Panasonic DMC-FZ7 not a full size camera; which one is?

I thought the photo was a joke. I'm glad to see someone say to NEVER purchase a digicam without a viewfinder. I took good pics for 15 years with my old Minolta 35mm camera; look through the viewfinder; focus; use the zoom if necessary; use the pop-up flash if necessary; aim and shoot. Seemed to work good everytime.

My best shots were those taken on bright sunny days using Kodak Gold 200 film. Explain to me the difference in the different kinds of viewfinders in digicams. I take it an optical viewfinder is like the one in my old Minolta camera. What are the others?

I know I'm out of my league in this forum judged by some of the comments made by others in this forum; but that's how you learn; you ask questions over and over and over again. One poster was quick to remind me that this was a digital camera forum; I know that; that's why I'm here. I'd never heard of this website until a MOD over at CNET told me about it. By the way; where is this website based? I've notice many posts from people from all over the place. The power of the Internet is great; the information highway from all over.

Big Steve
Biloxi, Mississippi, USA
10/16/06

DPreview in the glossary answers your question better than I can.
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Camera_System/viewfinder_01.htm

The dissadvantage of the EVF is that you briefly loose sight of the subject after a photo is taken, not normally a problem unless you are trying to follow some fast action. There are ways round that but it is certainly not something to worry about until you get a lot more experience with the type of camera. There are also advantages to the EVF such as seeing shooting info aperture, shutter speed etc. in the finder.

As all cameras can be set on full auto and can be used immediately, don't worry that a camera might be too advanced for you. You will always be able to grow into the other features as you become accustomed to the camera.

I personally hate seeing people holding (Or waving) cameras at arms lencth looking at the LCD while taking pics. They are asking for blurred pics.

Yes IS helps but it helps even more if the camera is being held steady in the first place. I like the flip out LCD where the camera can be held at chest level with hands tucked in tight and like the Viewfinder I would not buy a camera without the Flip out LCD.

And by the way my hands are fairly large which is why I like the FZ30. It fits nicely and is certainly not normally a problem to carry around. By taking photos for the local paper it has also paid for itself in the 8 months that I have owned it.

Good luck with your choice.

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FCAS #123
Old Sea Dog/cp 5400/FZ30
Galleries at http://www.pbase.com/oldseadog/galleries

Nice pics; did you take all of those with your Panny DMC-FZ30? Your profile says you're from Canada; never been to Canada; I did make it as far north as Evansville, Indiana once in the 60's to visit relatives. You gettin' any cool weather up there in Canada yet?

You should have been down here 2 weeks ago with your Panny DMC-FZ30. We had an event last week which has been held down here in these parts for the past 10 years called "Cruisin' the Coast".

It was an event where classic car lovers and their cars came from all over the USA to our Mississippi Gulf Coastline which although still battered from last year's hurricane; more than 6,000 classic cars participated in the event which was deemed to be a success and the weather was also nice; sunny; low relative humidity; high temps ranged in the lower 80's with overnight lows in the 60's. Thanks for your post.

Big Steve
Biloxi, Mississippi, USA
10/16/06

Thanks Steve,

My pbase galleries are a mix of photos taken with the FZ30 and with the Nikon 5400. Although I don't use it much now, it does have the advantage of the Wider angle lens, and I am keeping it for that reason.

The Exif data under the pics, if there, will tell which photos were taken with which camera.
Not such a nice day today with light wet snow.
--
FCAS #123
Old Sea Dog/cp 5400/FZ30
Galleries at http://www.pbase.com/oldseadog/galleries

To answer your question about this site, it is based in England. And yes, it is truly international in terms of the scope of participants...which is great!

The search function can assist you in researching specific questions. The quick (very quick) answer to your viewfinder question is: in digital cams, there are four types - optical viewfinders in p&s cameras (non ttl), ttl viewfinders in dslrs, electronic viewfinders in ultrazooms and, with the Leica M8, rangefinder optical-coupled viewfinders.

Oh, and keep asking questions - it is how you learn.

So the site is based in jolly old England; that's nice and you're to the north of me in Canada. Have you experienced any cool weather in Canada lately? It's been cloudy and raining all day here today; the temperature reached a balmy 78 degrees F here today.

I know I probably shouldn't ask questions in the Panny forum about cameras in the Canon forum but someone in this forum suggested I check out Canon's A710 IS camera which happens to cost more than a Panny DMC-FZ7.

Are you familiar with that Canon camera? It comes with IS; has an LCD screen as well as an optical viewfinder in a small package. That's probably why Canon's MSRP is $399.99.

Big Steve
Biloxi, Mississippi, USA
10/16/06

Big Steve0655 said:

What about my other question which was if I did want to purchase
another Pany model below the FZ7; another model which did have a
viewfinder but no IS could I get by w/o the IS? My steady hands
and head could take the place of the IS correct?

Click to expand...

Not necessarily... i recently put a 1.7x teleconverter and a 1.8x teleconverter on my FZ30 giving me 1285mm and took a steady shot hand held at 1/40th sec thanks to OIS... thats a full 5 stops

--
Mike from Canada



http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?sort_order=views%20DESC&first_this_page=0&page_limit=31&&emailsearch=mighty_mike88%40hotmail.com&thumbnails=

yes

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0607/Panasonic/fz50add02.jpg

--
Mike from Canada

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?sort_order=views%20DESC&first_this_page=0&page_limit=31&&emailsearch=mighty_mike88%40hotmail.com&thumbnails=

Big Steve0655 said:

So the site is based in jolly old England; that's nice and you're
to the north of me in Canada. Have you experienced any cool
weather in Canada lately? It's been cloudy and raining all day
here today; the temperature reached a balmy 78 degrees F here today.

I know I probably shouldn't ask questions in the Panny forum about
cameras in the Canon forum but someone in this forum suggested I
check out Canon's A710 IS camera which happens to cost more than a
Panny DMC-FZ7.

Are you familiar with that Canon camera? It comes with IS; has an
LCD screen as well as an optical viewfinder in a small package.
That's probably why Canon's MSRP is $399.99.

Click to expand...

Yesterday (Monday, Oct. 16), we had our first frost of the season, but the day itself turned out to be absolutely gorgeous (would have been great for getting out with camera...instead of working...). Today, Tuesday, is much colder and much wetter. Parts of Ontario have already had snow (a lot of snow, as it turned out) and the rest of us probably won't have too long to wait. 78F in Biloxi sounds pretty good to me...

As to the Canon, the 710 was not available when I was on the market, but its predecessor, the 700, was. The 710 remedies what many saw as the 700's biggest flaw, namely the lack of IS in a 6X zoom camera. The Canon forum should be a source for more info, of course, but if its viewfinders you want, especially in something at least slightly larger than today's typically small/compact p&s cameras, then the Canon 710 (as well as its cousins, the 630 and 640, or even the 610 and 620, which one suspects are very competitively priced if you can find them new) are worth checking out. Its tough comparing them, as Canon no longer maintains a strict hierarchy in the A-series line - while I think the 710 is considered by some to be at the top of the line, the 710 lacks some features that the 630/640 have, most notably the tilt-and-swivel LCD.

I'll close by repeating what I think is the best advice you've received (from me and others) - try to get to a store to actually handle the cameras you are considering (to avoid any further unpleasant surprises...though I love my FZ7...). Cheers!

Big Steve0655 said:

I saw a pic of an FZ50 in silver; I had to go to Panasonic.com to
see it; it's a very nice digicam but also kind of pricey for me.
No one addressed my other question in a previous post which was if
I dropped down to a Pany digicam below the DMC-FZ7; dropped down to
a digicam which would have a nice size LCD; one that would also
have an optical viewfinder and IS; most of Pany's other lower end
models which come with IS do not come with an optical viewfinder.

If I had to do without one; would a camera with a nice sized LCD
and a viewfinder be better to own than one of Pany's lower end
digicams with IS and no optical viewfinder? From the point of
someone like myself making the transition from a 35mm P&S camera to
a P&S digicam; if I had to do without a feature; should I place
more emphasis on a digicam having IS or one that has first; a nice
size LCD and second; also comes with an optical viewfinder and has
no IS?

Click to expand...

I would suggest you find a camera that you like the look and feel of first and foremost. I.S. and LCD size are nice features, but it's hard to appreciate them if you hate the rest of the camera. You might consider a "prosumer" camera from a year or so back, like the Canon Powershot G6 or G3, or the Sony DSC-V1 . Prosumers tend to have optical viewfinders (although the viewfinders are terrible compared to an SLR viewfinder) and they have a nice, hefty size.

For more modern cameras you should visit Fry's or Best Buy to hold and compare them in person.

Thanks for those comments.

Big Steve
Biloxi, Mississippi, USA
10/17/06

Still raining here today; the temperature right now is 76F. I have the A.C. on; sunshine has been forecasted to return tomorrow morning with a cold front moving through this area on Friday giving our area early morning lows in the 50's by Saturday; brrrrrrr; that's cold. Thanks for your post.

Big Steve
Biloxi, Mississippi
10/17/06

go to the costco web site and pick up the fz20 for $250. you will be happy with the size, weight and feel.

As an aging baby boomer, I wear trifocal glasses for vision correction at all distances. To be blunt, using an LCD for picture taking is a struggle. Before EVF, I used the generally inaccurate optical finders (disappearing) for framing and the LCD for settings. Now I use one of several cameras with EVF or a d-slr when required. The other cameras without EFV are rarely used or given away as presents. I wouldn't consider a camera with only an LCD. Just my situation.

Greg

I checked out that website; are they something like a Sam's Club? Is that Panny digicam a factory sealed new unit or a refurb? The reason I asked; I checked out the review of it on this digicam website; it says it was introduced in July 2004.

Big Steve
Biloxi, Mississippi
10/31/06