I'm finally going to buy one!---Canon S2IS or Panasonic FZ5 OPINIONS???

I have researched as much as I'm willing to research now..... both of these cameras come highly recommended by dpreview.com (thanks to those of you who recommended this very thorough site!). I want the best pictures I can get. I don't really care about the movie mode. I want quick. I did check on the Nikon D50 (thanks Bill :)) but this is to be a "household" camera and my husband won't learn anything other than which button to push to take the picture so that's out for us. Does anyone have any experience with either of these cameras? I need the image stabilization to work well as my hands tend to shake. I don't really know which battery system I'd like. Right now I do use a Canon with AA's so I am used to that but I'm not totally committed to it.

Thanks to anyone who can and is willing to offer some feedback.

I don't know anything about the Panasonic but I do have a Canon point and shoot in addition to my Nikon D50 and will say I really do like the lil Canon a lot - and the software bundle that comes with the Canon is really nice. The S2IS does get a lot of good reviews and personally - if I were looking for a good point and shoot - I'd have no qualms about getting it.

I have a canon A70 that I use everyday. I know S2IS is a much better camera than the A70. I have always been a canon fan.

I recently bought the FZ5 as a gift for my brother. He is in India and I wanted to make sure everything is fine before I sent it to him. So, I used it for a month and a half before I sent it to him. I have to admit that I did try to talk him into buying another canon before purchasing this one. He was keen on this, so I had to get this.

I loved the camera. It is a bit bulky compared to the typical point and shoot cameras. It has a decent sized lens, definitely not very sleek. But it is still about the same weight or lighter than my A70 with its four AA batteries. It fits very comfortable in your palm. The photos are amazing. The flash is very powerful on this. I took haloween pictures outside the house and each one of them came out great. I have noticed that the built in flash on the canons are not that good, even on my SLR the built in flash is not that powerful. FOr a pro looking for manual control on the shutter speed and focal length, this camera offers a lot of customization. However, I was running around with my 2 year old, so never really tried any of those options. I just used it as a point and shoot and the pictures were fine.

The other thing that I really liked in comparison to my A70 was that I could take pictures really fast without any noticeable delay from frame to frame. Cannot comment about the S2IS in this regard, but I surely liked that on the FZ5.

I know there is one more mom here that owns this camera. I forget who it is. You can search for FZ5 in the lounge and you can find out. May be she will post her experience with this too.

There was a deal on Dell sometime in September and I got mine for 300$. Not sure what the current price is for this.

DH just got me a Casio model with the thin body type. One of the reasons he got it was the speed, supposed to have very short lag time for a digital. He got a bulkier Nikon for himself and I think the Casio is a bit faster. My brother's boss is a digital camera junkie and also goes for the Casio models.

Thanks so much for all the responses. I am going cross-eyed trying to read every review ever written on these two cameras....... I'd hate to make the wrong decision on something like this.

I'd love to hear more from those of you who have one of these cameras..........I know you're out there........... :)

Thanks! :)

Well, we have the panasonic fz3 not fz5 and I love it. I've been using it for almost a year and have no complaints.

Kim
t&e 5/03

I suggest you go to a store (like Wolf/Ritz Camera) to play around with the two models. I was in your shoes a few months ago. I was all set to get the Canon but went to the store anyway because I also wanted to check a Sony from the same category. I never considered the Panasonic because after our pervious flop with a camera, I was set on getting a good brand this time. Guess what I ended up with? The Panasonic! The Canon is SO huge. The Panasonic is so much smaller and lighter. The Canon has 4 AA batteries; it makes it so bulky and heavy. The Panasonic has a small rechargeable battery. I liked the Zoom handling and the user interface on the Panasonic much better. So, even though I imagine that Canon might give you better picture quality, to tell you the truth, for "unprofessional" photographers like us, we can't really see the difference.

Good luck,

Thanks, again to all who responded. I did go to the camera store this afternoon to "play" a bit. I had read a couple of places that the Panasonic was smaller than the Canon but I figured..."how much different could it be?". Well, a lot! I was amazed at how differently they fit in my hand. I will be getting the Panasonic ( I know you'll all be able to sleep better tonight knowing I've made my decision :) ). The guys who work there said the picture quality is basically the same with these two cameras. Both have slight issues in different areas. They all have something to improve on, I guess.

Thanks, again! Now I'm off to find the best deal. I haven't found anything near as low as $300 though. I can't believe I missed that! :(