Canon G6 or Pansonic FZ20

Hi. I will be buying my first digital camera, and I want to start with
a good one.

My selection criteria-

-Non SLR but full manual control like an SLR
-Excellent image quality
-RAW files
-Flash shoe
-5 Megapixels or higher
-4X zoom or higher, but optics are more important than zoom range

I read reviews for most of the cameras available now and I have
narrowed it down to the Canon G6 and the Pansonic Lumix FZ20.

It might take someone whose used both cameras to answer this question,
but here goes. Which camera delivers better images in the 35-140 range
of the zoom?

I know that the FZ20 has a much longer zoom (does this degrade image
quality?) and that it has IS (a plus, but not required for me), and
I've also heard that the FZ20 does not do very well indoors, where the
G6 is supposed to be about as good as it gets for a non SLR. My
primary concern is image quality in the 4x zoom range of the G6.

Thanks.

--

Tara Keegan

I have a Canon 20D and my wife has the G6. It takes awesome pictures
and she loves it. It has excellent color and contrast control and the
lens is fast and very sharp. I even use it when we just want general
pictures as my 20D usually has a 400mm 5.6 lens on it for wildlife
photography.

Highly recommended.

Art

Tara Keegan wrote:
[]
I read reviews for most of the cameras available now and I have
narrowed it down to the Canon G6 and the Pansonic Lumix FZ20.

It might take someone whose used both cameras to answer this question,
but here goes. Which camera delivers better images in the 35-140
range of the zoom?

In some respects, it seems a little silly to get a camera with zoom to
432mm if you don't intend to use it. On the other hand, the lens is
excellent and the image stabilisation will allow you to get shots that
would otherwise fail - don't be so quick to rule it out.

I would suggest you visit a camera store and compare the ergonomics of
both cameras.

Oh, I've just seen you want RAW files - well, I don't think the Panasonic
does that (it does TIFF instead) but on the other hand unless you have
rather specialised needs, RAW files are overkill and just create more
work. At least, that's how I feel about them.

We have an FZ20 and find it an excellent camera, and great value for
money.

Cheers,
David

In article , says...
Hi. I will be buying my first digital camera, and I want to start with
a good one.

My selection criteria-

-Non SLR but full manual control like an SLR
-Excellent image quality
-RAW files
-Flash shoe
-5 Megapixels or higher
-4X zoom or higher, but optics are more important than zoom range

I read reviews for most of the cameras available now and I have
narrowed it down to the Canon G6 and the Pansonic Lumix FZ20.

It might take someone whose used both cameras to answer this question,
but here goes. Which camera delivers better images in the 35-140 range
of the zoom?

I know that the FZ20 has a much longer zoom (does this degrade image
quality?) and that it has IS (a plus, but not required for me), and
I've also heard that the FZ20 does not do very well indoors, where the
G6 is supposed to be about as good as it gets for a non SLR. My
primary concern is image quality in the 4x zoom range of the G6.

Thanks.



If you can find a Sony F-717, you will have one of the best 5mp non SLR
digitals ever made.

The lens is SUPERB, the picture quality is great, and the only thing on your
list it doesn't have is RAW files.

Funny thing though, when I used it as my primary camera, I never felt the
nedd for raw, it was only after I bought the F-828 that RAW became a
requirement. Do I wish it had RAW- YES, Did I NEED it to have RAW- NO. The
camera works so well in manual mode that I got very few pictures that would
have needed "rescuing" in the RAW converter.

NOTE:
If you do go this route AVOID the 707, it had a LOT of problems, mostly in
the color renering.. Reds not right, Greens not right ect.




--
Larry Lynch
Mystic, Ct.

"Tara Keegan" wrote in message ...
Hi. I will be buying my first digital camera, and I want to start with
a good one.

My selection criteria-

-Non SLR but full manual control like an SLR
-Excellent image quality
-RAW files
-Flash shoe
-5 Megapixels or higher
-4X zoom or higher, but optics are more important than zoom range

I read reviews for most of the cameras available now and I have
narrowed it down to the Canon G6 and the Pansonic Lumix FZ20.

FZ20 doesn't do RAW.

Tony

How important is RAW?

cycl0ne184 wrote:

"Tara Keegan" wrote in message ...


Hi. I will be buying my first digital camera, and I want to start with
a good one.

My selection criteria-

-Non SLR but full manual control like an SLR
-Excellent image quality
-RAW files
-Flash shoe
-5 Megapixels or higher
-4X zoom or higher, but optics are more important than zoom range

I read reviews for most of the cameras available now and I have
narrowed it down to the Canon G6 and the Pansonic Lumix FZ20.



FZ20 doesn't do RAW.

Tony

measekite wrote:
How important is RAW?

Very good question! My present feeling is that unless you have time to
process each picture to individual perfection, RAW is more a hinderance
than anything else. On the other hand, if could get the full dynamic
range out the camera in an easy-to-use format (say 12-bit JPEG), I might
be much keener on it to recover all that shadow detail which might
otherwise be lost.

I'm not saying that there aren't circumstances when RAW might be
desirable, just that it doesn't fit in well to my way of working.

Cheers,
David