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Buying myself a FZ18 - couple questions from a newbie first

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marmee

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It looks wonderful, all the reviews are promising, and I hope I can do it justice.

Couple questions before I commit to the purchase though:
  • I don't have to look through the viewfinder unless I want to? I can use the LCD screen like I have been on my Cybershot?
How does the battery charging work? The specs say it comes with a battery pack, but dont specify how to charge it. I'm in Australia and buying it from US which are different mains power configs.

Thanks in advance
Michelle
 
Yes, you can compose on the LCD or through the view finder. The battery fits into a little square charger that you plug into the wall.
 
marmee said:
It looks wonderful,
Click to expand...
imho, it is. I love my FZ18,
marmee said:
  • I don't have to look through the viewfinder unless I want to? I can
use the LCD screen like I have been on my Cybershot?
Click to expand...
Yes you can, though you may want to use the viewfinder when using the long end of the zoom (so you can brace the camera against your face to help keep it steady) or when light hits the viewfinder making it sometimes difficult to see. The electronic viewfinder on the FZ18 is quite a good one.
marmee said:
How does the battery charging work? The specs say it comes with a
battery pack, but dont specify how to charge it. I'm in Australia and
buying it from US which are different mains power configs.
Click to expand...
The charger is a compact, self-contained unit that plugs into the wall. You will need a plug adapter, something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Tripshell-Universal-Australia-All-One/dp/B000VMPWFA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1198670017&sr=8-4

Enjoy your new camera. Look forward to seeing some of your photos!

--
gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb
My digital camera BLOGs: Pany FZ18 & TZ3; Canon S2, SD700 & A570; Nikon 5400
http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-logs/index.php
 
marmee said:
all the reviews are promising,
Click to expand...
You might want to check out the threads about "blue banding" if you have not already seen them :(
marmee said:
  • I don't have to look through the viewfinder unless I want to? I can
use the LCD screen like I have been on my Cybershot?
Click to expand...
The vewfinder has an adjustable 'diopter' mechanism to correct for eyesight, which I find, for my old eyes , much more convenient than reaching for my reading glasses to inspect the LCD !
marmee said:
How does the battery charging work?
Click to expand...
The battery takes 2hours to recharge, which is not too long I suppose, but it is awfull annoying when it dies in the middle of a session.

There is only one battery in the box ( in the UK at least ) which is awful silly of Panasonic considering the praise they would get in reviews if they supplied a spare.

So you may want to check out the price of buying a spare, take a stiff shot of whisky and sit comfortably before you check out the Panasonic price for one :(
marmee said:
I'm in Australia and
buying it from US which are different mains power configs.
Click to expand...
Sorry, cant help with this one but for Isabel :-

In the UK the charger is a freestanding wee black box (not a wallwart but of a similar size) with a slot for the battery and a socket for the mains lead.

Two mains leads are supplied, one has a two pin mains plug (continental or US ?? not sure) and the other has a UK type 3pin mains plug on one end. Both leads have the same fig8 type male plug on the other end to go into the socket on the charger.
 
I have just looked on the back of my (UK) charger and it says:
Input 110V-240V ~ 50/60Hz 0.15A

So it looks like a universal (worldwide) enabled unit.

That is common these days, no more switches to be set or links to be changed like in the bad old days !
 
Corncrake said:
So it looks like a universal (worldwide) enabled unit.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is. But a plug adapter may still be needed, since the camera is bought in the U.S. and will be used in another country.

I've had a set up plug adapters for many years that I use when traveling out of the U.S.

I do like the newer plug adapters that are a single unit. Mine is in several pieces.

--
gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb
My digital camera BLOGs: Pany FZ18 & TZ3; Canon S2, SD700 & A570; Nikon 5400
http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-logs/index.php
 
We wrote
Member said:
Member said:
So it looks like a universal (worldwide) enabled unit.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is. But a plug adapter may still be needed, since the camera
is bought in the U.S. and will be used in another country.
Click to expand...
That is very true, I must admit that I was more concerned with the possibility of the mains supply destroying the electronics of the charger, it looks like that would not be a problem. ( unless Aus is still on DC lol! :) )

Also, I admit to being an old dinosaur not averse to cutting a flex and fitting a plug, ok on a freestanding thing, but not so easily done on a wallwart !
 
To the right of the viewfinder, on the back of the camera is a button which you can easily push with your right thumb... this allows you to "toggle" between the viewfinder and the LCD, back and forth. Only one of them works at a time. The viewfinder is basically a little LCD which you see inside the eyepiece.
 
Isabel Cutler62850 said:
Wallwart - new word for me!....
Click to expand...
Oooops sorry Isabel, I didn't mean to call you a wallwart , , ,
giggle ,,

but to be serious for a mo. I was not sure , when you said :
Isabel Cutler62850 said:
"The charger that came with my FZ18 plugs directly into the wall.
No adapter needed."
Click to expand...
I was unsure if the charger itself pluged directly into the wall socket, like a wallwart, or if the charger had a molded in flex lead at both the charger end and at the plug end.

I am assuming that the US versions don't come supplied with interchangable flex leads then ?? No need for them to do so I suppose.

And I also suppose our UK models are actually European ones and our market is not big enough to make it worthwhile removing the un-needed flex.
 
From PCMagazine's The Worst Technology Product Names...Ever

10 Terrible Tech Terms:

"Motherboard" and "burning and ripping" music may not be the worst tech terms you've ever heard of, but here are 10 tech terms that we think are.

1. Dongle (The trouble seems to be with your dongle, sir.)

2. Wall wart (Three guesses: Wal-Mart's nickname, a nasty disease contracted from walls, or a mall power-supply brick with a male plug.)

3. PMP (Are you a Portable Media Player PIMP?)

4. Nybble (A set of four bits.)

5. Hotswapping (Sounds dirty and sweaty, but it's the ability to remove and replace components of a computer while it is operating.)

6. Blu-ray (Poor Ray. This disc formatting war has made him blue!)

7. Burst mode (Would you really want a mode named "burst" in your camera?)

8. RAID (Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks, or bug spray.)

9. PUS (Potentially Unwanted Software that just sounds gross.)

10. Wiki (We're all familiar with Wikipedia, but the actual term comes from the Hawaiian word "hurry up". Okay. . .)
 
Corncrake said:
Corncrake said:
"The charger that came with my FZ18 plugs directly into the wall.
No adapter needed."
Click to expand...
I was unsure if the charger itself pluged directly into the wall
socket, like a wallwart, or if the charger had a molded in flex lead
at both the charger end and at the plug end.
I am assuming that the US versions don't come supplied with
interchangable flex leads then ?? No need for them to do so I suppose.
And I also suppose our UK models are actually European ones and our
market is not big enough to make it worthwhile removing the un-needed
flex.
Click to expand...
No flex with my UK model! The two-pronged charger plugs directly into a standard three-pinned, plug-shaped adapter which plugs straight into the wall.

P
 
The FZ18 charger is 110/240v 50/60hz. but used the North American plug configuration. I believe Australia uses a 3 prong plug but a much different pin alignment.
--
Blake in Vancouver
http://flickr.com/photos/28305360@N00/
 
Gosh thanks everyone, this is obviously a very helpful place!

Sounds like all I will need is a prong adaptor, which I may have lying around from previous travels anyway.
 
@ marmee
Hope you will have as much fun with your FZ18 as I am having with mine ! :)

If I had waited a bit before buying mine, and had then come across the BlueBand problem that peeps are reporting, then I probably would not have bought it,,, and I would then have missed out on a lot of good wee camera fun :)

@sherman
LOL! thanks.
I thort (9)PUS = Probably Unusable Software

and (4) is better than getting a byte up your hardware :-!)

I used to program in assembler, but have now put those childish things behind me ;)
(11) Practicing safeHEX is a good idea when machine codeing micros

@petestack

Oh! that is odd, my supplier gave me 2pin and 3pin flexes, how wastefull, but they also quoted me GBP80 for an extra battery :( , no doubt trying to recover their losses on wastefull flex supplies !!
 
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