Deciding on Panasonic Lumix FX9 or Canon SD550?

Panasonic is the only company that I can think of that puts image stabilization on a 3X optical zoom camera.

I don't see the need of it, unless you have some type of infirmity that prevents you from holding the camera steady.

Taking photos at concerts is another matter.
It depends upon how well the stage is lit.
As far as fast moving subjects, you can expect some subject blur. But that can be considered "arty" for some shots.

As far as video in low light.....that does not work well for any digital camera. You need a good camcorder for that.

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A word or two about flash.

Something to keep in mind.
Almost all camera's flash range is decreased when you use optical zoom.
Example - The Canon SD550 has a rating of about 16 feet if you are using no zoom. Zoom out to 3X and the flash range decreases to about 10 feet.

This is due to the rating of the lens: f2.8-4.9

The first number is the amount of light the lens can collect with no zoom.
The second number is the amount of light the lens can collect with 3X zoom.

Very few cameras have a rating of f2.8-2.8
One that does is the Leica lens on the Panasonic FZ20.

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Go to this site to see images:
http://www.416-1100.com/gallery/1074988.
Review:

These images have been captured with SONY's DSC-T9 camera, with no out-of-camera post image processing other than cropping, and no Photoshop work whatsoever. The Camera's internal settings generally are: Program mode with Sharpness and Saturation both turned up one tick for images to DSC00043; For images DSC00044 and over, the Saturation remains up one tick, the sharpness setting was set back to Normal, and all other settings in the camera are set to Automatic. The "bee on the flowers" image (DSC00041) was taken with the camera set to "Magnifying Glass" mode, which permits auto-focusing as close as 1.0 centimeter; For this image I was approximately 2cm from the bee. This camera is one of the best I have tested in the last 6 years. As an adjunct faculty member at FAU a south Florida 25,000 student university, teaching "Principles of Digital Photography and Post Image Processing" and authored/published a book with the same name, with Pearson Education, Inc., 2003, I have tested hundreds digital cameras that have been offered to the public in recent years, and this one is truly unbelievable. One must understand that all cameras cannot do all things regardless of price and size. Digital SLRs, like Canon's 1DsMk2, which I proudly own and consider the very best digital SLR on planet Earth, can execute most imaging tasks beautifully; however you cannot place it in your pocket, does not have built-in flash, and cannot make a video! Comparing the image quality and color to other similarly priced cameras, both seem better than on previous SONY "T" series units (the T1, T11, T3, T33, T5, T7) in their 6-step progression to the T9. The brightness on the LCD panel is also better and has two brightness levels; The LCD also seems to have a protective covering on its surface. The flash also seems a bit stronger, and the imager noise is significantly lower. Understand that the tiny built-in flash is effective for groups of 3-6 people placed within 8' or less of the camera, period; any further, other than fill-in flash and the results will be unsatisfactory. It is hard to imagine than so much technology can be contained within this truly thin package. This version has an OPTICAL IMAGE STABILIZER that really works in both Still image and Movie Modes. The large and bright LCD panel is great for sharing images with friends after the picture is taken; The T9 has an in-camera slide-show with user settings for type of slide change, with or without music. Most critics fail to mention packaged the Software; Be it known SONY has one of the best (included) software packages available; Auto-Install the software; then plug in the camera into an available USB post, turn on the camera, and in 5,4,3,2,1 seconds the images and movies, begin their migration into a unique folder in the hard-drive, in a subdirectory in "My Pictures" with today's date as the folder name. Could not be a simpler process. Then options are presented for making a CD-ROM. To see T9 sample images you can go to http://bocadigital.smugmug.com/gallery/1074988. Images will be added periodically so check back often; and while you're there look around at other images posted at your pleasure. JimWilson//28/Dec/2005/6pm