Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ15

This review is a lot more recent than the camera, because it is one of the few cameras that I did not buy new. I down-graded to it from the FZ20, for only one significant reason: digital noise. The FZ20 is brimming with it, and the FZ30 is terminal with it. On the FZ30, take a photo of the corners in a ceiling of the room, and then zoom in on the LCD, and you will see noise at ISO 80. The FZ20 is not as bad, but still has some noise at less than full sunlight. The FZ15 is just the right balance of megapixels vs. CCD quality. You have to give up the flash hot shoe of the FZ20, however. Unlike the FZ10, it has a focus-assist light, and it works well. The FZ5 is too small for me. This camera is the best combination of photo quality, feature set, size, and because it is an older model, price. Let's get something straight; you don't buy a Panasonic camera for it's ease of use, it's ISO (leave @ 80!) or for it's ergonomics (excluding the FZ30, big change!). You buy an FZ series for that fantastic Leica lens. What's in a name? Apparently everything. This is the only zoom lens I've ever owned that captures hideous amounts of detail from close Macro to 420mm!! The image stabilization makes a HUGE difference, and I've done side-by-side tests to prove it. May I PLEASE have a lens like this for my digital SLRs? To buy one for a Nikon with these features is $4000, and even then, it doesn't have f2.8 all the way through the zoom range like this one does. This lens captures far more detail than the Quantaray or Tamron 28-300mm SLR lenses, even with theirs set to f5.6! Makes you wonder about SLR lens prices... If this camera had a dedicated i-TTL flash shoe, I'd use it for my weddings and portraits. I use an SLR for "work", and the FZ15 for all other uses. Downsides? It is still a bit small in the hand, but well balanced with the lens. My SLR tips with any large zoom on it. Setting the f-stop and/or shutter speed is done by toggling the pad after pressing an "exposure" button, which is a bit weird. Battery life is lousy, but the batteries can be bought very cheaply on ebay. I use this camera for two MAJOR reasons in my world: Image detail, and an incredible light-weight zoom lens that can shoot a rose petal in one moment, and capture a big-horn sheep on a distant peak in the next moment!

35-420mm, f2.8 throughout the range, ultra sharp, image stabilized zoom lens. Fast focus, even in low light (blew away my Olympus C-8080). Decent LCD and EVF. Very "snappy" image quality and detail; 4 megapixels exceeds the detail from 6MP in other cameras, even my Nikon D50. Very little unsharp masking or any other Photoshop work required. No purple fringing in high contrast (I mean NONE! My SLR still gets some!). The Real reason we all take pictures is best accomplished with this camera: extremely impressive shots, the first time you take them!

Low battery life. Takes some "getting used to" in both shape and features. No external flash capability, (not counting the pop-up flash, which is quite good!). Slow start up.

Panasonic FZ10, FZ20, FZ30 Olympus Widezoom C-8080 Olympus C-720 Canon G1, G3 Canon Rebel XT, Nikon D50, Olympus E-500 DSLRs

The lens started to lock up on power-up, Panasonic honored the warranty (even though bought on Ebay!).