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2010-06-06 01:01
in Public
I have to replace my Panasonic DMC TZ5 camera as I need to buy a water housing, and at $300-ish, I'm not buying one for a 2 year old camera. Also, I had been wishing for a built in GPS in my camera since I am tired of having to geotag my pictures after the fact (it's not that hard, but it's time consuming, see my geotagging page.
I found out that Panasonic had fulfilled my wish and did come out with a new camera that had GPS geotagging built in a compact high zoom camera, and that a few other companies did too. I spent a lot of hours finding and reading all the reviews and deciding which camera would work for me.
Summary and ranking of each camera
Panasonic DMC TZ10 (aka ZS7 in the US) is my top pick for the good zoom that starts at 25mm, GPS geotagging with GPS fixes that are kept in the background when the camera is off, and the important diving case availability.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX5 came as a close second: the zoom wasn't as big (only 10X), but its GPS would also log altitude and compass heading and its optics and picture processing are better than the Panasonic. Sony also finally wisened up and added SDHC support instead of their stupid memory sticks. Unfortunately, there are no underwater/diving cases for it and none planned that I could find.
Canon PowerShot SX210 IS likely was interesting with its 14X zoom, but it has a stupid pop up flash, non stellar pictures, no GPS, and no underwater/diving case available.
Samsung HZ35W/WB650 was an interesting new camera that had a 15X zoom (!), GPS support, but no diving case, bad support from Samsung, substandard picture quality, and is somehow missing an orientation sensor to tag picture orientation (!). Too bad because the bigger battery, lesser OLED screen draw and 15X zoom would have been nice.
Ricoh CX3 is last, and I guess least. It comes with a 10X zoom, no underwater/diving case availability, no manual controls and no GPS. You can't even zoom while taking a video. It likely takes fairly good pictures but its lack of features just put it last.
Raw notes gathered on each camera
Panasonic DMC TZ10 (aka ZS7 in the US)
links and quotes:
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC_TZ10_ZS7
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_zs7-review
http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2010/02/26/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-TZ10/p1
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMC-ZS3-Digital-Stabilized-Silver/product-reviews/B001QFZMD8/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar
"I learned that Panasonic decided to include a restriction in their latest firmware version (1.2) that only allows the camera to operate with one of their $50 batteries."
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC_TZ7_ZS3/verdict.shtml
"Panasonic's Intelligent Auto is one of the best on the market, having an uncanny ability to figure out what you're trying to take"
"In most respects, the ZS7 is better than the ZS3 that it replaces, offering manual controls, a built-in GPS, improved image stabilization, faster autofocus, enhanced image sharpening"
"That brings us to image quality, which was kind of a let-down. If you keep the ISO low, you'll get pretty nice results from the ZS7 -- for the most part. The camera exposes photos accurately, though it tends to clip highlights easily. Colors look good, as does sharpness, especially if you've got Intelligent Resolution turned on. Purple fringing is automatically removed by the camera, and barrel distortion is removed as well"
http://avc-cs.panasonic.net/faq/1033/doc/html/dsc/en/index_dmc_tz10_zs7.html
Quick specs/notes:
diving case: YES
12X zoom: 25-300mm
GPS built in for geotagging BUT only lat and long.
fastest GPS aquisition time.
zoom during video, infinite video shooting
manual controls: yes
faulty red eye reduction?
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX5
links and quotes:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/sony/dsc_hx5v-review
http://cameralabs.com/reviews/Sony_Cyber-shot_DSC_HX5
"this proprietary approach means you'll be forced to buy potentially expensive accessories from Sony alone. Ultimately we'd have preferred standard USB, TV and HDMI outputs, like its rival, the Panasonic TZ10 / ZS7."
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC_TZ10_ZS7/verdict.shtml
"The 1080i video coupled with 10fps burst shooting gives the HX5 two key advantages over the Panasonic, and while it may not display the name of locations on-screen, it does record altitude and compass data. Depending on your requirements, these could outweigh the TZ10 / ZS7's benefits"
http://cameralabs.com/reviews/Sony_Cyber-shot_DSC_HX5/verdict.shtml
"Moving on, Sony makes a big deal about the low light capabilities of its 'Exmor R' CMOS sensor, claiming high sensitivity and low noise. Unfortunately there was little evidence of superiority in our tests though, with the HX5 suffering from the relatively high levels of noise reduction we've become used-to from Sony with smearing of fine detail. Like most compacts the best results are had below 400 ISO, and side-by-side against the Panasonic TZ10 / ZS7 in our High ISO Noise results page, there was certainly no advantage to the Sony. Sure the HX5's images contained less visible noise, but this again was due to overly aggressive (and non-adjustable) noise reduction rather than a cleaner image. That said, the HX5's unique Handheld Twilight and Anti Motion Blur modes delivered a genuine advantage over shooting in Program at higher sensitivities."
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/sony/dsc_hx5v-review
"When you're ready to charge the HX5V's battery, just pop it into the included charger. And then be prepared to wait, as this is one of the slower chargers on the market. A typical charge takes 4.5 hours, with a full charge taking a whopping 5.5 hours. If this becomes a problem, you might want to consider buying the fast charger listed below."
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/sony/dsc_hx5v-review/using
"If you compare these images with those from the Panasonic ZS7, you can see the different approaches taken to noise reduction. Panasonic leaves the grainy noise behind, while Sony smudges the heck out of it. I'd rather have the grain and remove the noise myself using something like NeatImage, but that's a subjective thing. Regardless, neither the DSC-HX5V nor the DMC-ZS7 produce very good photos in these situations, especially at ISO 400 and above."
Quick specs/notes:
diving case: NO
10X zoom: 25-250mm
GPS with lat, lon, altitude and compass
1080i video, zoom during video
29mn video limit
zoom during filming
very nice built in panorama compositing by swaying camera left to right
smile detection
10fps burst mode for 10 frames
does support SDHC (but not SDXC)
HDR mode which helps a bit for contrast in low light
better picture quality than TZ10:
http://cameralabs.com/reviews/Sony_Cyber-shot_DSC_HX5/sample_images.shtml
http://cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC_TZ10_ZS7/sample_images.shtml
and
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/sony/dsc_hx5v-review/using
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_zs7-review/using
Canon PowerShot SX210 IS
links and quotes:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_sx210-review
http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/news/2010/02/10/Canon-Launches-New-Compact-Cameras/p2
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon_PowerShot_SX210_IS/verdict.shtml
"PowerShot SX210 IS resolving slightly finer detail than the Lumix TZ10 / ZS7, which in turn slightly out-resolves the Cyber-shot HX5"
"set the SX210 IS to its 'burst' mode of one frame every 1.4 seconds"
"Unfortunately, it also has frustrating ergonomics, a weak flash, average performance (at best), and photo quality that could be better."
Quick specs/notes:
diving case: NO
14X zoom: 28-392 mm
NO GPS
zoom during video
stupid flash that pops out for every picture
Samsung HZ35W/WB650
links and quotes:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1001/10011903hz35whz30w.asp
http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2010/06/03/Samsung-WB650/p1
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinion_text.asp?prodkey=samsung_hz35w&opinion=45152
"GPS is so slow to acquire a signal (even in wide open ground) that it makes it all but useless for giving a location to travel photos. You cannot even store the last position acquired. If I am going to have to use Flickr or Picasa to geo tag my pics I would not have spent on a useless function like GPS."
"Contact with Samsung regarding the GPS and maps got no usefiull answer and obviously no interest in users comments/problems."
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-HZ35W-Digital-compact-supported/product-reviews/B0036RBEFE/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_3?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addThreeStar
"The camera has no orientation sensor to tell which way you are holding it, so you have to manually rotate all your pictures."
http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2010/06/03/Samsung-WB650/p3
"At lower ISO settings it's certainly not a patch on the superb low-ISO results of the TZ10, but at 400 ISO and higher there's really not much in it. If only Samsung could sort out its image processing, Panasonic and the other manufacturers would be in real trouble."
Quick specs/notes:
diving case: NO
15X zoom: 24-360mm
GPS can show location on maps downloaded in sd card
zoom during video
no orientation sensor for pictures (!)
charges the battery in the camera over USB port
non standard USB cable
big battery and better life with AMOLED screen
Ricoh CX3
links and quotes:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2010/02/23/Ricoh-CX3/p2
"Unlike its soon-to-be arch rival the Panasonic TZ10 the CX3 has no manual exposure controls"
http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2010/02/23/Ricoh-CX3/p4
Quick specs/notes:
diving case: NO
10.7x zoom: 28-300mm
no GPS
back illuminated CMOS sensor
no zoom during video
no manual controls
HDR mode which helps a bit for contrast in low light
5fps burst mode |
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