whats the best bridge camera?

I've read that they all suffer from chromatic aberration and noise.
I've only looked at samples from the canon S5 and pany Z18.
The Canon has noise even at 100ISO and the Pany suffers from
smearing due to noise reduction. These affects seem even worse
in low light (sunsets etc) or flash (indoors). I'm only interested in
those with optical image stabilisation. Kodaks also have this
smearing,
the Fuji 9600 etc has neither (much) but has some shutter lag,
but doesnt have IS and is as heavy and bulky as an SLR, which
i'm trying to avoid. They all seem to offer fantastic features but
the image quality is let down by having small CCDs and huge MP
sensors. So which is the best?

Canon S5
Panasonic Z18
Kodak Z8612
Kodak Z712
Fuji 9000 & 6000 series
Olympus 550, 560, 570 etc
Sony H3, H10 etc

cheers

mike

On Wed, 07 May 2008 08:31:06 -0700, mike wrote:

> I've read that they all suffer from chromatic aberration and noise. I've
> only looked at samples from the canon S5 and pany Z18. The Canon has
> noise even at 100ISO and the Pany suffers from smearing due to noise
> reduction. These affects seem even worse in low light (sunsets etc) or
> flash (indoors). I'm only interested in those with optical image
> stabilisation. Kodaks also have this smearing,
> the Fuji 9600 etc has neither (much) but has some shutter lag, but
> doesnt have IS and is as heavy and bulky as an SLR, which i'm trying to
> avoid. They all seem to offer fantastic features but the image quality
> is let down by having small CCDs and huge MP sensors. So which is the
> best?
>
> Canon S5
> Panasonic Z18
> Kodak Z8612
> Kodak Z712
> Fuji 9000 & 6000 series
> Olympus 550, 560, 570 etc
> Sony H3, H10 etc
>
> cheers
>
> mike

IMHO - the Kodak P series, of course, I own one. Unfortunately, the have
been discontinued but may still be available via the Kodak online store.

BTW - asking what is the 'best' is really rather pointless. Everyone
figures the one they have is 'best' else they would have a better one.

I have the Z18 although I primarily use Nikon dSLRs.
It is a convenient way to have access to a super long zoom once in a while
and is a reasonably good, small snap shot camera.
If you use the Z18 in RAW formal it produces acceptable images at ISO 100,
maybe 200. The problem is just noise from the small sensor and it is very
ugly, by dSLR standards, at medium and high ISOs. In most images shot at
lower ISOs mediums can be reasonably corrected with a plug-in like
Noiseware, but only if you have all the raw bits to begin with. If you frame
the same subject with a dSLR at the same size, effective focal length etc it
is not hard to tell which image came from which camera. But you are
comparing lima beans with horeseradish.
If you use jpegs with any camera you get what you deserve. JPEGS are the
equivalent of having a drug store mini-lab run by an indifferent and poorly
trained adolescent inside your camera. Once in a while a good image might
emerge but most of the time it is a crap shoot.
I have looked at all the cameras you list or their immediate predecsessors
(which are largely the same innards in a different box) and in jpeg mode
there is not considerable difference between any of these cameras, unless
you are the kind of person who thinks there is a difference between a Polo
brand shirt bought at Costco and one bought at a Polo factory outlet store.

mike wrote:
> They all seem to offer fantastic features but
> the image quality is let down by having small CCDs and huge MP
> sensors. So which is the best?

I think it's deliberate - it is EXACTLY the small
sensor that allows a (physically) small lens
to achieve those lovely zoom factors.

BugBear

"mike" <dmike204@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:e544bae7-e553-4b3b-818d-60415d6f60f9@z72g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
> I've read that they all suffer from chromatic aberration and noise.
> I've only looked at samples from the canon S5 and pany Z18.
> The Canon has noise even at 100ISO and the Pany suffers from
> smearing due to noise reduction. These affects seem even worse
> in low light (sunsets etc) or flash (indoors). I'm only interested in
> those with optical image stabilisation. Kodaks also have this
> smearing,
> the Fuji 9600 etc has neither (much) but has some shutter lag,
> but doesnt have IS and is as heavy and bulky as an SLR, which
> i'm trying to avoid. They all seem to offer fantastic features but
> the image quality is let down by having small CCDs and huge MP
> sensors. So which is the best?
>
> Canon S5
> Panasonic Z18
> Kodak Z8612
> Kodak Z712
> Fuji 9000 & 6000 series
> Olympus 550, 560, 570 etc
> Sony H3, H10 etc

None of the above. Take a look at the Panasonic FZ50. Hands down it's the
class of all the bridge cams.

"Jufi" <bowser@heart.com> wrote in message news:Y4pUj.21$Hh.19@trndny01...
>
> "mike" <dmike204@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:e544bae7-e553-4b3b-818d-60415d6f60f9@z72g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>> I've read that they all suffer from chromatic aberration and noise.
>> I've only looked at samples from the canon S5 and pany Z18.
>> The Canon has noise even at 100ISO and the Pany suffers from
>> smearing due to noise reduction. These affects seem even worse
>> in low light (sunsets etc) or flash (indoors). I'm only interested in
>> those with optical image stabilisation. Kodaks also have this
>> smearing,
>> the Fuji 9600 etc has neither (much) but has some shutter lag,
>> but doesnt have IS and is as heavy and bulky as an SLR, which
>> i'm trying to avoid. They all seem to offer fantastic features but
>> the image quality is let down by having small CCDs and huge MP
>> sensors. So which is the best?
>>
>> Canon S5
>> Panasonic Z18
>> Kodak Z8612
>> Kodak Z712
>> Fuji 9000 & 6000 series
>> Olympus 550, 560, 570 etc
>> Sony H3, H10 etc
>
> None of the above. Take a look at the Panasonic FZ50. Hands down it's the
> class of all the bridge cams.

Damn, that is so sad.

Seriously anyone contemplating any of these cameras should probably get a
Nikon D40X with a 18-200VR lens, more expensive sure but that way they only
buy once and get a far, far superior camera setup.