AI am considering purchasing this camera and I am very interested in your thoughts and opinions. TIA
Sam, I had one of the earlier models (FZ5) and my wife had the FZ20, and we were both very pleased with the cameras. However, and with many small-sensor cameras to get the best quality you need to keep the speed turned down, and I used to operate at not more than ISO 100 in normal circumstances. Unless you carry a tripod, this may restrict your photography a little, but you should be fine outdoors and in bright lighting conditions. The Leica lenses on the FZ5 and FZ20 are very good for the price, and in my judgement made the cameras produce better images than the equivalent Canon cameras. The image stabilisation works very well. Did you read this review: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz18/ One other limitation of the models we had was that the wide-angle end of the zoom was limited to 36mm, but I see that the FZ18 now has a 28mm widest angle. I do suggest you try handling the camera to see how the controls fit your hands, and look through the viewfinder, as the EVF (which you use with your eye close up to it) may not produce as clear and image as you would like. Not a problem if you only use the larger LCD finder on the back of the camera. By the way, this post is off-topic for the SLR-systems newsgroup, so I'm posting the reply to the rec.photo.digital group and setting follow-ups there. Cheers, David
That model was discontinued: it has been replaced by the FZ28 with a little wider wideangle and better performances at high ISO (lower noise) but substantially the same camera. RR
That I did Rich, thanks. This outfit should be on my door step in a few days. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/589104-REG/Canon__EOS_Rebel_XS_a_k_a_.html
