Panasonic Fz18: whatàs your opinion?

Hi all,

I am considering upgrading from my compact Casio Ex v7 to a more
advanced cameras; I'd like a bigger zoom and better image quality, but
I'm afraid I have neither to budget nor the patience to buy and carry
around a "real" professional camera with a full set of lenses. So I
thought the Panasonic Fz18 can be a reasonable compromise.

The forums and websistes (especially dpreview) I found all reviewed
the camera fairly well. What do you think? Do you agree with the
positive reviews? Or maybe would the gain in quality (compared to my
Casio) not be worth the expense?

Thanks!

wrote:
Hi all,

I am considering upgrading from my compact Casio Ex v7 to a more
advanced cameras; I'd like a bigger zoom and better image quality, but
I'm afraid I have neither to budget nor the patience to buy and carry
around a "real" professional camera with a full set of lenses. So I
thought the Panasonic Fz18 can be a reasonable compromise.

The forums and websistes (especially dpreview) I found all reviewed
the camera fairly well. What do you think? Do you agree with the
positive reviews? Or maybe would the gain in quality (compared to my
Casio) not be worth the expense?

Thanks!

I have the earlier Pamasonic FZ5, and I have been well pleased with it.
The FZ18 should increase your picture-taking range, especially at the wide
end of the zoom - 28mm is a lot wider than 38mm. I would expect the FZ18
image stabilisation to work much better than the Casio is reported to.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/casioexv7/page4.asp

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz18/page6.asp

Cheers,
David

wrote:
Hi all,

I am considering upgrading from my compact Casio Ex v7 to a more
advanced cameras; I'd like a bigger zoom and better image quality, but
I'm afraid I have neither to budget nor the patience to buy and carry
around a "real" professional camera with a full set of lenses. So I
thought the Panasonic Fz18 can be a reasonable compromise.

The forums and websistes (especially dpreview) I found all reviewed
the camera fairly well. What do you think? Do you agree with the
positive reviews? Or maybe would the gain in quality (compared to my
Casio) not be worth the expense?

Thanks!

I have a Panasonic FZ20, and prefer it to my Nikon D70s.

DP

If you are not used to dSLR usage and quality you will be happy with this
camera.
From a dSLR user's point of view these cameras are slower to use, have
significantly greater noise and are limited by the physical characteristics
of lenses in their focal length range and the physical size of the sensors.
Which means that most people will not miss what they are missing, have the
advantage of a small light camera and be glad they are not lugging an SUV
sized behemoth around their neck, like a Nikon dSLR coupled to a Nikon
18-200VR zoom.
Since the life cycle of these cameras is usually months I am hoping the next
generation can improve noise levels, which to me remains the main bugaboo
of the Panasonics even at low ISOs.

wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I am considering upgrading from my compact Casio Ex v7 to a more
advanced cameras; I'd like a bigger zoom and better image quality, but
I'm afraid I have neither to budget nor the patience to buy and carry
around a "real" professional camera with a full set of lenses. So I
thought the Panasonic Fz18 can be a reasonable compromise.

The forums and websistes (especially dpreview) I found all reviewed
the camera fairly well. What do you think? Do you agree with the
positive reviews? Or maybe would the gain in quality (compared to my
Casio) not be worth the expense?

My wife uses a FZ5 and it works well. I'd guess you will be happy with the
FZ18.

On Sun, 6 Jan 2008 16:24:20 -0500, Charles wrote:

wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I am considering upgrading from my compact Casio Ex v7 to a more
advanced cameras; I'd like a bigger zoom and better image quality, but
I'm afraid I have neither to budget nor the patience to buy and carry
around a "real" professional camera with a full set of lenses. So I
thought the Panasonic Fz18 can be a reasonable compromise.

The forums and websistes (especially dpreview) I found all reviewed
the camera fairly well. What do you think? Do you agree with the
positive reviews? Or maybe would the gain in quality (compared to my
Casio) not be worth the expense?

My wife uses a FZ5 and it works well. I'd guess you will be happy with the
FZ18.

I second that. My FZ5 has served me well. Just don't try to push the ISO
very high and you'll be fine.

-dms

On Sun, 6 Jan 2008 10:23:39 -0800
"flambe" wrote:

If you are not used to dSLR usage and quality you will be happy with
this camera.
From a dSLR user's point of view these cameras are slower to use,
have significantly greater noise and are limited by the physical
characteristics of lenses in their focal length range and the
physical size of the sensors. Which means that most people will not
miss what they are missing, have the advantage of a small light
camera and be glad they are not lugging an SUV sized behemoth around
their neck, like a Nikon dSLR coupled to a Nikon 18-200VR zoom.

Fine so far...

Since the life cycle of these cameras is usually months I am hoping
the next generation can improve noise levels, which to me remains
the main bugaboo of the Panasonics even at low ISOs.

The noise problem with small sensors will not improve in the next
generation, or in the one after that. Physics doesn't work that way.
And, noise at low ISOs is not a particular bugaboo of the Panasonics.
Sure, you can find a little noise in some shots from my FZ30 if you
look really hard, but it's not visible in prints or in images resized
for the web. It doesn't rise to the level of a "bugaboo."

But, speaking of small sensors and noise, does anyone know how Fuji
gets their sensors to do so well at ISO 800? I vaguely recall something
about a mix of large and small sensels, with one type recording
luminosity and the other recording color. I can't quite imagine how
you'd get both high resolution and low noise from such a scheme, so
I must be missing something.

Paul Allen

The camera is relatively "bulky" for a P&S, as you cannot put it in
your pocket like a Canon G7/G9 , Nikon P5100 or Sony H3. Check some
photos that I took last year at the following link
http://picasaweb.google.com/aniramca...rn_Manitoba_CA
They gave some ideas of the quality of the photos that came out of the
camera.

wrote:
Hi all,

I am considering upgrading from my compact Casio Ex v7 to a more
advanced cameras; I'd like a bigger zoom and better image quality, but
I'm afraid I have neither to budget nor the patience to buy and carry
around a "real" professional camera with a full set of lenses. So I
thought the Panasonic Fz18 can be a reasonable compromise.

The forums and websistes (especially dpreview) I found all reviewed
the camera fairly well. What do you think? Do you agree with the
positive reviews? Or maybe would the gain in quality (compared to my
Casio) not be worth the expense?

Thanks!

Paul Allen wrote:
[]
But, speaking of small sensors and noise, does anyone know how Fuji
gets their sensors to do so well at ISO 800? I vaguely recall
something about a mix of large and small sensels, with one type
recording luminosity and the other recording color. I can't quite
imagine how you'd get both high resolution and low noise from such a
scheme, so
I must be missing something.

Paul Allen

This is a question which interests me as well. So far, I don't think that
anyone has pointed out a Fuji paper explaining just how they do this (and
of course, they may not want their competitors to know!), and I keep
getting the impression "It's just Fuji magic", which doesn't satisfy me at
all! I do get the impression that they employ more noise reduction than,
for example, Panasonic, and of course they get a softer image as a result,
and those two manufacturers are at the opposite ends of the spectrum in
sharpness and noise.

Perhaps a good noise-reduction algorithm plus a slightly better sensor is
what Fuji have - but their "Fuji magic" ambience turns me off completely.

Cheers,
David

David J Taylor wrote:
Paul Allen wrote:
[]
But, speaking of small sensors and noise, does anyone know how Fuji
gets their sensors to do so well at ISO 800? I vaguely recall
something about a mix of large and small sensels, with one type
recording luminosity and the other recording color. I can't quite
imagine how you'd get both high resolution and low noise from such a
scheme, so
I must be missing something.

Paul Allen

This is a question which interests me as well. So far, I don't think
that anyone has pointed out a Fuji paper explaining just how they do
this (and of course, they may not want their competitors to know!),
and I keep getting the impression "It's just Fuji magic", which
doesn't satisfy me at all! I do get the impression that they employ
more noise reduction than, for example, Panasonic, and of course they
get a softer image as a result, and those two manufacturers are at
the opposite ends of the spectrum in sharpness and noise.

Perhaps a good noise-reduction algorithm plus a slightly better
sensor is what Fuji have - but their "Fuji magic" ambience turns me
off completely.
Cheers,
David

Should have mentioned the larger sensor area as well, and more sensible
pixel count.

Cheers,
David