Jgore From Argentina, joined Feb 2002, 550 posts, RR: 2 Posted (9 years 4 months 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 3143 times:
-------------- Sony DSC-P52 AVERAGE PRICE $ 200
--------------
General
Lens 35mm Equivalent 41-82mm
Optical Zoom 2x
Digital Zoom 3.2x
Aperture Range 3.8
Manual Focusing 5 presets
Manual Exposure Yes
White Balance Yes
Built-in Flash Yes
Picture Effects Modes 4
Program AE Modes 5
Memory
Internal Memory None
Memory Media Memory Stick
Included Memory 16MB Memory Stick
Image
CCD Size 6.67mm (1/2.7")
CCD Megapixels 3.3
Effective Megapixel Count 3.2
Highest Resolution 2048 x 1536
Standard Resolution Capacity 243 images / 16MB
High Resolution Capacity 10 images / 16MB
Motion JPEG Movie Mode No
MPEG Video Mode Yes
MPEG Video Capacity (seconds) 673 seconds
E-mail Mode Yes
Image Formats JPEG
MPEG
Dimensions
Width (inches) 4-15/16
Height (inches) 2-3/8
Depth (inches) 2-1/8
Weight With Battery (ounces) 9.9
Weight Without Battery (ounces) Not Given
Warranty
Parts Warranty 1 Year
Labor Warranty 90 Days
----------------- Fuji FinePix S3000 AVERAGE PRICE $ 220
-----------------
Features.
3.24 million effective pixel CCD
6X optical zoom lens (38 - 228mm, 35mm equivalent)
Programmed auto exposure
Stylish finish
Auto, red-eye, forced, suppressed and slow sync flash modes
Movie capture (320 x 240 pixel) movie mode
High quality 1.8 inch TFT (62,000 pixel) LCD screen
Powered by 4 x AA batteries
xD-Picture Card™ compatible
Webcam facility
Technical Specification.
Number of effective pixels
3.24 million effective pixels
CCD sensor
1/2.7 – total number of pixels, 3.34 million
Number of recorded pixels
2,048 x 1,536 (3.15 million)
1,600 x 1,200
1,280 x 960
640 x 480
File formats
JPEG (Exif)
Storage media
xD-Picture Card™
Recording capacity
with one 16Mb xD-Picture Card™ (included)
320 x 240 pixels: 10 frames / sec, up to 60 sec
160 x 120 pixels: 10 frames / sec, up to 200 sec
Lens
6x optical zoom lens
Lens focal length
38 - 228 mm on a 35mm camera
Focus
Autofocus
Focus distance
Normal: 80cm to infinity, Macro: 10cm – 80cm
Aperture
F2.8 / F4.8 / F8.2
Exposure control
TTL 64-zone metering, Program AE, exposure compensation available in manual photography mode
Auto flash using flash control sensor Flash modes: Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro Effective range (at ISO 200): 0.3 – 3.5m
LCD monitor
1.8-inch TFT / 62,000 pixels
Terminal
USB interface, power input socket and video-out connection
Power source
AA x 4 (Alkaline or Ni-MH), AC power adapter
Dimensions
99.7 x 77.3 x 69.3 mm
Weight
295g
Shooting modes
Auto, Manual
Movie recording
320 x 240 / 160 x 120 pixels. 10 frames / sec, 60 / 200
Really depends what kind of photography you are planning to use it for? (aviation I'm sure as you're asking here, but action? static?) In terms of zoom, the Fuji is way ahead with 6x optical (210mm). 2x optical on the Sony isn't really a lot at all. You can ignore digital zoom as it just enlarges the pixels on the CCD and guesses what the picture would look like if you were zooming more (like zooming above 100% on your PC monitor, it takes away quality)
I had the predecessor to the Fuji S3000 as one of my first cameras and it was a nice camera and the 6x zoom was good, but it lacked manual control (like being able to change shutter speed, aperture etc) and really didn't cut it for action shots.
I'd recommend looking for something where you can control the camera settings (ISO, white balance, EV, aperture, shutter etc).
Mikec From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2004, 247 posts, RR: 15 Reply 3, posted (9 years 4 months 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 3105 times:
Well the S3000 used to be called the S304. Searching the database for S304 in the remark field reveals some shots taken with that camera, so that'll give you some idea of what kind of photos it will take.
If you are looking for general purpose family stuff and just the odd aviation photo like you say, then it looks a reasonable choice. Also remember to have a look at some reviews of similar priced cameras on the link I gave you above - it's excellent for comparing each camera and seeing results of tests done with each one.
An better alternative to the S304 is the S602. It has the same zoom lens but much more manual control. It has a 3.3MP Fuji Super-CCD sensor which is able to interpolate pictures to a 6MP output. However interpolation is a bit like digital zoom in that the camera is guessing the missing pixels up to a 6MP output. So you'd be better thinking of it as a 3MP camera but with more control. I believe it was replaced by the S7000 (at the same time the S304 was replaced by the S3000) so you could go for either