Which Ultra Compact Camera?

[mudworm]

I'm so disappointment. Last week, I bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX33. Really excited about it. But the pictures from this weekend let me down. It's a known issue that the image quality is a little low, but I didn't realize that it could be so low that my untrained eyes could tell the difference easily. Following are two pictures of the same tree, one taken by my Panasonic and the other by our Olympus. Granted, they are not exactly the same image, but it seems obvious that Olympus is able to bring up a lot more details than Panasonic.



Following is one of my favorites:



This is as good as I could get by using the Scenery mode. The one from IA Auto mode (which I mostly use for its simplicity) is worse.  We would have been able to get a crystal clear shot of the ridge line with the Olympus.

Fortunately, the vendor where I bought it from is a reputable one and has no problem with giving me full refund for my return. But that puts me back in the position of camera shopping (I hate shopping!). What should I get now?

I have been looking into Canon PowerShot SD870IS. But now I don't know what to believe when I read the reviews (the reviews for Lumix DMC-FX33 were pretty good too).

What I'm looking for: small, light weight, good at taking action shots, and good at low light conditions (for riding in forests, e.g.)
What I do not care about: Mega Pixels (I never crop pictures, no time for it), size of LCD screen

F'ueco? F4?

[F'ueco]

Personally, I would stick with either Olympus or Canon. I've had experience using both brands and have had good results. My main camera is a Rebel XTi and my "compact" is a Powershot G6 (yeah, that one is three years old; and still producing great results).

 In your price range (the G9 might be a bit much at $480), perhaps one of these: Canon 870 (looks like a decent camera to me), Olympus Stylus 1010, Olympus Stylus 1030 SW (has a wider angle lens), or the Canon SD 950 IS (a bit more at $340, but looks like a worthy camera). I have also heard some good things about Casio's digital cameras (and I have seen some good prints that came from one of their compact cameras).

[F'ueco]

Just a random picture... 

[mudworm]

Hi F'ueco, Thanks for the info. Yes, the price of G9 is a bit steep for me.  Stylus 1030SW sounds good, esp. considering how robust it sounds; however, it does not have IS which sounds like a nice feature to have.  So, that almost leads me to Canon 870.

BTW, thanks for the recommendation of the Olympus Ultra Zoom to Mr Mud a while back. We've been very happy with the image quality from that camera.

Following is another comparison. They are obvious to me the way it is, and even more obvious in full size (click on the image to get the full size):

[F'ueco]

IS is indeed a nice feature. But if you have steady hands you should be able to get decent results without it. I'm waiting for my new lens to show up (it's in Philadelphia at the moment coming UPS). It's a 55-250 IS zoom lens for my Rebel. I will have to post some samples after I get the lens on Thursday. 

[Ubergoober]

I got Kelly the 1030SW for her birthday and she LOVES it!

[F4?]

It depends. For a camera to take climbing, I like the size of the Oly's and Casios. Which ever it has to be work-able with 1 hand.

My bro got the Fuji F50fd and likes it.

I'm going video anyways.