konrad cawley
New member
This is my third digital camera. The Lumix was chosen as it suited my needs better than other camera's I looked at. I have owned it since the end of July and have taken a lot of pictures with it. My previous camera a Nikon Coolpix 885, is really slow compared to the Lumix. I looked at Ricoh Caplio R1V/R2, Canon Powershot A520 and Minolta DiMAGE Z3 but they don't have the features the Lumix has that I would use or need. I paid just under £190 pounds from a local dealer. When deciding on this camera, budget and features influenced my choice.
The images are fine with good colour reproduction (compared to the Nikon). I liked the size of the camera which is not too small or big. This helps with handling. The 6 x zoom is good for this size of camera. Anti-shake seem to work but I need to test it further. Battery life is great. I used some 2000 AAs then bought a charger with 2500 AAs. I took 160 pictures and the batteries were still full.
The menus are good and the controls well laid out. I found the exposure compensation easy to use. The scene modes work well too. It is missing maual modes like aperture, shutter, focus and focus point adjust. It does not have selectable metering like spot, centre weighted or spot af area(Nikon 885). I never used these features that the Nikon had, that much.
I can recommend this camera for point and shoot and newbies.
update - I lost my first LZ2 but replaced it with another. Got it for £170 in March 06. I was going for the LZ5 but it was not available at the time. I have taken over 50,000 pictures with the second camera. I have noted that the battery life seems good. I went to the London Motor show and using a 2gig Sandisk ultra, a pair Uniross 2500 batteries, I got 835 pictures on a single charge. I did not use the flash much and did a few movies too. I notice that Canon boast that kind of battery with the screen off.
The speed of the camera is amazing. I noticed other people struggling with their cameras. I notice that the focus struggles in very low light. This happens at parties or places where the flash is needed. The LZ3/5 have focus assist lamps.
This camera is a good buy if you can get it cheap, but go for the LZ3 or LZ5 with their extra features.
Problems:
Focus struggles in very low light places with flash. Now cured with the LZ3/LZ5
The images are fine with good colour reproduction (compared to the Nikon). I liked the size of the camera which is not too small or big. This helps with handling. The 6 x zoom is good for this size of camera. Anti-shake seem to work but I need to test it further. Battery life is great. I used some 2000 AAs then bought a charger with 2500 AAs. I took 160 pictures and the batteries were still full.
The menus are good and the controls well laid out. I found the exposure compensation easy to use. The scene modes work well too. It is missing maual modes like aperture, shutter, focus and focus point adjust. It does not have selectable metering like spot, centre weighted or spot af area(Nikon 885). I never used these features that the Nikon had, that much.
I can recommend this camera for point and shoot and newbies.
update - I lost my first LZ2 but replaced it with another. Got it for £170 in March 06. I was going for the LZ5 but it was not available at the time. I have taken over 50,000 pictures with the second camera. I have noted that the battery life seems good. I went to the London Motor show and using a 2gig Sandisk ultra, a pair Uniross 2500 batteries, I got 835 pictures on a single charge. I did not use the flash much and did a few movies too. I notice that Canon boast that kind of battery with the screen off.
The speed of the camera is amazing. I noticed other people struggling with their cameras. I notice that the focus struggles in very low light. This happens at parties or places where the flash is needed. The LZ3/5 have focus assist lamps.
This camera is a good buy if you can get it cheap, but go for the LZ3 or LZ5 with their extra features.
Problems:
Focus struggles in very low light places with flash. Now cured with the LZ3/LZ5