FZ20 "died" - which camera to replace?

[tiksom]

As prices of G2 have recently fallen quite a bit (thank you G3!), it has become a much more interesting proposition. Kit with two lenses (14-42 and 45-200) is at the moment discounted down to 960$ (down from original 1300$ and initial discount to 1150$).

14-140mm lens seem nicer, but too expensive at the moment - it's 2000$ and available only in a kit with GH2. 20mm pancake is a very tempting option for night-time/interior shooting at about 650$.

I grew to think that instead of searching for a perfect feature-for-feature replacement to FZ20, likely in a form of FZ50/100, HX100 or similar superzoom, I should perhaps move on to a different turf and learn new things.

A DSLR is very tempting, yet size makes me think I would not carry it around as casually as I did FZ20.

PS: and all locally available kits are black only... blue would have been nice for a change ;-)

 

[bloodycape]

I came from a Canon S2IS, and was looking for the camera with around tele of around 400mm at F3.5 like the Canon, but it was hard to find a proper replacement. What sold me to the G2 was the EVF and articulating screen(both of which I used a lot on my S2IS), and the ability via an adapter to accept almost any manual focus lens for a fair price. I have the kit 14-42mm lens with my G2, along with a Minolta Rokkor 52mm F1.4 prime, Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm(for Minolta mount and one of the better zoom lenses of the era) at F3.5, and the adapter to make it all work on a m4/3 camera for $100 exactly. They both are manual lenses, but I don't mind it as it works well for my needs and use. I am sure this would work just as well on a Canon, Sony DSLR, but the advantage I have with the G2 is all fit in my camera bag without feeling overly heavy, even during hikes.

 

[tiksom]

Thanks for the comment - micro 4/3 would definitely push me into eploring and learning more about interchangeable lenses, especially that adapter allows for using Canon (and other) ones fairly easily. Lens price (such as Rokkor you mentioned) are very affordable, too.

After all - it's not the camera that is the most important, it's the photographer, the subject and knowledge of the camera.

 

[juliest]

I too have an excellent, older bridge camera I am looking to replace--Konica Minolta A200--with a somewhat similar feature set that you describe. FZ100 has been on my radar, and that is why I looked at this thread even though it is now at the point I am thinking of waiting it out through the summer to see if there is a replacement model announced soon for the FZ100.

This past winter I purchased the micro 4/3 G1, and it is a lovely camera with excellent results and good handling. But, if I want more range than the 14-45 it offers, I need to purchase and carry around an extra lens and hassle with that. An all-in-one solution for this camera is the very, very expensive 14-140 lens that also increases camera size and weight to 2 pounds (about a kilo). So, the G1 is an around home camera and will probably stay in that category.

I mention this becasue I just returned from a 2 week vacation where the A200 went along. Several times during our trip, when we'd been doing a lot of walking in hot weather, we mentioned the fact that for traveling we do not want anything larger than this size (20 oz.) or anything that requires lens changing. We travel to enjoy new places rather than traveling for the purpose of photography. If this is your situation, you will probably want to have a replacement that is a similar all-in-one solution like you have now.

 

[Rod Baakkonen]

I have gone from the FZ5, FZ10 and FZ30 route. As a replacement for the FZ30, I went the expensive route and got the GH1. Then I traded the GH1 in for the GH2. I have the 14-140 lens on almost 100% of the time. I have a 45-200, but almost never use it. I hate changing lenses. That's why I went with the bridge cameras originally. I had a SLR back in the film days, so I knew what a hassle changing and carrying exta lenses was like.

I highly reccomend the GH2 and the 14-140. The auto focus on the GH2 is remarkably fast and accurate. The extra zoom that I miss from the FZ30 can be had by cropping once I have the raw image on my Mac. The example below is not the composed very well. It was taken from my car as I was driving to work. I spooked this white egret as I was driving on a country road. My camera was on the seat and I just picked up the GH2 and shot about 5 pictures in burst mode out the passenger window. This picture is cropped as I had no time to zoom in. I'm at work so I can't post the original to see how heavily it is cropped. But I can tell you that there was mostly a lake and blue sky in the imnage out of the camera.

The GH2 is a great camera. It is feature rich and a joy to use. I don't miss the extra zoom. I know if I get a clear crisp shot, PP will let me blow the result to anything that I would have gotten with the FZ30.

The other selling point is that I routinely take images at ISO3200 and get great results. If it is low light, I just use Topaz Denoise and I have an image I could have never gotten with the FZ30. It opens up a whole new realm of photography.

If you can afford the expense, I would say you will be very happy with the GH2.





--
Rod

 

[Rod Baakkonen]

Here is the original uncropped photo I think. I'm not very good at undoing the crop in ACR. The whole picture should still be there, as ACR does not do destructive changes. Anyway it should give you an idea of what I was talking about with the GH2 and cropping. The other comment is that the auto focus worked spectacularly. I grabbed the camera off the seat, got the lens cap off and started shooting. The FZ30 would still have been going through focus gymnastics and I probably would have gotten nothing. - Rod





--
Rod

 

[tiksom]

juliest, Rod - thanks for observations, they're spot on.

At the moment I agree with Rod that 14-140mm lens with a GH-series body seems to be the best alternative for me, especially in micro 4/3 world. Sadly I could not afford it at the moment.

Thanks to promotion mentioned before I was able to buy a G2 kit with both 14-42mm and 45-200mm lenses for 1/2 price of GH1 w/14-140mm (900$ vs 1900$). I still don't know if I'm going to keep it though. Just like both of you noticed it is very difficult to replace a superzoom (also mentally). My usage consisted mainly of the extreme ends of FZ20 zoom range. This can't be directly replicated by the kit I have choosen.

Some of the things I was not fully aware of before:

• body is a tad too small for me to hold comfortably. When checking out in the shop it felt good, but the grip is too thin compared to FZ20 or other larger bodies, and in normal operation my fingers get tired from gripping only with fingertips, not their full length.
• EVF is of excellent quality, but as I wear glasses they put it at extra distance from the eye. As a result I am unable to see the whole display at once. This might destroy the joy of framing - I have to shift my eye to see each corner separately (or use LCD). Again, I did not realize this when checking the camera out in the shop. It's a bit better when LCD is flipped out to the left - more space for the nose and eye can be pushed closer to the viewfinder
• 45-200 lens are FAT and leave little place for fingers on the grip. I did not try these lens before, only 14-42, and somehow I assumed that all micro 4/3 lens have uniform (standardized) thickness. Little space between lens and grip was the reason why FZ45 and similar were too small for me, so I'm not quite happy here. I'd definitely need to handle 14-140 lens before ever buying them, as I suspect they are also quite thick, being a large zoom.
• oops, greasy nosemarks on the LCD, doesn't everyone love that? (yup, already knew it before purchase, but it's sooo annoying when the viewfinder is in the middle...
• magnification for Manual Focus is a great feature, but at long tele the whole picture becomes "gelatine" thanks to the way CMOS sensor works I think.
• that one really got me: shutter/aperture sounds. You may laugh, but I expected a mirrorless system to be soundless, too ;-) shutter is pretty loud, and also aperture preview causes loud buzzing on 45-200 lens while aperture is closed/open.
• menu system seems a bit inconsistent, using "set", "left" or "trash" buttons to go to the previous menu, depending on where you are.
• oh man... these animated/sliding menus are so silly! they should be simpler, faster and without introducing extra delays. I wish Panasonic fixed it in firmware :-/
• playing hide&seek with LCD. Sensor for automatic switching is designed in such a way that LCD switches off usually when I try to use touch screen and put my hand close to the screen. Need to switch to the manual mode I guess, so much for "convenient" feature.
• G2 and lens are made in China, whike FZ series made in Japan. I thought G2 was also Japanese-made. While I do not really consider it to be a problem, it was still a bit of surprise.

Other than that there are all expected differences, such as large weight (especially with 45-200), lack of one-hand shooting (zoom requires using the other hand), "Pinnokio" effect going to tele, better ISO characteristics (up to 1600), larger sensor resolution, shallow DOF, very good stabilisation effects.

What next? Spend time with G2 and shoot a lot of photos to learn its limitations. Decide whether to keep it or sell and go back to a superzoom. If a keeper - eventually move to 14-140mm lens, or sell the whole kit and get a GH2 with these lens. Also consider pancake 20 or 25mm based on needs.

Now a funny off-topic about Panasonic "genuine battery" protection: electronic shop has various cameras on display. They do not have batteries for obvious reasons, but DC power is supplied using an external cord. Guess what - after a few seconds Panasonic camera complain that "this battery cannot be used" and switch off.

 

[Pierre Daigneault]

I had the same problem.....my FZ20 went swimming and could not be revived.

At the time there was not the choice in superzooms that you have now. The FZ18 was only just out so I grabbed it.

It has never met my expectations when compared to the FZ20....even with the additional 3 MP.

I would seriously check out getting the FZ20 repaired. You will never again own a 400+mm lens at F2.8, yet alone with that sharpness.

Admittedly there are some things better on the more modern cameras but I wish I still had my FZ20......

 

[estero]

I just purchased a used FZ35 and it is an awesome camera. I looked at some Nikon's and the Canon SX30 IS but chose the FZ35. The FZ35 has a great image stabilization. The Nikon didn't seem as good with their stabilization. The Canon is a great camera but larger and heavier. The FZ35 also takes excellent macro pictures. It is light and small enough to carry around and takes excellent pictures.

 

[ChrisLumix]

I just purchased a used FZ35 and it is an awesome camera. I looked at some Nikon's and the Canon SX30 IS but chose the FZ35. The FZ35 has a great image stabilization. The Nikon didn't seem as good with their stabilization. The Canon is a great camera but larger and heavier. The FZ35 also takes excellent macro pictures. It is light and small enough to carry around and takes excellent pictures.

I'm glad you like it (but I WOULD say that!). Be aware of the FZ35's limitations though - the small sensor, making low light pictures something of a problem as far as noise is concerned. I've found turning down the NR to -2 in the Img Adj menu helps, and then dealing with any unwelcome noise in PP. I also find that there is more noise at full zoom, so I reduce the res sometimes and use the EZ zoom instead to give the same view, but better results.

You will find the pictures are acceptable in most sizes up to 800 ISO, but 400 ISO and less gives very good results.

The Intelligent Exposure is useful too where there is a very high dynamic range - set to Low or Med (High can give an artificial look).

--
Panas0n!c Lum!x FZ-38

 

[bloodycape]

Kind of odd about the battery things, considering I have a 3rd party battery that I purchased off Amazon that works exactly like stock.

I am not sure, but I think the 14-140mm is a little thicker than the 45-200mm. Some of that has to do with the fact it is a bit more oriented for video so the AF system is suppose to very quite; plus, as I am sure you know Panasonic uses lens stabilization, which makes the lenses larger, specially vs the Olympus m4/3 lenses which rely on in body IS Olympus uses. If you think these lenses are too thick for your taste, I would take a gander at the Oly m4/3 zoom lenses, if you don't mind the lack of IS, and a few jpeg lens corrections features that could be fixed shooting RAW and doing some PP work.

 

[tiksom]

After a few days of usage here is a review of the original feature list:

• form factor is still a mixed feeling. Body grip is a tad too small for my fingers, whole camera is larger, even with just 14-42 lens. It can still be carried and used fairly conveniently.
• slide on/off switch is still there, I truly like being able to feel whether camera is on/off.
• 14-42 lens enforce a different photography style. Many times I was unable to take a close up of a faraway object due to lack of zoom. I do not carry zoom lens with me as I don't want to swap them in field (yet). Lens produce lovely resolution and shallow DOF, making me very happy. I still consider going to 14-140 to cover what I'm used. Extended optical zoom with 6Mpix photos should be enough. Kit is going to be larger and heavier though.
• well, there is no F2.8 through the range, and going tele means losing speed. ISO can be bumped to 400 without noticeable effects, or up to 1600 if you can tolerate some noise (FZ20 had such a noise at 400 already), this partially offsets smaller aperture size. Shallow depth of field is achieved thanks to a larger sensor, so lack of 2.8 is not an issue at all from that point of view.
• I'm satisfied with results in poor light so far, especially that Panasonic OIS combined with holding camera to an eye works wonders. Even up to 1s exposure of static objects can be achieved with good results. Of course it does not help as much moving objects (people).
• I programmed AE/AF lock button to work as focus lock. I think it is close enough to one-time focus button on FZ20, except not as conveniently placed.
• I use AF+MF most of the time, which means that focus can be taken automatically by AE/AF lock button or shutter half-press, and then fine-tuned by focus ring. MF assist (magnified detail view) is very clear, thanks to excellent EVF, no more "highlight hunting" as on FZ20. One problem with focus ring is that it is easily bumped when handling camera and requires refocusing in such cases.
• most of controls are at a press of a button, especially ISO and WB. Flash strength is a bit further, I haven't used flash yet enough to see if it's inconvenient.
• EVF is truly excelllent! resolution and clarity are great, I am really happy with what I see there. The only complaint is noted earlier: I cannot see whole picture at once, as my eye is too far from the viewfinder (I wear glasses). I need to move my head a bit to check all corners and sides while framing. On the other hand I found I use LCD quite a bit for macro. It can be rotated and tilted into positions that make taking "strange" positions way better than with a fixed LCD.
• 12Mpix (in 4:3) is plenty. I consider either switching permanently to 6Mpix and using extended optical zoom (in-camera crop) or using cropping for extra "tele". Resolution and image quality is there.
• performance is excellent. Startup is almost nil, thanks to manual extending lens, focus is lightning quick - it feels like DSLR!

One interesting problem I found is that it is difficult to give this camera to other person to they can take your picture. Touch-LCD is a large problem, it will inevitably get touched, changing some settings (focus point). Focus ring gets bumped often, too.

 

[tiksom]

Kind of odd about the battery things, considering I have a 3rd party battery that I purchased off Amazon that works exactly like stock.

Yeah, I suspect that it might have been problem with the store camera supply after all, but it's surprising they did not verify it initially or correct it for the next day.

I will check Olympus zoom lens for size, though OIS helps a lot at tele range.

 

[Robiro]

It is obvious - FZ30 or FZ50.

They have manual zoom lens so there will be no such problem with motor unable to zoom.