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Camera shopping, what do you guys think of this one?

lesslimited

Official MWC Brewmeister
NAXJA Member
Location
Clarkdale, AZ
The ones I'm looking at are sometimes referred to as "bridge" cameras, as they have many of the manual control features of an SLR, have a large non- changeable lense, and generally produce much nicer pictures than the pocket sized point-and-shoots. Now that memory cards are so cheap, I don't think it's worthwhile to buy or lug around a seperate camcorder for video, so the HD video is a must. RAW file capability, electronic viewfinder in addition to the lcd, and optical image stabilization are other items that have me narrowing in on the Lumix.
 
optical zoom is better on the panasonic. I have a fz18 and love it. leica lenses and on some models, completely leica other than the badge(previous model fz50 in the "bridge" range of cameras).

check out dpreview dot com for great unbiased articles.

my personal opinion panasonic is a great deal for the price.
 
optical zoom is better on the panasonic. I have a fz18 and love it. leica lenses and on some models, completely leica other than the badge(previous model fz50 in the "bridge" range of cameras).

check out dpreview dot com for great unbiased articles.

my personal opinion panasonic is a great deal for the price.

Thanks, I don't know how I forgot about dpreview. I found a superzoom comparo there that put the FZ35 near the top of the pack. One of the few things they dinged it for was the relatively low 18x zoom. If the FZ40 with 24x zoom is released before my upcoming trip, I think I'll get that, otherwise I'm sure I'll be happy with the FZ35 and saving $100.
 
I got the FZ35 this week, figuring I don't really want to be learning a new camera on my flight to Korea. So far, I've just scratched the surface of what it will do, but I should have it figured out pretty well before the trip.

Image quality is comparable with the Fuji, in a camera that's about 2/3 the size and half the weight. I am really liking the zoom, though. I can get close-ups of critters without disturbing them...



This was taken through a not so clean sunroom window...


The 27mm wide angle is a big improvement over the 35mm of the Fuji...


More pics, good and bad, are here...
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/578380111sObIxF
 
glad it's working out for you, back when I sold cameras, I loved the Panasonic cameras for their lenses. Leica glass and good zoom, plus one of the few to use optical stabilization vs the "digital stabilization" (aka, use high ISO to get a faster shutter speed while dropping image quality with the digital noise). But I sold a lot more Canon/Sony cameras to people wanting a good zoom camera, because those both had great lenses and a much better user interface. I never sold a Fuji camera unless somebody came in wanting it, because the SuperCCD sensor didn't have the same quality when compared to a Canon/Sony sensor of the same megapixel rating.

anyhow... great choice in cameras! :)
 
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