On Fri, 19 May 2006 15:43:28 GMT
Grumpy AuContraire wrote:

Too slow in response and less-than-accurate auto focus.

Interesting. I would have put "too short a lens" first on the list.
I use an old Oly C700 with a long end equivalent to something like
380mm. For bird photography, I've wished for a lens two or three
times that long. Shutter lag and autofocus accuracy are also problems,
but the inability to get close enough is the killer for me.

Don't get me wrong, I like the camera (FZ 10) but the Leica M
rangefinder is quick and deadly accurate. The rest depends on your
"trigger" finger.

The FZ10 has a really sweet manual focus compared to the menu-and-
joystick contraption on my C700. What happens to the shutter lag
if you turn off the autofocus and use that neat ring on the lens?
I'm tempted to ask what happens if you switch to full-manual exposure,
but I guess trading the auto-exposure lag for fiddling with the joystick
might not work out well.

Of course, the FZ 30 may have overcome some of these drawbacks but I'm
not about to go our and get the latest version in order to "keep up
with the Jones'."

The FZ30 doesn't appear to have improved shutter lag timings over the
FZ20, but it does have convenient dedicated controls for aperture and
shutter speed that might make full manual operation feasible. Dpreview
doesn't appear to have a review of the FZ10, for some reason.

For wildlife photography, I'll just revert to the
M2 with the 90MM and grab an image from a scanner.

Yeah, whatever works. I've got a friend who's dumped his digital gear
and now uses only medium-format film and a high-end scanner. He's
happy as a pig in mud. :-)

Paul Allen