Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20

Im a performance photographer and i did alot of research for a few months before purchasing this camera... i finally decided to get the fz20 in may of 2005... i love it so much and bought an identical backup in nov 2005... a pictures speaks a thousand words... look at my work and see for yourself what kind of camera this is...
especially in low light situations such as rock clubs and concerts...
www.myspace.com/ladyacephotography
i have nothing bad to say about this camera... i want to upgrade to the newest model as soon as i am able to...
the only thing is the red eye reduction... even though i set it i still get red eyes but thats not big deal.. i either use a red eye removal program or use an external flash and tilt it up a bit... no biggie... i still think this camera is the best for the money and for what i do...

the zoom, the lcd screen, the video clips, and the sound is incredible...
you can also see some of the video clips ive shot on www.myspace.com./ladyacephotography in my blog where it says ALMOST QUEEN video clips...

nothing really... just the red eye issue...

Purchased this camera in febuary 2006. Absolutely love this camera and I never leave home without it. This is without a doubt the best camera on the market in its class second only to the much more expensive D-SLRs. The only thing needed for this camera is the proper lighting. Buy yourself an external flash and you can't go wrong. Try not to shoot over ISO 100 as this creates noise (distortion) in the picture. The lens gives unbelievably clear and colorful pictures. The pictures look as if they came from a camera costing thousands of dollars.

If you are new to photography start off in the automatic modes i.e full auto mode (program) or Aperture priority. Take some time to really learn this camera to find out its strengths and limitations. Read and study the manual. And if you are really serious as I am about photography read, study, and practice all you can about aperture, shutter speed and lighting. There are those that will tell you that you will need a SLR to take professional quality pictures totally untrue. It is true that SLRs take very good quality pictures and it's mostly because of the bigger image sensor and capability to utilize higher ISOs with very little noise. As long as you have the proper lighting and ISO not over 100 or 200 your pictures will be absolutely stunning and indistinguishable from pictures taken with an overpriced SLR.

12x optical zoom, Ease of use

Plastic body

i bought the fz15 at 1st, i loved it to death, very smooth pics at iso50, but no hotshoe for external flash..so i sold it, and bought the fz20, till now, its my main walk around cam, it can do all..very affective cam, with leica lens at f2.8 at all ranges, the cam is simply awesome.very easy to use, very sharp, contrasty, nice colors, great depth of field,at macro my lens hood is about to touches the subject.for a 400$ cam or less on ebay now,, you cant beat it,totally awesome cam for any one.i also bought the raynox pro line wide and tele adapters to add on it too..raynox works great with fz20..this fz20 can shoot from great to better than most cam out there, i like it better than my canon 300d dslr..canon is known for blow out high lightes, not with fzs..fz10 is also a great cam too..cant wait for panasonic to come out with thier own dslr.no regrets, top choice for digital cam for all walk of life. great cam for outdoors.

good price, nicely build, very easy to use, very sharp and great results, great zoom range, leica is simply best lens.light weigh, compact,strongly suggest.

a bit noisy on iso 80,fz15 is best at 50iso. and it gets worst on higher iso.battery life can be longer,canon is better in batt life. pana should make a batt grip to hold 2 batts, it would be nicer grip and add 2 batts instead of one..

fz10 and fz15..or fuji s9000, or sony r1.

none so far.

I purchased this camera to backup my Canon 20D on wedding shoots until I can afford a second DSLR body. While I hope my 20D never shuts down on me in the middle of a shoot it's nice to have a quality backup camera - and the FZ20 can be that, once you learn to deal with its quirks. The camera takes pretty nice pictures. I enlarged one to 13x19 on an Epson 2200 and am happy with it. Color balance is good but caucasian flesh tones tend to be a bit orange. The funny thing about the camera is that every one of its great features has a caveat, so I'll list them: - Great zoom range and excellent lens, but the closest-focusing curve is steep. At 36mm you can pretty much take pics from about a foot away to infinity. But as soon as you start zooming in, the closest-focusing changes rapidly until at 400mm+ it's six feet. - Image Stabilization: yeah, the camera has it, but it needs it. It's the only way you'll be able to get good pics because you'll be stuck shooting at ASA 80. Why? Read on... - Many ASA speeds: 80-400, but only one of them usable. Noise is a problem at ALL ASA speeds, not just the upper ones. In my own mind, and for its intended purpose, it's not too much of a drawback. If I ever had to use it in a professional situation I'd buy Noise Ninja and clean the images up. All in all, I love the pictures this camera produces. The lens is sharp, the color is quite pleasant, and it's relatively cheap.

Nice color Sharp images Hot shoe

Noise at ALL ASA speeds Slow startup (5-6 secs) Battery life is 200 pictures, only half the capacity of a 1GB card.

Minolta 7HI

I borrowed my friend's FZ-20 and took some night shot. May be it's me don't know how to use the camera, it won't let me have longer than 1sec exposure in A mode. So I ended up use S mode and set it to 8 sec instead. MARVELLOUS lens, I have no idea how on earth did they have consistance F2.8 12X optical zoom, but they did it; and it's a GREAT lens. Low noise level even with 8sec exposure. Tho I only tried use ISO80, haven't try out higher ISO yet. Also, it's a fairly fast camera. However, I found it inconvenient to change apeature and shutter speed setting on this camera.

12X optical zoom consistan F2.8 LEICA lens (man! i love this lens) Low noise level

Inconvenient to change apeature and shutter speed settings

Nikon CP995, CP990 Canon Pro IS90