I am not able to give a comparison between these two choices as I haven't used an FX100. However, I do have an FZ7 and an F31fd. The Fuji beats the Panasonic hands down on low light performance. Really. The noise from the Panasonic at higher ISO (read >200) is horrific at slower shutter speeds (low light situations). Although, it is using the old Venus II engine which has since been upgraded(?).



My FZ7 does have a very nice movie capture, much better than the Fuji. However, I use it as a still camera rather than a camcorder mainly. I can't really comment here as it seems the movie capture is more important to you than it is to me..

The flash isn't super powerful, it is a compact afterall. But it is intelligent enough to give good exposure in most cases. I have only ever had a couple of badly exposed flash shots in the thousand photos I have captured with it..

There may be someone on this forum with experience of both cameras that can give you a direct real life comparison from actually using them. But it's not me!.

Bottom line:.

I like my Panny. But I love my Fuji...

I must say, you're in a good spot given all the selections available today. I also own a Fuji F20, My Nikon 995 still works awesome and I also have a selection of Panny's..

Here's some insight though. As much as you love your 995, all of the others are still by far better. Seriously, the 5-7mp Panny's do take great photos and when given the use/chance, will shame the 995. Believe me, I love my 995, but it blows highlights and while 3mp is still very good, it's not a high detail camera by today's standards..

Anyway, feel free to browse through my average Joe galleries for the various cameras and images. The Fuji will be far out perform them all in low light. Not just image quality, but it focuses great too..

Panny does better outside and while it can be used indoors, it's average at best..

Keep in mind, you're not going to be pixel peeping on normal prints. Unless you're.

Going to print larger than 8x10 on a regular basis, they will all turn out great when used and PP properly..

Again, I'm just trying to keep things simple. OIS on the Panny is very helpful. The Fuji has a great ISO ability. Fuji has better battery life than the Panny's too..

My last piece of advice is to download full size images and print or have them printed at various sizes to compare. Otherwise, looking at them all on screen isn't going to give you a true sample of how you may be using them..

Hope my two cents helps..

CliffP wrote:.

I'm looking for a new compact camera and after searching the net,reading reviews, reading forums and visiting stores, I think I've gotit narrowed down to these two cameras..

I'm looking for something to replace my trusty ol' Coolpix 995. Inall honesty, I haven't seen a compact camera yet that takes as good apicture as the 995 and for quality alone I would have stayed with the995. But the 995 has it's shortcomings. First of all, it's bulky andsecond, it performs very poorly in low light conditions. Besidesthat, I can't seem to last longer than 30-40 pictures on a singlebattery anymore - and I've bought 4 new replacement batteries butthat doesn't seem to make any difference..

I've also looked at the new F40FD, but that camera lacks a bit infeatures (and is all around a worse camera than the F31FD). The F30is an option since it actually is the same camera as the F31FD, butwith older firmware and without the Face Detection (right?)..

Let me explain what I'm looking for..

I need a camera I can take with me easily, that performs good in lowlight conditions, that makes good outdoor pictures and has anadequate flash (the flash on my 995 is very poor). I also think adecent video option is a must..

For all other more professional things (like taking product pictures,macro photography, portrait photography, etc) I will buy a seperateDSLR soon..

So unless I have missed some obvious alternatives, I guess the twobest options right now are the two camera's mentioned in the subjecttitle..

My first choice would be the F31FD, but I like the HD-video (@15fps)option of the FX100, and of course the 12.2MP (although I've seen theofficial sample pictures and at 12.2MP it offers less detail than my995 at 3.4MP)..

I could probably find all the answers I need by reading and searchingthis very forum (kudos to whomever is running this, it's a fine siteyou have here), but hey, if everybody would simply do a search, read& move on, there wouldn't be a forum with fresh discussion, right? .

So... I guess the ubernoob question is: which one should I pick? Ordid I (like I said) miss some obvious alternatives?.

TimColumbus, Ohiohttp://www.pbase.com/pdqgp..

I'd second what the other poster wrote. If you're after low light the Fuji will outperform the Panasonic easily using high ISO values. As for the 12 MP - forget about them. You'll get really high resolution pics from your future DSLR. But do not expect such pics from a compact with it's very small sensor. Particularily if you are going for high ISO (many compacts will reduce the resolution at high ISO and by that loosing details not only by applying noise reduction).regards, eric..

CliffP wrote:.

The F30 is an option since it actually is the same camera as the F31FD, but with older firmware and without the Face Detection (right?)..

Yes..

My first choice would be the F31FD, but I like the HD-video (@15fps) option of the FX100, and of course the 12.2MP (although I've seen the official sample pictures and at 12.2MP it offers less detail than my 995 at 3.4MP)..

Well, I think the 12MP Pnasonic would actually outresolve your 3MP Nikon, but not by as much as it should. I do think that you might find HD video at 15fps a bit jerky. SD at 30fps may well be a better compromise..

But video with OIS and a wide angle willl be better than the Fuji..

Did I (like I said) miss some obvious alternatives?.

I just wonder if you'd be better with a Panasonic FX30 than an FX100..

The Canon SD800IS is another wide angle alternative..

If wide angle is not as important as low light shooting though, I'd probably stick with the F31fd..

Androohttp://Androo.smugmug.com..

There is an advantage of the F31 over the F30 you dont mention. The entire F series has had the default contrast set too high with no way to lower it. The problem still exists with the F31 but they seem to have lowered it a bit. You still have the clipped highlight and lower dynamic range problem but it isnt as bad. I have no idea why Fuji is so stubborn about not adding the ability to control the sharpening, contrast and saturation in the menu..

You get better photos in limited light with stabilization than with high ISO, but only for static subjects. If there is subject motion stabilization doesnt help at all. High ISO in a camera like the F31 probably gives you more versatility. That depends on how and what you shoot...

Thanks everybody, for your (really very helpful) replies!.

I'm currently leaning towards the F31FD because it has better low light performance than the FX100 and because I just noticed it takes the FX100 almost 4 seconds to store a 12.2MP picture at "Fine" settings. I really don't want to wait for 4 seconds between pictures (I *always* take pictures at the highest settings)..

As to what kind of pictures I take, I'll post some pictures (taken with my CoolPix 995) in the "Samples & Galleries" forum and post a link here when I'm done...