Whosoever is looking out for a UltraZoom cam....stay away from the Nikon P80. I had borrowed it from a friend of mine for the past week. have clicked about 800 shots and I can definitely say its disappointing, when my friend bought a it a couple of months back it was selling at around 23K.

The colors just come out too weird, even at ISO64 there is so much noise, there is too much loss of detail when viewed at orignal resoultion and VR or IS just doesnt seem to work! I can go on and on about this waste....sometimes I wonder is it really a Nikon.

Again, this is just a IMO review....more than the camera what matters is who is behind the camera!

Thanx brother....

Arre aryan.. atleast it looks like a DSLR na... ho gaya...hehe....

Thanx for the input friend.. I'll try to figure it out as i use it... It'll b foolishness if i reply anything on the quality right now as i hav just bought it... Where as telling u people bout it's review i got from a few friends of mine who r from pune and who belong to a community called "Pune katta" is it's very neat camera with some minor issues like barrel distorsion and purple fringing at high zooms.. Apart from these they didn't face any issue at all..
They being proffesional photographers, coming up with such issues is normal as they have very high expectations from cameras..but these issues aren't much bothersome to me - a beginner.. One of those guys is hired for a renowned magazine in Maharashtra(Marathi Magazine).

Anyways, thanx for all the responses.

So you bought this camera after so much searching!!!

All I am saying is that there are better camera's out there and anyone looking to buy a ultrazoom just don't go for the P80.

If you have bought it, then no issues...you'll learn a lot from that cam!

yup brother.. i bought this cam... yup..after that much research...
Actually the best one to go for was FZ28.. but that was a bit out of my reach..
Canon offers cams with zooms like 10 x of SX100 and SX110 but i wanted a bit more on the zoom numbers.. Next options are SX10 and SX1.. 20x zooms... but way too expensive...

Sony has only one which caters my need.. H50.. But the reviews aren't good bout it. Though Sony is considered amongst the leaders in digicams..

Kodak had 2 in store.. Z1012 -12x optical and Z1015 -15 x optical.. Bothe cams are good(not extra ordinary) on picture quality part but are pathetically slow on firmware and processing end. People even complain they have to wait for as long as 1 min some times to get the picture writen on the card. Upgrades of firmware are available and that solved the problem for some to some extent but i didn't want all that hassel of software upgradation.

So the closest cam other than FZ left was P80. It had no firware issues.. No hardware issues either. All was that it lacks a bit in barrel distorsion and noise part. As per reviews on varies sites..not one..but various sites..it produces excellent images in indoor and where the zoom is not used to it's max. It also was fitting in my budget well. Also other than FZ a cam which is affordable yet packed with lots of features is P80..

all these things made it easy for me to take the decision.. Not to forget bout the reviews i got from my friends as mensioned above..

thanks man. yeah i saw the pics. they were great. the same cam which clicked the andamans i guess...

yup right said. canon is something everyone speaks of so decided on 450D purely based on initial reviews and some surfing.
basis... well... lets call it interest for now. i am cool (and would love) fiddling with settings of cam. i am interested in macros and landscape photography (wide angles?). now, which would be a good package having these two features? i cant shell out anymore on lenses, for now.
and errr... a very stupid question. can i shoot videos with DSLR? how good/bad would it be? compared to say S5IS.

the same khujli i mentioned in first post? i clicked a couple of photos auto mode from s3is and then i was like wtf? i want the sky to be neat, landscapes and grass more clearer, eye of the chameleon, etc etc...

alrite will check on them. something that cannot be done in a hurry i must admit.

did some research on the digi's though. rounded up with FZ18 and S5IS. and then opted for S5IS for macros, better video, zoom on video, click on video and also heard FZ18 gives 18x zoom, but you need a tripod to get it right. a tripod for now was not in my mind.

another question:
which are the best sites to buy with cheaper prices but good delivery?
heard bout sify, rediff and tolmol for now.
price of S5IS on rediff: rs15825/-
CANON Powershot S5IS 8MP Digital Camera
didnt have it in sify.

and another question:
is there any problem we would bump into if we get cams from outside? say US, UK, japan, etc. no not the customs. i meant with some technical stuffs or the like. upgrades(lenses), problems with cam, etc.

thanks for the reply SP.

@Shadez: No DSLR can shoot video clips. It is only very recently that Canon and Nikon have introduced their ONLY D-SLR with movie shooting capability. But, then those are the following two D-SLRs.

1. Canon EOS 1D Mark- II
2. Nikon D90

And those are really out of range, cost would be well over hundred and fifty thousand (yes, Rs.1,50,000/-!!).. (atleast for the Canon, the Nikon would also be really expensive as well). So, there.

As for getting the S5 or any other digital camera, I would say if you can, then get it from an authorised dealer. That would really be way better than getting any such optical gear online.

Unless you're ready to shell out ~80k on the D90 or ~140k on the 5D MarkII, No.

Precisely!

Oops!
Didn't see Aryan's post
Anyway yeah, we said the same thing.

@ Aryan,
The 1D MarkII had video too?
Or is that an innocent typo?

Oops, that should be 5D Mark-II.. Thanks for that heads up.

No problemo fotu-grafee braather!

^ well thanks for the info futwa-grafree braathersss...

Whoa....I just read a few pages back! I was not aware that you had bought a P80 and my review was in no way targeted at your purchase!

I had just posted as a general fyi!

Btw, why din't you consider the Fujifilm S8100Fd or the FujiFilm S2000HD? Pretty damn good cams and would have fit in ur budget too....

Btw, how much did you pay for the P80?

@shadez- Anytime bro, I love to give lectures on cameras and fotos ..

Anyways, I think u shud relook into S5-IS plan. I had tried the cam and was not impressed with it. Also SX-100IS for that matter, I did not like the performance.

Olympus , I have already suggested to a frend of mine. The macro capability is nice and focus is as close as 1cm to infinity.
I am suggesting this camera bcoz it has a good sensor. And as far as tele end zoom is concerned (which u seem to be crazy about) is 26x i.e. approx 700mm equivalent, and 26mm wide end.

So its anything good from landscape to macro to portraits (having 2.8 as max aperture) ...
If going outta budget then give a shot to Sp-570 or 565. They are also equally good and lack minor features. These cam will not cost u more than 15k, Jayesh from foto circle can help u.

With Canon/Nikon P&S camera u end up paying more for brand premium.

The andaman shots were taken using my D40 only using no hi-fi lens , it was the normal daily-to-use kit lens. Have I had a better lens, things could have been much better (tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 for an e.g.)

you just said olympus. which one exactly?
SP-570UZ is impressive. but SP-590UZ coming in march is much much better i feel.
couldnt find the cost of these cams. got any idea?
didnt find 565 to suit me...
Jayesh?

tokina?! now again... forget!