the C-750.Mainly the Canon,since it takes CF cards.I like the external flash for the C-750 though,and the lower price.
The specs on the Canon state it has a manual focus mode,how does that work?
I like a few others but these 2 keep staying on the top of the list.
Here are my requirements:
3mp or more
10x on camera,and must accept other lenses
AA batteries
Prefer CF card
External flash a plus,if not I guess I could use an "AUTO" flash

My primary use is day and night sports shots,indoor and outdoor(mostly outdoor)

I want to be able to carry most anywhere.I love taking a camera on bike rides.

Thanks!
David

[The Ever Optimist]

I've been looking at the S1 IS Canon,and the C-750.Mainly the Canon,since it takes CF cards.I like the external flash for the C-750 though,and the lower price.
The specs on the Canon state it has a manual focus mode,how does that work?
I like a few others but these 2 keep staying on the top of the list.
Here are my requirements:
3mp or more
10x on camera,and must accept other lenses
AA batteries
Prefer CF card
External flash a plus,if not I guess I could use an "AUTO" flash

My primary use is day and night sports shots,indoor and outdoor(mostly outdoor)

I want to be able to carry most anywhere.I love taking a camera on bike rides.

Thanks!
David

I did the same research as you. Finally picked up the Olympus C750 and loving it. About the 10X, this is a good idea only if there is a lot of light. I liked the Olympus because
1. Hotshoe supports even the most high end Olympus flash AND you can utilize all the features of it
2. Complete manual control and the ability to completely customize the camera with Mymodes ( 4 modes u can preset with your favourite settings). The manual is actually very useable
3. Metal body - dont know how useful this is it but made me feel good
4. All the reviews raved about its image quality and they were right
5. The battery life is amazing - 4 AA batteries and they last for days. PCWorld rated this as the 3rd best advanced camera and tested it for over 500 shots on a single charge. btw it was beaten by Olympus 5060 and the Canon EOS Rebel Digital

Its drawbacks are
Lack of IS
Slow low light focussing but not such a big deal

The other camera i looked at was the Panasonic LZ 10, which is 10X + IS + Lieca lens.. It sounded great on paper but several reviews spoke about its problems with purple fringing.... having said that, i would have bought this i think but finally i couldnt find it at any of the retailers.

Hope this helps

Kunal

[ironlegsracer]

How big of a deal is the IS?I consider myself have a fairly steady hand.I have a dc4800 with the 2x lens which equals 6x total,and don't have a problem with to much shake.

[The Ever Optimist]

How big of a deal is the IS?I consider myself have a fairly steady hand.I have a dc4800 with the 2x lens which equals 6x total,and don't have a problem with to much shake.

IS can add 2-3 stops extra so i think that is priceless... it can mean that your pictures on the average will be sharper, chances of loosing that vital picture to camera shake reduce and in general if u are able to handhold easily at low shutter speeds, it WILL add 2-3 more stops for u to play around with.

I sorely miss it also because i have 'shaky' hands

Kunal

[tk-6411]

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ10 is no better nor worse than the Olympus C-750 in terms of purple fringing. At my office we tested my Panasonic FZ10 against an associate's Olympus C-750 and both ultra zooms did great....yes purple fringing was there on both cameras...but it can be compensated for by using Aperture Priority or Manual mode and setting the lens on both camera to f4 or smaller. I like the image stablized Leica lens of the Panasonic as it yields consistantly sharper images than my associate's Olmpus C-750 but if both cameras were on a tripod and timer I would say they are equally great at taking images.

As far as finding the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ10 in stores...its a lot harder to find. I eventually found mine at a local Ritz Camera shop...but had to order the extra proprietary batteries online as the local store didn't have any.

[ironlegsracer]

I found a deal on a S1 IS and got it.Should be here next week.I'm not going to keep it as long I did my last one.I figure I'll keep it a while sell it and upgrade to a dslr.Unless the S1 turns out to be a better camera than I expect,which is possible.Still technology goes up and prices go down,so who knows.Maybe when they replace the eos 300 I can find one cheap.I'll post a review in a few weeks and some samples.

[soilsample]

I hope you have good luck with the Canon S1 IS......

I bought one 2 weeks ago. I kept it for 3 days and took about 300 pictures in auto mode and tried all the custom combos I could...... ...... VERY few good shots. In low light conditions the shots were BAD. In daylight (sun) they were Ok at best.

I'm no photo expert...... and maybe I got a bad camera from the factory, but I was extremely displeased.

I must admit... the canon was NICE LOOKING and the reviews were good.... but who knows.

I traded the camera for an Olympus 765 and have taken TONS of Great (to me) shots! Straight out of the box in auto mode the shots were great. The colors are MUCH more vivid. Everything is much clearer.

The problems with the Olympus are
1) No AA batteries.... proprietary one.
2) Xd memory card..... I had a 512kb Smart media card paid for to go with the canon.

Hope this helps