I had once the same doubt that you have know.
I needed (at least I thought I needed) a big zoom camera so I could have liberty in composition - a friend has a Canon A70 and he feels the limitation of his 3x zoom when we go to grab some shots together.
My top choices where: Fuji S5000; Minolta Z1; and HP 945. This was in November, and the prices here in Portugal were about the same for the S5000 and Z1 and about 100 € more for the HP 945 but almoust the same price via Pixmania.com.
So, after lots of reading and studing, night over night reading reviews in the net I finally went to a store (FNAC) and talk to a specialist.
Fist thing he asked me was if I needed the 5 MP of the HP. When I realized I didn't (I don't do such large prints), the choice became harder: the DSRL look of the S5000 or the sofistication of the Z1?
There where 2 things that made me go for the S5000, and I still haven't regret neither:
1º) The fdeeling of it. Just go out to a store and try one. Get your ands on it, and you woun't let it go no more.
2º)Image qualaty: the supposed FNAC expert convinced me that the Fuji's image would be better than the Z1. And I'm very impressed with it. As I mentioned earlier I have a friend that have a Canon Powershot A70 that is supposed to be a mark in it's class, but when we compare the image qualaty, even sometimes when we have friends seeing the photos... they all prefere the images of Fuji S5000. It isn't something that you can put your finger on it right away... but is a je ne sais quoi better.
And the 10x zoom: use it and abuse it. It is just wonderfull. Nice and smoth.
It isn't all roses. For example, when using high ISO the noise can be a issue, as the lowest ISO is 200. But when I compare the S5000 at ISO 200 with the A70 at ISO 100 for example, I don't find it more noisy.
In my portfolio there are only a few pictures but they where all taken with the S5000, at ISO 200, so if you want you can take a peek.
Sorry for all this talk, but when you talk of thing you love... it's hard to save words.
Nuno |
