Air French Band
| Panasonic FZ30 | Fujifilm Finepix S9000 | Panasonic LUMIX DMC FZ50K | Canon EOS 350D | Pentax K100D | Olympus E500 | Nikon D50 | |
| Type | SLR like | SLR like | SLR like | dSLR | dSLR | dSLR | dSLR |
| Zoom* | 35-420 | 28-300 | 35-420 | 27-82 kit | 27-82 kit | 28-90 and 80-300 kit | 27-82 kit |
| Memory | SD | XD | SD | CompactFlash I or II | SD/SDHC | CompactFlash/XD | SD |
| ISO | 400 | 800 | 400 | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 |
| Batteries | rechargable (supplied) | 4AA NimH | rechargable (supplied) | rechargable (supplied) | 4AA NimH 2 CR-V3 lithium | rechargable (supplied) | rechargable (supplied) |
| Megapixels | 8 | 9 | 10.1 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 6 |
| Flash | hotshoe | hotshoe | hotshoe | hotshoe | hotshoe | hotshoe | hotshoe |
| Price** (US $) | 400 | 400 | 495 | 575 | 553 | 680 | 560 |
| * 35mm film camera equivalent | |||||||
| ** Approximate price | |||||||
| The first 3 cameras are 'SLR type' cameras that I found came closest to a dSLR. For those on a budget, they present a good alternative to a dSLR. The main drawbacks are that ISO performance does not come close to a dSLR. The advantages are the range of zoom with the supplied lens. Look into these cameras if you definitely are not planning in spending an extra $150-$400 on a lens to cover the zoom ranges of 90~300, and if ISO performance is not an issue for you. The main advantage of a dSLR is the higher ISO range with less noise, as well as the flexibility of upgrading lenses. | |||||||
| Things to keep in mind: SD memory is cheaper than XD (about half price), so think about the extra cost added to the camera price. Also, the supplied rechargable battery packs, if you need to buy an extra one for backup (since charge times are around 2 hrs) or replace your current one, cost around $15 more than 4AA NimH batteries, and are usually specific to the camera brand. | |||||||
| Further things to keep in mind: Of the SLR like cameras, the LUMIX FZ50K has a desireable LEICA lens (although I would have preferred a 28-300 lens, giving a little extra wide angle) and SD memory. The Finepix S9000 performs better at higher ISO than the LUMIX, but uses XD memory and the zoom range goes to 300 opposed to 420 for the LUMIX, think about this depending if you are interested in shooting long distance objects. On the dSLR side, the Pentax and Nikon are very much the same. The main difference I found is that the Pentax has a shake reduction mechanism that can come in very handed for telephoto lenses when you don't have time to use your tripod. The ISO performance of the Pentax looks slightly worse than the Nikon, although it does preserve more sharpness than the Nikon, so it is up to you what you like more, a more smudged image with less visible noise, or a more noisy image with better sharpness. The main disadvantage of the Olympus I see is the XD memory and the price if you do not feel like spending for a greater zoom lens just yet. With the dSLRs look at the price of lenses. I have the impression that the Pentax can even use old lenses which may be found at lower prices. | |||||||
| All this data mostly comes from dpreview.com and a few other sites. I do not own all these cameras, some information is surely missing and if you want to ammend/add to this table feel free to do so. I just wanted to do a brief overview of the cameras I researched for people who were in my same situation: Purchase a high-end SLR like camera, or go all the way to the dSLR when budget is a deciding factor? Prices as of Jan 4 2007. | |||||||
Original EXCEL file for modifications: http://www.geocities.com/lowis5/digitalcamerareview.xls