Canon S3IS vs Fuji S6000fd vs ???

[Krioni]

I know everyone here is probably sick of the same old "Which camera should I buy?" questions, so I apologize up front for subjecting you to another such thread.

I need a new camera to replace my old POS cheap Samsung 4MP camera.

This will be my all around camera, so I'll be using it in all conditions. I have a 2 year old, so many pictures will be indoor and outdoor of him playing. My nephew will be starting football this year, so I'll be taking pics of that most likely. I will probably take some nature photos here and there, but it's going to be primarily used for photos of family events, etc. I'm looking in the US$300(ish) range.

Here's what's important to me:
Image Quality
Continuous/Burst mode (for capturing the 2 year old in action)
Reasonably short shutter lag
High zoom is nice, but not 100% necesarry
A decent Movie Mode
Did I mention image quality?
Image Stabilization would be nice because I have shaky hands


I've been reading and reading and reading about cameras lately. I thought I'd decided on the Canon S3IS until I started reading about how good the Fuji image processors are and looked into the S6000fd... now I'm confused again. The S3 has optical IS which would be nice for my shakey hands... but then the Fuji is supposed to have better IQ... I'm back to square one. Also, seeing the Fuji makes me wonder if I've missed others that might be a good fit.

So, what to you guys and gals think between the following cameras?
Canon S3IS
Fuji S6000fd
Panasonic FZ8
Others???

Thanks in advance for any opinions or suggestions that you give.

UPDATE
Well, I went and finally found a shop (Wolf Camera) that had the S6000fd there so that I could get my hands on it.

My impressions:
-> The camera is very, very comfortable in my hands
-> The camera is substantially larger than any of the other "Ultrazoom" type camera
-> It feels very much like an SLR
-> The face detection technology is pretty neat and seems to work well (from the few minutes I played with the camera)
-> The continuous shooting mode sucks. There's a 3 pic burst mode that's nice and very fast, but it's less than one frame per second when you do the unlimited continuous mode
-> The manual zoom ring is much nicer than the normal rocker type electronic zoom on most cameras

I am still a little undecided though since the caon's continuous shooting mode is far superior. But my leaning right now is toward the Fuji.

I'm thinking about buying an xD card and an SD card, taking them up there and having them let me pop off a few pics of the same situations in each camera to take a look at the results....

I think i'm over analysing this

 

[episodic]

Canon - decent all around
Fuji - shines in low light - high usable ISO's makeup for cam shake
Panasonic FZ8 - great cam outside in ISO 100 territory - check out examples of ISO 400 and up on samples sites to determine if you want this. . .


You say you are going to photo alot indoors. . .I'd get the fuji

 

[Krioni]

I'm trying to find a local shop to go put my hands on the Fuji, I looked on dpreview.com and the size difference is significant. I'd like to see if it feels as bulky as it sounds.

Do you (or any other person responding) have any experience with any of these or similar cameras?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[episodic]

Go to dpreview - they do in depth reviews of all these cameras with hi res samples, etc.

 

[Aharami]

i was in the same boat as you last year. I compared the S3, F6000, and FZ7. I really liked the F6000, but ended up not choosing that cuz it didnt have IS. Fuji's solution is IS just to bump up the ISO. Also the Fuji is a lot bigger than the Canon or Panasonic. I couldnt find the Fuji anywhere local to check it out. But played with the FZ7 and S3 at local circuit city. FZ7 is smaller than the S3 (dunno about FZ8)...actually felt better in my hands than the S3, but didnt like its LCD or EVF. Also wasnt too pleased with the sample pics on dpreview. Ended up buying the S3 and have been very happy so far (although this camera does have its limits). Takes wonderful pictures. I really wanted a manual focus ring like the one Fuji has (S3's manual focus is a PITA)...but no IS was a dealbreaker...especially on a superzoom. I think if Fuji put IS on the F6000, i would've bought that instead of the Canon.

Also check out Panasonic FZ50. Better camera than the FZ8. But its big like the F6000

 

[RedWolf]

F50 is well out of the price range. Take a look at the Sony H2/5. They're on clearance now.

The lack of IS on the S6000 isn't a huge deal unless you shoot stationary objects. On moving subjects, high iso ability is more important. If, however, you shoot stationary objects at long zoom, in good light, the Fuji is going to have more of a chance of blurring than the S3, FZ8, or H2/5.

I've been researching cameras for the past year and just bought a replacement for my S602z. I would head to DPreview.com and read the reviews of all the cameras but here's some advantages:

Canon S3 - bright, punchy color (good reds), excellent movie mode (largest file sizes) and the ability to take a picture while recording a movie, ISO usable to 400 for small prints

Sony H2/5 - bright colors but less than the S3, fairly fast camera, uses memory sticks (good if you have a psp, bad otherwise), good image quality, ISO usable to 400

FZ8 - Inexpensive cam (<300), RAW mode, very fast shot to shot (with/without flash), smaller than the others, excellent IQ in good light, ISO at 400 not as good as S3/H2/5 (raw makes up for this but increases shot-to-shot times), wide-screen movies and photos

Fuji S6000, cooler colors than S3/H2 (some people feel they are more natural), 10.7x zoom not as long as others, XD picture card limited to 2gb, good movie mode with zoom, completely manual zoom and focus with rings (more like SLR and much better control than rocker switch), best high iso IQ by far (iso 1600 usable for small prints), shot to shot times slightly slower than S3/H2/5, AA batteries instead of proprietary battery, larger than the others, no Optical Image Stabilization (useful for zoomed shots of slow/non-moving subjects)

The main reason I didn't go with an S6000 is I could never find one to look at. The size difference was a negative for me and I wanted to hold one and see just how much bigger it was. Unfortunately, I was never able to find one to try. As far as a photographic tool, the Fuji is the best of the bunch, by far. For casual snapshots of the kids they'll all do well. Personally, I'd choose either the FZ8 or the S6000. If you're taking most of your photos outside in good light I'd pick the FZ8. Otherwise the S6000.

 

[Krioni]

Well, I went and finally found a shop (Wolf Camera) that had the S6000fd there so that I could get my hands on it.

My impressions:
-> The camera is very, very comfortable in my hands
-> The camera is substantially larger than any of the other "Ultrazoom" type camera
-> It feels very much like an SLR
-> The face detection technology is pretty neat and seems to work well (from the few minutes I played with the camera)
-> The continuous shooting mode sucks. There's a 3 pic burst mode that's nice and very fast, but it's less than one frame per second when you do the unlimited continuous mode
-> The manual zoom ring is much nicer than the normal rocker type electronic zoom on most cameras

I am still a little undecided though since the caon's continuous shooting mode is far superior. But my leaning right now is toward the Fuji.

I'm thinking about buying an xD card and an SD card, taking them up there and having them let me pop off a few pics of the same situations in each camera to take a look at the results....

I think i'm over analysing this

 

[Aharami]

heh. i just checked out the Fuji F6000fd at local mall camera shop too (ritz camera). very impressed with this camera even though its double the size of my S3. But size in this case isnt really a big deciding factor since the S3 isnt a pocketable camera anyways. So both would have to be hung around the neck (tourist style) or on the shoulder. The manual zoom ring itself is worth it. If I didnt already have the S3, I wouldve jumped on this camera. especailly with the $50 rebate on the F6000
http://www.fujifilmrebates.com...tem.aspx?productID=135

 

[Krioni]

Well, you could always sell your S3 and have money for the Fuji and then some

 

[RedWolf]

On the burst modes, did you try the final 3 burst mode? It takes pictures continuously at a faster rate than continuous and will keep the last 3 pictures when you let off of the shutter. My S602 has this feature and I found it to be a good replacement for fast continuous shooting (602 had final 5, though).

 

[Krioni]

Yeah, I had noticed that on the camera... that's a good idea. I really wish the Fuji just had a decent (unlimited) continuous mode. Do you think this limitation arises from the camera using slower xD memory?

 

[RedWolf]

It is tough to say but I think it is the XD card. Olympus also uses the XD cards and their lates model, the 550UZ, has only a 1 fps burst mode. Sony's H7/9 has a 1.9fps burst mode and Fuji's S6000 has a .6 fps (average) burst mode (final 3 or top 3 mode is 2.2fps). By contrast, the FZ8 has a 2.1 fps continuous. Both the Olympus and the Fuji are comparable cameras to the Sony/Panasonic but they are half as fast in burst mode. I think the Top/Final 3 modes of the Fuji keep 3 images in internal memory so it is faster. Anyway, I'd guess they speed difference is due the the xd card because both cameras using xd are considerably slower.

 

[Krioni]

It's really unfortunate that Fuji is using the crappy xD memory, or that they at least haven't improved the performance of it as much as SD memory has improved.

 

[RedWolf]

I would bet that Fuji will move to SD with their next version of the S6000. The F31/F20's update (F40) uses SD and XD. Hopefully, they've seen the light and will transition to SD completely.