Camera Comparison Nikon d200 and Panasonic DMC ZS100

Thought I'd do some comparisons of my very old semi-professional camera and my new point and shoot, which I actually expect to do better than my beloved old camera.

I get twice as many pixels per shot with the panasonic and the lens focuses alot faster although I don't have through the lens viewing capabilities with the Lumix.

So, below is my first test of the low light capacity. The images are the unmodified lowlight images I took with my curtains mostly closed. (Critics of the panasonic Lumix complain about the bad quality of lowlight images.)  Above is the Nikon and below is the Lumix. I am pretty impressed with the new guy.

 

Here are the same images cropped and slightly larger - you can see that the autofocus on the Nikon had problems finding sharpness.

 

 

I also wanted to see how much farther the Lumix zoom would reach (an unfair comparison since I have a 30-80 lens on the Nikon, but the issue (for me) is going on a trip and not wanting to carry a bunch of lenses or having to switch them out. I wondered if the Lumiz would have enough of a zoom and if the quality would be good.

The Nikon I usually work with gives me about this much distance latitude.

The Panazsonic Lumix gave me this.

Details were sharper on the Lumix:

I did another distance test in the meadow. Nikon:

The Lumix got me this:

 

In terms of blowing up the subject - I ended up with pretty good results for both, but the subject moved and altered the lighting, so it is not a great comparison. The Nikon is above the Panasonic.

 The panasonic seems sharpen, but also more contrasty - I like the color of the d200 better.  All in all, though the panasonic seems to have the edge.