Canon PowerShot SX110 IS

Not surprized - the Canon P & S's are generally very good.

This puts me in a bit of a pickle as I wanted to get the Panasonic DMC-TZ5.

Looks like an excellent camera. What I also like about it is that it's thinner and more pocketable than the SX100. It's a credible alternative to the larger, bulkier SLR-like superzooms.

Canon SX110 or Panasonic TZ5 - tough choice?

It's a shame to see Canon doing away with the "A" series' optical viewfinder, (10x zoom coupling the killer here?) and also the right-hand grip, which seems to be shrinking with each new compact release. Excellent image quality makes up for those omissions I guess?

I currently use the SX100 and it is a superb camera. I have also used the Panasonic TZ3. All I can say, JimmyDee, is go for the Canon. This review - and in particular the images - confirm Canon's superiority. With the SX110 you'll get a slightly better spec than the SX100.

Like Bobsta and JimmyDee, I too was considering the Panasonic TZ5 but before I took the leap into Digital with my Olympus C-750 I had used a Canon A1 35mm for years, and I mean YEARS with not one camera fault showing up. Canon and Nikon lenses are the best in the world while maintaining some balance between cost and common sense.

I therefore plucked up the courage of my convictions, and after reading the spec sheets and pre-launch reviews of the SX110 I abandoned the idea of going for the TZ5 - and am so glad I did.

What you get with Canon's SX110 is years of photographic experience - this beast was not as easy (for me) to get to grips with at first, but after a couple of days, the menu systems became pretty obvious in most things. One thing that surprised me was the minimum aperture is F8 which I didn't realise beforehand - but as most lenses give their best performance at f8 or f5.6 this is not a problem unless you want long time exposures, eg to blur moving water, while using a tripod - 3/4 to 2 seconds etc. I still have my cokin Neutral Density filters for such situations so its not a problem.

In every other respect, the camera outperforms in every area when compared to my Olympus C-750 which I sold recently. Better than this, it outperforms in every area of my expectations - the sharpness of the lens, through the range, is incredible. The optical image stabilisation is done using ceramic guides which tweak the lens at the moment of exposure - when your back is against the wall, this gives you approx two stops extra hand holding stability - and of course, on a tripod at full zoom the IS completely secures a sharp image for you.

Macro, which is one of my great interests, performs stunningly, and the colours (try shooting flowers - wow!) are correctly saturated leaving little for photoshop to do.

I am SO glad I gave up on the Panasonic and bought this (3 weeks ago) and had I known how good this was I would have gone for the SX100 last year - still, just as well I suppose, the 3" LCD makes it an even better image making machine - If I may add, I bought a Manfrotto Modo Maxi tripod with integrated head - this has a 'leg spread' setting where the tripod head is about six inches from the ground (the tripod centre column unscrews just under the head to allow this to work) If you are into macro, grab one now - I paid about 45 quid which, given the quality and lightness (under a kg) is great - its only suitable for light cameras and partners my SX110 brilliantly!

So, go out and buy an SX110 now, or, next year when they replace it (SX120?) buy that instead!

Happy photography, Ross

On the whole I really like the SX110. I feel that the only real downside is the high CCD noise when using high ISO settings. Unfortunately, in low light situations this is relatively necessary if you shoot indoors and try to use the zoom at all (see examples here http://digicamtech.blogspot.com/2008/10/canon-sx110is-review-10x-zoom-lens.html).