P&S Help

Since the F10/11 day's Fuji's P&S sensors have been ahead of the curve, peaking with the F31. I've always been a

fan of their approach to making sensors with fairly good high ISO noise. So much so in fact that for P&S

cameras, I stopped checking out other manufacturers. Other manufacturers had tiny sensors 1/2.5" that produced

unusable noise above ISO400 and their 1/1.8" sensors aren't much better.

However, lately, examining the noise profile from non-Fuji P&S cameras, it seems like they have closed the gap.

They seem to be able to be competitive with the noise generated from the latest Fuji offerings like the F60fd or

F100fd.....things like the LX-3 or even the Canon G10's sensor isn't bad (if you consider how bad they were in

the F31 days).

Now here is where I'd like your help on. I need to pickup a COMPACT P&S camera in the next week for someone else

that isn't really into photography. They will be shooting mainly family/friends photos and some touristy type

photos. The first camera I can think of is the Fuji F100fd. It's compact, has a decent lens with wide angle,

and has pretty good high ISO noise. I've used it quite a bit and only concern is menu operation for more advance

controls is difficult and that there's no manual controls but for this purchase, no manual control is not a

concern here. The camera will probably end up being in auto mode for 99% of it's lifetime. Is the F100fd still

the best compact P&S to get for my needs? or has there been others that sprouted up with excellent IQ and just as

compact?

More specifically, I'm looking for a camera with the following features:

- Compact (The smaller the better, LX3 is way too big, think canon SD series sizes)

- Good high ISO noise

- Some sort of mechanical image stabilization

- Decent lens (Anything on par with the lens from the F100fd would be great)

- Well programmed auto mode that gives good consistent results

Yes, I know this sounds like the be all and end all list where only a god camera can meet but IMO, the F100fd

meets this list of criteria, but I'm wondering if there's something else that came one the market that's also as

good if not better than the F100 in these criteria?

Thank you for reading through all of that,

Weiyang

Take a look here

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408budgetgroup/

Very nice writing, Weiyang!

It is true that Fuji no longer holds the high-ISO championship.

I considered buying an F100fd, but the dynamic range extender

didn't seem to do much, and reviewers grouse about the controls.

The LX3 is only 12mm wider than the F100fd and the same height,

weighing 20 grams more, or something imperceptible.

Not that I'm trying to sell you on an LX3.

Models that come to mind, after searching DCresources.com

for stabilization and manual, are the Sony W300, Panasonic LZ10,

and Fuji F60fd.