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Dearest knowledgeable photographers of YahooLand,Iโ€™m looking to buy a good point & shoot camera for my fiancรฉe as a wedding gift. In passing, she has mentioned loving the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX35. However, the recent Nikon marketing campaign has her (and now me) rethinking.My question to you: How does the Panasonic compare to the Nikon point & shoots out there? Iโ€™m looking to spend no more than $400 all told if at all possible (getting married = expensive!)Thanks!

If your fiance is serious about Photography, I would suggest a Digital SLR rather than a point-and-shoot. I am a graphic designer, and also do some studio photography as part of my job. I have a Canon D-40 digital SLR, which is mega expensive. However, the sister camera is the Canon Rebel digital SLR. You can find this for under $500 if you search online. It is definitely worth the money!

I have been an SLR guy for my whole life, but my personal choice for a pocket-sized point and shoot camera is the Canon SD950-IS.Canon Powershot SD950-IShttp://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_reviews/canon_sd950.htmlhttp://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=canon_sd950isIf you want to see some SD950 photos, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/tags/sd950is From there, you can also choose to "See all public photos tagged with SD950is" if you want. Some of these are not so much beautiful photos as they are to illustrate a point for answers, but you can still look at the image to evaluate the quality. If they have been altered, I will mention that in the description.I would rule out the Panasonic that you mentioned, because it is a smaller sensor that does not really deliver the goods. There are only 4 user reviews here, but they give the image quality a meager 3.13 out of 5.0. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=panasonic_dmcfx35One guy summed it up this way: "This camera is outstanding in every way except the pictures."I would look at either the Canon I suggest, which gets a 4.76 out of 5.0 on image quality, or the Nikon P5100, which rates 4.72 on image quality. The Nikon and Canon use the less common larger sensor and deliver on image quality.The Nikon is somewhat larger than the Canon or Panasonic, though. I see that it DOES offer some degree of user control via aperture and shutter priority modes, which the Canon does not.Maybe a satisfied P5100 user will chime in.Don't get the FX35, though.