There's no question that when reading the specs on the FZ20, Panasonic appears to have almost completely re-worked it's design for the better. People who expect low noise levels are just kidding themselves, as you can't squeeze 5 megapixels onto such a small chip and not have noise - especially at any ISO setting above it's minimum. That's the price you must pay, just as the same problem exists on all fixed-lens cameras of 5mp or higher.
One serious flaw that Panasonic has not attended to is the extremely poor resolution of it's EVF viewfinder. At only 133,000 pixels it is half the resolution of the EVF in the A1, and far lower than most other competing prosumer cameras. I did not expect it to match the A2 EVF resolution of 922,000 pixels, but I did expect more than they have put into this camera. They do not mention any EVF boost in low-light either, so I am afraid it will retain the resulting problems of the FZ10 when it comes to low-light shooting.
It's a great pity that Panasonic has apparently not corrected this problem, since it's poor EVF and low-light problems were the main reasons why I sold my FZ10. True, the focus-assist beam will help at close range of about 2 or 3 meters - but will that prevent the EVF from blacking out while trying to frame a shot? And how can one really benefit from it's increased magnification for manual focusing with such a low EVF pixel count? I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt that it will. True, it probably won't affect daytime outdoor shooting too much - but there will still be detail that one cannot see through the viewfinder.
It's a pity that they have chosen to use such a low resolution EVF in what is obviously a greatly improved camera. I see this as a very serious design flaw, just as it was in the FZ10, and although I have been waiting for this camera to appear for some time, it is something that I intend to check out thoroughly before buying one.
Panasonic is giving us a camera that is the equivilent of a beautiful woman, with a beautiful smile - except that she has a piece of spinach stuck to one front tooth. It's a great pity that they've stopped just short of a complete overhaul of it's design - and left one of the most important features unchanged and seriously lacking.
Barry
The others are also very vivid, nice colors, no sign (for my eye)
of CA, but the noise is more tha my Sony V1. Am i right? Is that
noise or Jpeg artifacts ??
Costas
Great!
Having checked the sample images for the new Z20 I can say that
they are as good as my 300D and are indeed sharper straight from
the camera. The colourful bird picture shows an extraordinary
amount of detail as if it was shot by an "L" series lens. I would
definately be able to use this camera as a DSLR backup for my paid
jobs.
Well done Panasonic!
Steve
