My new Panasonic DMC-TZ5 arrived today.  10x optical zoom; 28 – 280 mm focal length (35mm equiv); 9.1 Megapix; in a compact 245g camera.  Should hopefully meet my goals “light to take tramping, wide-angled enough to capture landscapes and fast enough to snap fantails.”  Need to buy a SDHC card for it now.

Oliver was in at the vet’s again.  His glucose levels are still high, so his insulin dose has been up’ed to 4 units morning and night.  His creatine levels have come down though, from 400something to about 185, his urea levels too, so his kidneys are in a better shape.

Was good to catch up with friends for a quick drink at the Kingslander. I had to leave in time to get home in time to inject Ollie with his insulin, but was good to see Simon, Tim, Michelle & Brian. Apparantly we’re doing a proper catch up this weekend. Look forward to it.

On buying a new camera: I’m down to choosing between the Panasonic DMC-TZ5 and the Canon SD870 IS. Favouring the TZ5, but have heard I want firmware >= 1.1.3. See my choices.

I’m looking to buy a new camera. Suggestions and comments welcome, preferably with links.

I want something light to take tramping, wide-angled enough to capture landscapes and fast enough to snap fantails. Good battery life wouldn’t be bad either, though I could always buy a second battery. I’m thinking of spending say $300-$500.

Some possibilities are:

Camera	Reviews	Prices	Weight	Mpix	Zoom	Focal	Batt	Timings 02S S2S
Panasonic DMC-TZ5	DPR SD	$479	245g	9.1	10x	28 – 280 mm	Li-Ion 300 shots	2.4s 1.5s
Ricoh R8	DPR	$459	166g	10.0	7.1x	28 – 200 mm	Li-Ion 270 shots	1.8s 1.6s
Cannon A720 IS	DPR SD	$289	250g	8.0	6x	35 – 210 mm	2xAA 400 shots	1.8s 1.7s
Cannon SX100 IS	DPR	$367	316g	8.3	10x	36 – 360mm	2xAA	2.5s 1.6s
Cannon S5 IS	DPR SD	$460 $489	550g	8.0	12x	36 – 432 mm	4xAA 450 shots	1.7s 1.7s
Fuji S8000fd	DPR SD	$378	325g	10.0	12x	33 – 396 mm	4xAA	3.2s 2.4s