Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28

Have owned the camera for over 2 years and has been brilliant.

Loads of features and has given some fantastic shots.

Decided to upgrade and was contemplating SLR but on reading reviews decidd to shoot for the Panasonic fz 150, just hope this is a good or even better than the 28.

Reason for opting for the 150 was option of rapid fire and zoom, saying that the 28 is a brilliant buy and even after 2 years returned £140 when sold

RECOMMEND

Best piece of equipment there is on the market. It offers a great price to quality ratio and it is very easy to use and also very professional. I will definitely recommend it to my friends

I bought this camera for my girlfriend because we were going on holiday and wanted her to have a reasonable camera to do some "birding" while in the Gambia. I have been so impressed by this camera that she had little chance to use it.

I have just reviewed th 1277 images captured in the last 4 weeks, and have been comparing them to my Oly. DSLR.

I am in awe of how such a small and resonably priced camera can offer such excellent image quality!

Upsides:

This is very light and reasonably inexpensive when compared to a DSLR.

There is no need for interchangeable lenses.

This is an extremely flexible camera and is as happy taking snaps in auto focus as it is photographing back-lit birds perching on high branches against a white out sky.

The optical zoom is fantastic as is the image stabilisation, though i do tend to use shutter priority to eliminate shake at high telephoto lengths anyway. Results areas good in every respect as my DSLR with a 500mm lens when viewed at "normal" postcard image size. The image becomes noisier at large magnifications. If you're a casual user rejoice in the reach of the lens, the noise won't be significant.

The iA setting works very well in most settings, though the use of aperture, and shutter priority, and fully manual modes make this camera incredibly versatile, as well as incredibly creative.

Battery life was excellent with around 400+ shots per charge.

It seems very tough and robust. Backwoods Gambia is very dusty, and I more than anticipated a failure due to dust ingress but the lens operated perfectly smoothly, after beeing blown out) even after being dropped onto a dusty ground. More than tough enough for a beach holiday!

The viewfinder is excellent for very bright conditions where the LCD screen is virtually invisible. Like an SLR the viewfinder is wysiwyg so its feasible to preview the image accurately. Using it also adds significantly to battery life.

On the downside:

AutoFocus isn't quite precise enough for me, and the electronic view not really clear enough for manual focus ( Which, by the way, I think is absolutely great idea!) - This may be a harsh criticism as I am used to photographing small objects at long distances, through a cluttered foreground. So I may be being hypercritical.

Summary:

I would be more than happy to use this camera in most situations.

I would fully reccomend it.

update: i took the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28 camera out on a weekend picture shoot and although my feelings about the focus havnt changed .. i thought the image stabilizer works atreat. i think the camera has grown on me.

check out my results here.

http://www.youtube.com/user/808FlyBy

ps. the rating is for the stabilizer. it takes some getting used to.

first let me say this is just my opinion. its not meant to be running down the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28. some will adore this camera.again im searching for a all round camera to replace a D-slr due to cost and bulk. aall in one "bridge" camera appeals to me for the convenience. i started off with a olympus c700uz when it first came out 2001. ive been very impressed with its features. earlier this year i purchased a Fuji s1000fd on a whim. i was very impressed with the camera on a whole. i read the reviews and thought they were a bit harsh .. as 6-7 out of ten was very mean. the camera was exceptionally good as a general purpose camera. the let down was no manual focus. well i sold the Fuji and spent the money on a Panasonic fz28. my very 1st impression on getting it out the box was how fragile it seemed. the whole thing seems like its made of the thinnest plastic. the zoom lever is very stiff and it hasnt matched the camera i sold. it kind of puts me in mind of my phone camera in a big package. Picture quality wise its sharp. but again i found low light to be a burdon. the scene modes i thought were just for point and shoot hobbyists. nothing to get excited about.macro modes were a bit temperamental. the results were ok but without a macro lens it could be better. i also found some flare along straight edges in one of my very first shots! this saddened me. as i said .. the overall quality is good. sharp pictures .. maybee a touch too sharp. it seemed to be fussy with exposures .. burning out the sky or darkening the shadows even with the nesc adjustments in the menu. im not sure. the reviews were saying this fz28 was very good but it didnt do it for me.verdict: fragile camera. good lens and zoom range. pictures can vary a bit. color balance a tad blue. low light not so hot. manual focus ok. lens accessories available. 7/10

Brilliant zoom. Excellent quality of pictures and a movie mode where you can use the zoom. Also in hd.it has all the features you can ever want and the intelligent mode for point and shoot which does it all for you.

As a small bridge camera, it has a lot going for it such as the Leica lens, large zoom and it's ease of use. I enjoy the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28 very much.

I bought this Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28 camera from an internet store. This is a fabulous camera and good value for money. The camera zooms to 18x but if you choose a lower resolution you can zoom upto 28x. The battery lasts longer than the rechargable NI-MH one's that I use in my other camera.Great picture quality. Easy to use options. The camera has an IA intelligent auto function for the novice users.

I have bought this little Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28 as a replacement to My Fuji S602 which I still use for indoor photography. The Panasonic has a huge lens range and takes very respectable pictures. I find that noise is visible on all photos I've taken at any iso, when viewed at 100%. This I know is not a problem for most people, but if I'm looking to blow up the images to a large size greater than A3 I might well notice it.

There are a number of useful options in the menu such as Iso limit, to prevent the camera using above a predetermined Iso setting a setting to automatically correct for light balance in an image and various special effect programs. For me this camera seems to be incapable of taking very close up pictures less than a few feet, something I think the old Fuji excelled in.

However I still think this is a great little camera, and as soon as users start asking what the signal to noise ratio is, noise will become a distant memory.

I spent ages deciding on a new digital non DSLR camera. For me a DSLR is too awkward, carting around extra lenses, a flash, a tripod etc. The Panasonic does everything I need except fish eye pics, and it's considerably cheaper too, the category it fits into is often called "superzoom", for fairly obvious reasons.

I have taken about 1500 pics on my camera now and used it in many different ways, from pics of eBay items, to night shots, portraits to landscapes etc. What really surprised me was taking pictures hand held in lowish light levels at 18 zoom and they weren't always blurred. Not only that but I can crop almost every picture to an eighth of the original size and the pictures still look high resolution.

There are websites dedicated to photographers showing off their work, I use at least three. When you can search peoples work by camera used, the versatility of the FZ28 really stands out. My own favourite is a sunset I took. I had just a few moments before it faded. I put the camera in sunset scene (yes it really has one dedicated to that), grabbed a tripod, zoomed in at 18x magnification and shot 4 pictures. All came out brilliantly, completely foolproof, except for the framing of the subject!

Before you choose this camera, I would suggest comparing its weight and dimensions to other superzooms. It beats the Fujifilm competitor hands down in this respect, not that it's pocket sized but it is very portable.

It uses a rechargeable battery, extra non-Panasonic ones can be bought for about £5 on eBay. The battery life is exemplary though, I took about 500 pictures on a long weekend in Paris without exhausting the battery. I love it and would recommend it to anybody, especially those poor DSLR souls with empty wallets and bad backs (from the weight of a camera kit bag).

The Panasonic FZ28 is a lightweight "Bridge" camera that looks like a mini DSLR with very high specification and as many features as you are ever likely to need plus the 27mm - 486mm Leica zoom lens with image stabiliser. 10.1 megapixels and includes RAW mode. Great performer with clear precise menu system. I bought this camera from online who did me a great bundled deal at a price which even ebay could not match. Futhermore delivery was in less than 24 hours from placing my order.

So do you think I am happy? Yep I sure am. Well recommend Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28.