Looking for a camera

[smite]

Right, it looks like after talking to various people at work / friends etc.. she will be better off with a bridge camera for what she needs.

Strangely I have narrowed it down to the same 2 cameras that Pen was deciding between nearly a year ago. The Canon Powershot SX50 or Panasonic Lumix Fz200.

The Lumix is getting better reviews for picture quality with the f/2.8 (constant) app compared to the Canon at f/3.4-6.5. But the Canon has x50 zoom....I can't see her needing more than the x24 of the Lumix though.

I want to buy the Canon just due to the optical zoom, especially looking at the videos on YouTube, but as she wants the camera for pictures of the kids, landscapes, evening / parties and not bird watching (Perving )
then the Lumix is looking the better option.

Pen, which one did you get and how are you finding it?

[DrunkenZombiee]

Right, it looks like after talking to various people at work / friends etc.. she will be better off with a bridge camera for what she needs.

Strangely I have narrowed it down to the same 2 cameras that Pen was deciding between nearly a year ago. The Canon Powershot SX50 or Panasonic Lumix Fz200.

The Lumix is getting better reviews for picture quality with the f/2.8 (constant) app compared to the Canon at f/3.4-6.5. But the Canon has x50 zoom....I can't see her needing more than the x24 of the Lumix though.

I want to buy the Canon just due to the optical zoom, especially looking at the videos on YouTube, but as she wants the camera for pictures of the kids, landscapes, evening / parties and not bird watching (Perving )
then the Lumix is looking the better option.

Pen, which one did you get and how are you finding it?

These are the top end of bridge cameras mate and are pretty expensive for what they are IMO.

Superzooms have a lot of issues with barrel distortion, vignetting etc even when they are perfectly paired with a sensor to get maximum quality and the camera correcting for this in software/hardware. The Killer is the smaller sensor for me and ISO performance.

For that price you can get a really nice Micro four thirds setup, but lets see what Pen says =).

DZ.