You donāt say? Iāve been cryin myself hoarse about this.
Anyway, no it doesnāt really matter whether itās 2700mAH or 2100mAH. I use both 2700mAH Sony batteries and 2500mAH Sanyo Eneloops in my H2. The flash recycle time is damn good when the batteries are around 70-100% but below that itās slow and irritating to say the least. Especially under 50% battery power.
The recycle time increases with decrease in battery power left. So it doesnāt really matter what power of batts youāre using, the Li-ion will always feel light years ahead.
Payne
PS: If you like the Canon S5 so much, you should prolly go ahead with it. I just put forward why the FZ18/FZ8 are so much better in my perspective.
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is when you get your camera in your hands and starting clicking photographs.
a. My mom is going to use it when I am not around so need something thats not intimidating
b. I want to learn as i go along and somehow have a feeling that the S5/FZ18/Fz8 will be an overkill at this point.
c. Finally, I generally be travelling a lot, so the convineance of using duracells when the regular rechargeables die is quiet helpful.
Also, the photo shop guy quoted 12.5k for the 720IS. Is it a good price? Also, is it Ok to buy from ebay for ~8.8k?
^^Cant trust e-bay deals.. Sometimes their shipments arrive way too late.. Orders taking a lot of time to get processed n so forth..
Seems the MRP is around 19k so perhaps 12.5k from ur dealer is justified.. Moreover Newegg deal is 200$, so sourcing it here is roughly going to fetch the same price as what ur dealer quoted.
Its compact and has 10x optical zoom with 720p video recording and a HD outputā¦
i am also looking for a digicam for around 250$, and after much thinking i decided to get this oneā¦is this fine or u guys know anyother better compact camera in this range?
^ Its a very good camera (lthe 720p video aint that great) but not available here iirc. Not officially at least cuz i visited the Panasonic Shoppe just today. Found the FZ18 but not the Tz5. Tz3 was there though.
This is a good buy in this range if you dont mind the lack of manual controls and if you want something small specifically. Else the FZ8 can be bought for ~$230. FZ18/S5 for ~$300
Go over to the dpreview Panasonic discussion forum and have a read. Many people there have bought the TZ5 and posted their views about it + samples. Thatāll help you get a better idea.
There is also the Canon SX100 in that range (or cheaper?). Udit has it so he can help you out regarding your doubts. But i hear the video quality isnāt too great.
IMO, donāt think too much about the TZ5. Just get it!
actually get the tz24ā¦ youāll loose 720p HD recording options but still have 480p. ret of the featuyres are the same. The video recording in 24/25 are in quicktime mjpeg which take up lots of space unline mp4/divxā¦ so not really worth it. did i mention you can zoom in video mode in tz4/tz5
You donāt say? Iāve been cryin myself hoarse about this. 
I just put forward why the FZ18/FZ8 are so much better in my perspective.
