I wanted to buy a high zoom camera. After checking out Sony, Olympus etc., I finally shortlisted the top 2 models: Canon S5 IS & Panasonic FZ18. Both looked good. I was in a dilemma. After doing a lot of comparison between the two, I was tempted to buy FZ18 due to thefollowing.
(a) 18X zoom as compared to 12X of Canon.
(b) 28 mm wide angle.
(c) Reports of chromatic aberration & purple fringing in S5 IS. In fact, I got to check out S5 IS, as
one of my friends had purchased it last year. The images looked a bit faint or dull especially
when shot in auto mode.
(d) The image quality of FZ18 was very good. Good Mega O.I.S.
(e) Light in weight because of only one battery as compared to 4 AA rechargeable batteries in S5
IS.
(f) Read many reviews which said FZ18 was better than S5 IS.
*But then, I changed my mind! Following are the reasons for me opting for S5 IS.
(a) The 18X optical zoom of Panasonic should be read as: **18X with a tripod! Tripod is a must.
(b) The snaps taken in incandescent lights are bad. Many reviews recommend FZ18 only for
outdoor shooting.
(c) Red colour is a bit prominent.
(d) Not able to take good snaps of fast moving objects.
(e) Fixed LCD as compared to the swivel LCD of S5 IS.
(f) The video quality not as good as S5 IS.
(g) And the worst part of it: **No zoom in video mode !
The idea of having a combination of camera & camcorder finally made me buy S5 Is. And thank God, I changed my mind! because,
(a) Canon S5 IS has an excellent video mode with stereo sound recording. You can zoom in & out
in video mode & also take a snap in between!
(b) The images are sharp & natural. The images in manual mode are better than in auo mode.
Another interesting thing I noticed was, while taking snaps in auto mode, my camera was
better than my friend’s camera, which he bought last year.It seems Canon have done certain
improvisation. However, one thing which I feel Canon should have done is to be able to add
vivid colors in auto mode, before taking a snap. That would help in reducing the chromatic
aberration. This is the reason why images look dull in auto mode. You have the option of
adding vivid colors to the image, after taking the snap, but that is time consuming.
The images of FZ18 might be slightly better than S5 IS, but due to its versatality, its ability to take sharp images both indoor & outdoor, quiet operation, fast start up, very fast AF & extremely good video quality, S5 IS is better than FZ18.
Note : It s better to buy S5 IS from an authorised dealer. Malaysia, China makes are available in grey market! Though even from the authorised dealer, you are now likely to get China make, as the production unit has shifted from Japan to China! But be assured, that doesn’t change the quality of the product.