Canon Cameras

What's a better digital camera - Canon Powershot SD 1000 or Panasonic Lumiz DMC TZ2 or 3 ?

I'm looking for a good digital camera. After looking around for what's available, I noticed these two - Canon Powershot SD 1000 - Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ2 or TZ3 (3 may not be available..) I'm not sure which to go with though. I enjoyed handling the Panasonic at the store, and the canon may be a bit smaller than I prefer. But I've read about noise problems with the panasonic - does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this? I'm still in the dark about cameras, despite all the reading I've done! And is the Canon Powershot SD800 much better than the SD1000? It is more expensive so I wasn't going to consider it... but I would if it's substantially better. What do you recommend? Thanks so much!

Public Comments

1. well dear forget about these so called "noises" just see what is comfortable with you & easy for you to operate that way you wont have to bring the manual with you whenever you use your cam. Both cam are good enough for everyday users.
2. You are comparing apples and oranges. The Panasonic (either model) will be a better all around camera and will have more zoom (10x vs 3x), as well as image stabilization and (in the case of the TZ3) a 3inch LCD screen. The Canon SD1000 would be a great, inexpensive, pocket size camera, but it is a very basic model, all things considered. If you can compromise a little on size and price, the TZ3 is a brilliant camera with an amazing feature set and the best screen money can buy.
3. It makes more sense to compare the Canon SD800-IS with with the Panasonic's than the SD1000. It would is "substantially better" than the SD1000 in that it has image stabilization and the SD1000 does not. Between the Canon SD800-IS and Panasonic TZ3, I'll have to leave it up to others to recommend or to you to read the reviews. They are the same price at B&H Photo. The TZ3 looks like a fairly solid performer, but I have no experience with it. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz3/page14.asp says that the images are kind of "soft and flat" due to excessive noise reduction, but they would be fine for average sized prints without a lot of cropping or enlarging. They suggest that you look at their sample images and decide for yourself and this is a good idea. I don't know what you plan to do with the camera. Personally, I'd give up on some of the wide angle offered by the SD800-IS in favor of the longer telephoto offered in the SD850-IS, but that's just my personal taste.
4. Hi I recently bought a Panasonic LZ-7 it is fantastic it has 6x optical zoom and 7.2 megapixels. for about $200. I also looked at the same cameras you are talking about. I did extensive research before I bought this camera. As I see It you can't go wrong with any Panasonic. The carl zeiss lens and the ois (optical image stabilization are unbeatable for this is style of camera. Using all the zoom on this camera it will go to 24 that is 6x optical and 4x digital. As far as the canon is concerned for around $100 more than Panasonic you do not get any more camera. Check the ratings on www.cnet.com and also check out www.bhphoto.com they have great deals on Panasonic's, as far as noise problems with the Panasonic I have not had any problems with my LZ7 I use it mainly for putting photos on ebay. Good Luck I hope this helped. mstrplmber
5. the canon is alot better
6. Ive always heard that Canons are the best for "point and shoot". I have the SD1000, and I love it. The only upgrade the 800 has is the image stabalization. Honestly, it's not that big of a deal. I was worried about it at first, after doing a lot of research (I'm new to the digi camera world as well) , but once I got it, I fell in love. I like the style of it, and NONE of my pictures come out blurry. There are a lot of fun features that you can use with canons, like the "color accent" feature, you can pic a color to stay in the photo, while everything else is black and white. I think the SD1000 is a great starting off, user friendly camera. good luck to you!