Which camera is right for me?
From time to time friends and family will ask me “which camera is right for me”. One recently came up that I thought I would share.
This is how I decide if a camera is right for me.
>>Mike can you compare this Olympus and this Panasonic camera for me? Which is better?
Which is better, a 2 foot hole or a 3 foot hole? ;-)
These are two very evenly matched cameras. I don’t have direct experience with either Panasonic or Olympus cameras specifically as I tend towards Nikon because I am familiar with them. In order to decide you’ll need to consider what you are going to do with the camera. I’ll consider how I take pictures and will tell you which one I would pick. Your mileage may vary.
I looked at this page to compare the two, so this page, and the links below are where I’m getting my facts from:
A couple things stand out with me on each camera:
The Olympus:
1. Good: Takes AA batteries. You’ll never be far from a place that sells AA batteries, but you might be far away from a plug for enough time to recharge the battery in the Panasonic. (And besides, you can always get rechargeable AA batts.)
2. Good: The Olympus can focus on objects as close as 4 inches or so, the Panasonic 1 foot or so. That means the Olympus can do better closeups. That may or may not be important to you.
The
Panasonic:
1. Good: Can take higher resolution videos. If you’re a YouTube type or want this to double as a video camera, this might be important.
SD cards for storage instead of the XD format of the olympus. You”ll want to confirm this. but I think XD is limited to 2GB per card, but SD can go to 8GB. At 8 megabytes per image, that’s only 256 pics on a 2 GB card. If you go with the Olympus, you’ll want to get extra memory cards.
3. Good: Two timer lengths, 2 and 10 seconds.
4. Good: Exposures as long as 60 seconds.
So, if it were me buying for me? It’s a close race. I’d probably go with the panasonic, for the following reasons:
2: 60 second exposures. I like to take pictures at night, way after sunset and way
before sunrise. Sometimes, I need 30 and 60 second exposure lengths. If you never do this, the 4 seconds offered by the Olympus is plenty.
3. The Short 2 sec timer. This goes hand in hand with number 2 above. Having a 2 second timer has been surprisingly important (for me) you need it for taking night shots because you need to get your finger off the button.
Oh. And forget the digital zoom. Never use the digital zoom. You are FAR better off using the full OPTICAL zoom, then cropping the picture back at your computer. That’s all the digital zoom does, except not as good.
If you find yourself taking macro close-ups or photographing items where the camera MUST be located close, very close, to the subject go with the Olympus. If having batteries readily accessible is important, go with the Olympus. If you do a ton of traveling, or camping trips, the Olympus might suit you better because of the AA batteries.
HOWEVER: Before I purchase either, I would see if I could
actually hold one. and take a picture or two in the store. See if one
fits better. See if you can actually get through the menus. My gut tells
me that you won’t be disappointed by either camera.
If you are going to take your pictures in Full Automatic mode to get
pictures of the kids and the dog and other everyday snapshots comfort
and ease of use will probably be a big deciding factor. Both will take
great everyday snapshots, see which one feels good in your hand and go
with it.
I hope this helps.
Mike D.
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