Panasonic FZ5 review now out
 

Panasonic FZ5 review now out at DP Review:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicFZ5/

"There is so much to like here - and so little to complain about - that
the DMC-FZ5 has to come highly recommended, and certainly has to make its
way to near the top of the list for anyone looking for an affordable,
compact super zoom camera."

David

--



"David J Taylor"
wrote in message ...
Panasonic FZ5 review now out at DP Review:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicFZ5/

"There is so much to like here - and so little to complain about - that
the DMC-FZ5 has to come highly recommended, and certainly has to make its
way to near the top of the list for anyone looking for an affordable,
compact super zoom camera."

David


Not a complain just observation: the 16 MB card is a joke. I know, it is
the -industry standard -

Cheers _ Hunibal _

Hunibal wrote:
[]
Not a complain just observation: the 16 MB card is a joke. I know, it
is the -industry standard -

Cheers _ Hunibal _

Completely agree - may be a 256MB card, but in this price-sensitive area
it would be better to drop the card altogether. I got 2 x 1GB cards, and
my wife got 2 x 1GB and 4 x 512MB...

Cheers,
David

"Hunibal" wrote in message
...


--



"David J Taylor"
wrote in
message ...
Panasonic FZ5 review now out at DP Review:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicFZ5/

"There is so much to like here - and so little to complain about - that
the DMC-FZ5 has to come highly recommended, and certainly has to make its
way to near the top of the list for anyone looking for an affordable,
compact super zoom camera."

David


Not a complain just observation: the 16 MB card is a joke. I know, it is
the -industry standard -


Analog camera's never came with a lifetime-supply of film, so why would a
digital camera come with a large storage card? 16MB is still a couple of
shots worth...

JohanE

"JohanE" wrote in message ...

"Hunibal" wrote in message
...


--



"David J Taylor"
wrote in
message ...
Panasonic FZ5 review now out at DP Review:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicFZ5/

"There is so much to like here - and so little to complain about - that
the DMC-FZ5 has to come highly recommended, and certainly has to make
its way to near the top of the list for anyone looking for an
affordable, compact super zoom camera."

David


Not a complain just observation: the 16 MB card is a joke. I know, it is
the -industry standard -


Analog camera's never came with a lifetime-supply of film, so why would a
digital camera come with a large storage card? 16MB is still a couple of
shots worth...

JohanE



Bet your car didn't come with a 1 gallon petrol tank and connectors to
change to a bigger one!

P.

PC wrote:
"JohanE" wrote in message ...

"Hunibal" wrote in message
. ..


--



"David J Taylor"
wrote in
message ...

Panasonic FZ5 review now out at DP Review:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicFZ5/

"There is so much to like here - and so little to complain about - that
the DMC-FZ5 has to come highly recommended, and certainly has to make
its way to near the top of the list for anyone looking for an
affordable, compact super zoom camera."

David


Not a complain just observation: the 16 MB card is a joke. I know, it is
the -industry standard -


Analog camera's never came with a lifetime-supply of film, so why would a
digital camera come with a large storage card? 16MB is still a couple of
shots worth...

JohanE




Bet your car didn't come with a 1 gallon petrol tank and connectors to
change to a bigger one!

P.

I don't have a big problem with the too-small memory cards that come
with digital cameras. As JohanE pointed out, most film cameras don't
come with a lot of film -- maybe a single roll, if you're talking about
a point-and-shoot in a "deluxe" package. As long as the card has enough
memory to let me test the camera, that's all I expect.

I'd rather buy the brand, capacity and speed I prefer on the aftermarket
than pay for a bundled commodity-class higher-capacity card. The little
8, 16 or 32MB cards that usually come with digital cameras may not hold
a lot of images, but they're fine for storing other small digital files
that I don't want to leave on my computer (after I've used them to test
the camera).

FWIW, I consider the type of flash-memory when I'm buying a new camera,;
I prefer Compact Flash because they're plentiful, usually less expensive
than other formats, and available almost everywhere. CF incompatibility
isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me, any more than the ability to
use AA cells is; but when two cameras reach the top of my short list,
I'll usually give the nod to the one that uses the same cards and
batteries I already have.

--
Walter Luffman Medina, TN USA
Amateur curmudgeon, equal opportunity annoyer

What Brand and how much?

David J Taylor wrote:

Hunibal wrote:
[]


Not a complain just observation: the 16 MB card is a joke. I know, it
is the -industry standard -

Cheers _ Hunibal _



Completely agree - may be a 256MB card, but in this price-sensitive area
it would be better to drop the card altogether. I got 2 x 1GB cards, and
my wife got 2 x 1GB and 4 x 512MB...

Cheers,
David

measekite wrote:
David J Taylor wrote:

[]
Completely agree - may be a 256MB card, but in this price-sensitive
area it would be better to drop the card altogether. I got 2 x 1GB
cards, and my wife got 2 x 1GB and 4 x 512MB...

Cheers,
David

What Brand and how much?

Basically, Kingmax Platinum:

http://www.kingmaxdigi.com/news/news..._p20040303.htm

from the cheapest reliable UK supplier I have found:

http://www.emartbuy.com/

They were out of stock once, and sent a SanDisk Ultra II instead, which
appears to work just as well.

Cheers,
David

My personal observations:

Arrived four days ago, so this is preliminary:

1/ Very small and light but too big for most pockets.
2/ Easy to use but the menus are a bit tedious.
3/ IS works well, even at full zoom.
4/ Good exposures and mostly good focus, so far.
5/ Flash works well, so far.
6/ Image quality is very good.
7/ Response time/on time/focus lock time ... all good.
8/ LCD viewer above average.
9/ EVF only OK ... useable but not much more.
10/ Look and feel are both good.

A last comment: My wife has carried it for three occasions and has shot some
very nice photos with it with no prior experience and no reading of the
manual. This camera has a "Simple Mode" that seems to be worth looking at
for casual users.