Canon S80 or Sony P-200?

I've been cameraless for the past 2 months and the Aaaarrrrggghhhhh I missed a shot factor is creeping up to unbearable level. Well I've been shopping around for cameras since then, the first choice that had been on my mind was for Sony P-200, an upgrade on the P-100 that went under the ocean. I've been a brand loyal customer to Sony since my first two cameras (a P-9 and P-100) were from them and the results they have given me were admirable. I've managed enquiries on the new model and was quoted for RM1,400 with an additional upgrade to a 1 Gb Memory Stick and an extra battery the final price came to RM1,980 at the cheapest. I have no complains for the model but the upgrades from the P-100 to P-200 were depressing at most, only an additional megapixel to 7Mp which is not really that useful an upgrade as well as a larger screen which also does not really help me in taking better photos.

So what next? Adrian introduced me to two different models (okay so he did quote a lot more like the Panasonic Lumix and Canon Ixus series but too compact and not enough control for my liking) one was the Panasonic FZ30, a SLR like model and the Canon Powershot S80.

So my mind is now hinging on the S80 when I managed to finally test the model as they entered Kota Kinabalu last week and was impressed. The specs were a major upgrade from any Sony compact cameras in the market now and offer a range of possibilities. Of course the only difference was that the S80 costs a hell of a lot more than the P-200 but the SD media storage was a whole lot cheaper which resulted in the quoted price given to me for the same package was around RM2,300 not bad for a few extra hundred for the features packed in.

Okay the S80 is a 8 Mp camera which is not always a selling point but is ok. The best part about the camera is that the new lens offer a wide angle option, 28mm wide zoom thus giving opportunities to experiment with wide angle shots. The zoom too is better off than the P-200, a 4x optical zoom compared to Sony's 3X (I don't ever use smart zooming, ruins the shots). The macro shooting range has also been improved to 4cm while Sony's is a 6cm. Shutter speed is also superior with a minimum of 15 seconds to max of 1/2000. Flash range was also an inprovement to over 4 meters but still found it a tad too low for my taste. The selling point to me was the manual control for the S80, almost all features such as aperture and shutter is manually adjustable using the dials and this allows for more control and creative tinkering for shots. Plus the view screen is large! Well the finally analysis is that I'm most probably getting this baby the coming Saturday. Too many events are happening next month such as parties, birthdays, farewell, planned trips and Christmas to miss not taking pictures. Sob my bank account is going to crash soon.

Too bad Sony, you just lost a customer to Canon.