Key features to look for:
- Auto focus, out focus image.. u might as well don't take it
- Xeon flash, this is a must ... u will be in the focus when take photo in a pub with a bright flash
- Manage to zoom in while review the image ... some Samsung model like Ultra series 8.4 lack of this function, basically you can't even view the image taken in full screen......
- Large internal memory or easy memory card access, some model like Nokia E series, the memory card is inside the battery casing, it is difficult to access, unless you going to connect it with your PC with USB or Wifi, personally I would like to slot the memory card into my card reader or exchange with friends
- Small in size.... so far I can't find any great camera phone that is slim.... too bad...
Some top camera phons are:
Nokia N95 / N93: Leica lens, 8GB internal memory, with Nokia GPS Map (too expensive)
Samsung G800: 3x optical zoom with face detection (but no wifi and flash not strong enough)
Sony Ericsson K850i / K810i: cyber-shot brand, super-bright xenon flash (the joystick control can spoilt easily and no wifi)
Indoor - natural light, 100% crop
From the slide show, you can find that:
ISO 400 (the details on the wall start to blur)
ISO 800 (noise appear)
ISO 1600 (noisy)
Slide show:
Panasonic Fx35 or Fx36 has greate wide angle, 25mm (for 35mm camera standard), and with its Leica lens, it has less or nearly no distortion. Small in size and weight. Unfortunately, the new Venus IV engine from Panasonic Lumix still have the noise issue.
Canon SD870 or Canon Ixus 860 IS has large LCD bright screen of 3", the lens is 28mm wide, so is higher than 35mm, but still not wide enough compare to Panasonic Fx35. Distortion is more servere than Panasonic Fx35. Also larger in size (still small) and heavier (you can really feel it in your pocket). Provide ISO 80 very clean image.
These two comparable models, if you search online, you can find a lot of comparisons. Here I summarized my search results:
Price: Canon 870 cheaper.
Lens: Panasonic Fx35 wider and less distortion.
Zoom: Both around 4x optical zoom, but Panasonic Fx35 offers extended zoom up to 7x if you shot image at a smaller resolution.
Size: Panasonic Fx35 smaller and lighter.
User interface: Canon 870 with great review function, and a programmable button.
LCD screen: Canon 870 larger, brigther LCD.
Noise Control: Canon 870 has a better noise control over Panasonic Fx35.
After all the searching, I go for Canon SD870, and I like it very much. I like the wide angle lengths from Panasonic Lumix, and I will go for Panasonic Lumix if the noisy problem can be improved in the new generation.
There is quite a good discussion on this forum:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1033&message=27070012&changemode=1
Click here for more Panasonic review
