What cameras have a fast lense?

I know that the Olympus 5050Z sports a fast f1.8 lense. Possibly the fastest fixed lense prosumer camera out there and thus a favorite among Wetpixel folks. What other cameras offer fast lenses?

Some other camera makers such as Minolta, Canon, and Panasonic have tried to compensate with image-stabilization and anti-shake technology. Please respond with your experiences with these cameras versus 'normal' digital cameras.

Here's something to think about. If a camera has an f1.8 lens, but the images are ruined by digital noise above ISO100, what good is that? Does it beat a camera with an f2.8 lens, but that makes nice images at ISO400? Nope.

Cheers

James

I know that the Olympus 5050Z sports a fast f1.8 lense. Possibly the fastest fixed lense prosumer camera out there and thus a favorite among Wetpixel folks. What other cameras out there offer fast lenses?

 

Some othe camera makers such as Minolta, Canon, and Panasonic have tried to compensate with image-stabilization and anti-shake technology. Please respond with your experiences with these cameras versus 'normal' digital cameras.

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I don't think there are any. At least not the last time I checked a year or so ago. I've alway felt that Olympus did not get enough credit for having a good fast lens on this camera. Consider that the typical increase in price for a SLR lens that's one stop better is usually about a factor of 2, the F/1.8 lens on the 5050 should have gotten more attention. It's another reason that I thought the 5060 was a very dubious "upgrade".

When I used this camera, I always shot at ISO 64 and the fast lens really helped. I've taken many shots with it wide open.

So James, are you saying that the Olympus 5050 has a lot of noise? I'm a Canon S70 and S230 owner myself, but none of Canon's cameras has a lense faster than f2.0 (the G6). Even the L lense on Pro1 is f2.4

I agree, the lense is only half the issue. The most important thing is the final image. Canon's DIGIC II sensor/processor renders the truest and sharpest images, IMHO.

My question still remains, has anybody seen or used any faster fixed lenses? And yes, Olympus dropped the ball on advertising the 5050 and promoting its fast lense for users interrested in sports photography, indoor, underwater, etc.