On 22 Feb 2005 11:40:49 -0800, wrote:

I am in the category of having changed from film slr to consumer
digital for the last 3 years. I am dithering over purchasing a dslr,
because image quality is my thing. However, I have been pretty pleased
with Nikon and Panasonic Lumix FZ consumer cameras, especially the
latter.
Considering only image quality, up to A4 prints. DSLR users talk about
their superior image quality, but when I go to say, Steves Digicams,
and compare on-screen a 200% enlargement of the same image, far greater
than real life, I see very little difference in quality between a D70
and a FZ20.
Giving up the portability of a consumer camera for a far more expensive
DSLR system (my film lenses are Olympus and I'm not impressed with the
E300).......is the image quality worth the difference? Or better to
wait a year or two yet?

You've answered your own question about image quality. If you can't
tell the difference, then what's the issue?

I disagree with you on quality, even at ISO-80 that thing is much more
noisy than a DSLR.

See the noise in the blue sky:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_...s/p1010069.jpg

Compare to a Canon DSLR, the 10D at ISO-100:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_...s/IMG_0082.JPG

The other big difference between the DLSR and FZ20 is interchangeable
lenses, so ask yourself, are you going to ever need this? I love my
300 on the D70 (it becomes a 450mm) which isn't much further than the
FZ20's 35mm eq. effective 432mm. On the other end, you'll be limited
to effective 36mm. Problem for some, not for others.

--
Owamanga!