Panasonic FZ30 or Fuji S9500?

Flibster

Flibster

Flibster

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Been asked to look at these for a mate who wants to get into photography without going for a DSLR while going for something better than my A80 *which he didn't like*

The above are the closest that I can find to a SLR while keeping the 'compact' sensabilities.

Going to drag him into a camera shop later this week to have a play - but does anyone have any opinion over which is better?

I'm kind of biased towards the Fuji S9500 - purely as it takes Compact Flash and I know what CF is like. Got a couple of Integral 100x i-Pro 2gb cards and they're great.

Looked on dpreview and they can't seem to really choose between them. Both have some serious drawbacks *high ISO ability seems to be the killer on the Fuji* but both seem pretty good.

He's going to be using it for holidays, landscapes, air shows, motorsport events and probably will go pretty much everywhere with him.

Tried persuading him to try a D50 *as it's only £75 more* but he's not going for it.

Any comments/suggestions?

Ta. :D

Simon/~Flibster
 
The Panasonic has a noisier sensor, but has a longer zoom and IS. The Fuji has a manual zoom (mechanical) and usable iso up to 800 (1600 is a little too noisy, but cleans up well)

I think the fuji feels nicer and more natural to hold, but each to their own. The only way is to hold them and have a play.

cmt
 
cmt said:
The only way is to hold them and have a play.
Click to expand...

Very little between them. It was a toss up between the 2 for me and I went for the Fuji. IS is a great feature. As cmt said you will have to do some post processing work to get the higher ASA images presentable but they can clean up very well. The Fuji felt and looked better to me but it's really down to personal choice. Both are great for the money.
 
cmt said:
The Panasonic has a noisier sensor, but has a longer zoom and IS. The Fuji has a manual zoom (mechanical) and usable iso up to 800 (1600 is a little too noisy, but cleans up well)

I think the fuji feels nicer and more natural to hold, but each to their own. The only way is to hold them and have a play.

cmt
Click to expand...
I bought a s9500 off this fella :)

Best decision I made, it was a knock up between the same 2 again, and I went for the s9500 and probably wouldn't change my mind if given the same option.
 
Colin_da_Killer said:
I bought a s9500 off this fella :)

Best decision I made, it was a knock up between the same 2 again, and I went for the s9500 and probably wouldn't change my mind if given the same option.
Click to expand...

Glad you like it. Some of the pics you've been taking with it are superb :)

I am using by brothers at the moment (got two from the same p[lace when they were on offer.... he promised to pay for it, but hasn't yet - so i may be reposesing it. This was the other part of the funding for my jump to dslr; i will get there one day!)


cmt
 
Seems like the S9500 has a better following on here then. :D

Going for a shufti at them tomorrow with him *still going to try to push him towards the D50 ;)*

Taking my laptop with me so we can take some shots to compare.

Cheers guys. :D

Simon/~Flibster
 
I have the FZ30 and find it rather spangly. Yes, the 9500 shoots to higher ISO but from what I've seen, it appears to lack detail at increased sensitivty. The FZ30 does suffer bad noise around ISO 200 and beyond but I can work round that and the IS is obscenely good, a decent flash helps too.

Both good cameras, check the reviews, go pick them up, choose which you like.
 
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