Panasonic reliability??
 

I read all of the posts in the "comparitive results Canon S2 vs. Pan FZ5"
thread because I too am going to buy one of them. I noticed that no one
brought up the subject of construction and reliability. I'm leaning toward
the Panasonic, but everything I've bought with that brand name - vcr,
camcorder, TVs, etc - has been junk that quit working before its time.
However, my old film cameras - Pentax, Canon, and Kodak, and Minolta and
Sony Mavica digitals - have NEVER caused any problems. Can anyone attest
to
the reliability of Panasonic cameras? Or have they even been on the market
long enough to do so?


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Jack Carter wrote:
I read all of the posts in the "comparitive results Canon S2 vs. Pan
FZ5" thread because I too am going to buy one of them. I noticed that
no one brought up the subject of construction and reliability. I'm
leaning toward the Panasonic, but everything I've bought with that
brand name - vcr, camcorder, TVs, etc - has been junk that quit
working before its time. However, my old film cameras - Pentax,
Canon, and Kodak, and Minolta and Sony Mavica digitals - have NEVER
caused any problems. Can anyone attest to
the reliability of Panasonic cameras? Or have they even been on the
market long enough to do so?

My wife has had her FZ20 since last November, and no problems. It feels
very solid and reliable. It has survived a trip to Antarctica and the
heat of Barcelona. I've only had my FZ5 for a few months, so I can't
really comment on reliability, but even though it's lighter there aren't
any obvious weak parts.

I haven't seen any mention of specific reliability issues on the various
forums, despite cameras having been out there in their hundreds of
thousands for a number of years, so I surmise that it's a non-issue.

Cheers,
David

Jack Carter wrote:
I read all of the posts in the "comparitive results Canon S2 vs. Pan FZ5"
thread because I too am going to buy one of them. I noticed that no one
brought up the subject of construction and reliability. I'm leaning toward
the Panasonic, but everything I've bought with that brand name - vcr,
camcorder, TVs, etc - has been junk that quit working before its time.
However, my old film cameras - Pentax, Canon, and Kodak, and Minolta and
Sony Mavica digitals - have NEVER caused any problems. Can anyone attest
to
the reliability of Panasonic cameras? Or have they even been on the market
long enough to do so?

Interesting. It's a brand I've always had good experiences with - my
TV's a Panasonic Quintrix that I've had for about 5 years, I used to use
a Panaflat PF70 monitor for ages, I've had a Panasonic printer... and
now I have an FZ10. All of them are solidly built and went on for years,
and the FZ10 feels pretty much indestructible.

pete
--
"There's no room for enigmas in built-up areas" - HMHB

hear the positive replys. I think I may be in love with the
FZ5. A friend is trying to persuade me to buy a Kodak 6490 and "save some
serious money". If it had the stabilization feature, I might be interested
because I've seen some good results from his 6490. And, except for the
stabilization, they have very similar features.


"Pete Fenelon" wrote in message
...
Jack Carter wrote:
I read all of the posts in the "comparitive results Canon S2 vs. Pan FZ5"
thread because I too am going to buy one of them. I noticed that no one
brought up the subject of construction and reliability. I'm leaning
toward
the Panasonic, but everything I've bought with that brand name - vcr,
camcorder, TVs, etc - has been junk that quit working before its time.
However, my old film cameras - Pentax, Canon, and Kodak, and Minolta and
Sony Mavica digitals - have NEVER caused any problems. Can anyone attest
to
the reliability of Panasonic cameras? Or have they even been on the
market
long enough to do so?

Interesting. It's a brand I've always had good experiences with - my
TV's a Panasonic Quintrix that I've had for about 5 years, I used to use
a Panaflat PF70 monitor for ages, I've had a Panasonic printer... and
now I have an FZ10. All of them are solidly built and went on for years,
and the FZ10 feels pretty much indestructible.

pete
--
"There's no room for enigmas in built-up areas" - HMHB

Jack Carter wrote:
hear the positive replys. I think I may be in love with the
FZ5. A friend is trying to persuade me to buy a Kodak 6490 and "save
some serious money". If it had the stabilization feature, I might be
interested because I've seen some good results from his 6490. And,
except for the stabilization, they have very similar features.

I don't know if it applies to the 6490, but some Kodak cameras had a
reputation for using far too much JPEG compression and creating many
artefacts on an image as a result. Of course, as you say, just the lack
of stabilisation means the camera is not in the same league.

Cheers,
David

And you're right about the JPEG compression. The 6490 uses too much. The pix
my friend is getting with his 6490 have no right to look as good as they do!


"David J Taylor"
wrote in
message . uk...
Jack Carter wrote:
hear the positive replys. I think I may be in love with the
FZ5. A friend is trying to persuade me to buy a Kodak 6490 and "save
some serious money". If it had the stabilization feature, I might be
interested because I've seen some good results from his 6490. And,
except for the stabilization, they have very similar features.

I don't know if it applies to the 6490, but some Kodak cameras had a
reputation for using far too much JPEG compression and creating many
artefacts on an image as a result. Of course, as you say, just the lack
of stabilisation means the camera is not in the same league.

Cheers,
David

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 16:34:03 -0500, Jack Carter wrote:

I read all of the posts in the "comparitive results Canon S2 vs. Pan FZ5"
thread because I too am going to buy one of them. I noticed that no one
brought up the subject of construction and reliability. I'm leaning toward
the Panasonic, but everything I've bought with that brand name - vcr,
camcorder, TVs, etc - has been junk that quit working before its time.
However, my old film cameras - Pentax, Canon, and Kodak, and Minolta and
Sony Mavica digitals - have NEVER caused any problems. Can anyone attest
to
the reliability of Panasonic cameras? Or have they even been on the market
long enough to do so?

I don't know about Panasonic cameras, but the other Panasonic products
I've owned have all been at least reasonably rugged and reliable; if I
were buying a new camera today, I wouldn't have any concerns about
Panasonic quality.

Having said that, let me add that I recently bought a Canon Powershot S2
IS and love it. Why did I choose the Canon? Simple: I was impressed with
previous Canon cameras, both film-type and digital. The S2 IS is a
wonderful camera for the money, one I'd recommend to anyone who doesn't
genuinely need a DSLR and is willing to spend a little time getting to
know its many features (you will need to RTFM, or at least refer to it).
My only complaint so far is the one so many have voiced -- I wish the lens
cap gripped the lens barrel a bit better, because it doesn't offer much
protection when it's dangling from its little strap.

--
Walter Luffman Medina, TN USA
An equal opportunity annoyer

I've had my FZ20 since September, not had any problems so far

Stuart

Still haven't bought an FZ5 yet, although I'm on the verge. (I've been
studying the Sony and Canon "rivals".) I spend FAR too much time
researching
things before buying!!


"Stuart Walker" wrote in message
...
I've had my FZ20 since September, not had any problems so far

Stuart




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Still haven't bought an FZ5 yet, although I'm on the verge. (I've been
studying the Sony and Canon "rivals".) I spend FAR too much time
researching
things before buying!!


"Stuart Walker" wrote in message
...
I've had my FZ20 since September, not had any problems so far

Stuart




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