Is panasonic the best choice?

[Moor]

Hi guys
I am looking for a new compact wide angle camera for my honeymoon, having looked around and finding many spotty teenagers with no knowledge of cameras whatsover littering the camera shops of my local city centre I have given up and left the internet reviews to narrow the market down before trying again.
It seems top ratings seem to go to a lot of panasonic cameras, the fx500 is particilarly catching my eye, are the panasonic range really that good? I have looked around many websites and only really come across fuji as rival (f100).
What I want is a camera for taking pictures of scenery, people, parties, low light scenes such as sunsets (it is a honeymoon after all!). I am struggling to decide wheter i want a larger zoom such as the TZ5 which looks really good but the bulk puts me off somewhat. Should i settle for 'just' 5xzoom and go for the fx500 which has the manual functions too and the ability to slip into my pocket without pulling my shorts down?
Budget would be around £250ish and for that money there is too much choice out there, so I need a little advice on what to spend my hard earned cash on and hopefully take some once in a lifetime, memorable photos.
Any help/suggestions are most welcome.
Cheers

 

[Doctor27]

Hi

I'm considering a few models and the TZ5 is in there (see my "Compact Trio" thread). It has got really good reviews, and the although there have been plenty of comments about noise levels, it seems this is observed at large magnifications/prints.

Go to DP review's holliday group tests. They have very good comparison reviews.

 

[Ikki]

The TZ5 is being replaced by the TZ7 so there should be some bargains as dealers get rid of old stock. The best wide angle compact that Panny do (and one of the best full stop) is the LX3. The LX3 is ideal for parties and low light shots because of the fast lens and better high iso performance than the TZ5. The downside is that it doesn't have a telephoto range.

 

[Moor]

The LX3 would already have been purchased if it had a larger zoom range, seems an ideal choice otherwise. I saw the new lineup, they all look great and ideally i would hold off for one of those, however they arent realeased till april i need to purchase in the next couple of weeks, cant see the retailers dropping prices that quickly unfortunately.
The TZ5 does look good but as i said before the bulk of it puts me off. Had the same dilemma when buying my ricoh R6, nearly got the TZ3 but again the size and weight put me off. The FX500 does seem a good choice but would ideally like to hear some feedback from owners before buying. Can anyone offer a little insight to this camera?