Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28

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Last night my son was in his school class musical program. In previous years, I recorded them with quality camcorders, but this time I took my PANASONIC FZ-28. Now I must expalain I always sit in the very back, or go to the balcony, which either way is about 150-200 feet from the stage. With the camcorders and 10x-12x zooms, I always took a 2x converter lens to add on and get up in the kids faces from that far distance, and I used a tripod. Last night, with the FZ-28 and its 18x zoom, totally, totally awesome Leica lens, and fantastic opitcal image stabilization, I can attest to the fact that my video clips are not only HD, but look as good, if not better, than previous programs with a dedicated quality camcorders!! At 18x zoom, I am right in there, in their faces if need be, and there is no chromatic distortions like you get with the 2x and 3x add-on lenses. Plus, I did NOT have a tripod, but handheld the FZ28 above my head the whole time, and its amazingly steady for not using a tripod. My whole family is pleased as punch with the video capability of the FZ28. The sound is good, while not as good as a dedicated camcorder, its still good. (Note, the speaker on the FZ28 is not great, and playback on the camera is iffy, but the clips played on your PC are good.) And of course the autofocus is not near as quick as that of a camcorder, but its not bad. When you consider the immeasurable benefit of being able to switch back and forth and also take wonderful hi-res still photos as well (not while recording video at the same time), the FZ28 just keeps getting better and better, and I can just hardly wait until their next model comes with hopefully 1080 HD and a hotshoe.

I added a few samples stills captured from the video I mentioned above, so you can see the amazing power AND quality of the FZ-28 lens. No image editing was applied, just crops.

http://digitalcamerabattle.blogspot.com/

I have been researching ultra zoom bridge cameras for 6 weeks. Both via internet reviews and in person at local camera shop. I honed in on Canon Powershot SX 10, Nikon Coolpix P80, and the Panasonic Lumix FZ28K. The consensus among professional reviews from about a dozen web sites is the Panasonic FZ28 is the clear winner. This was borne out by my trying the cameras out in person and reviewing online images. In a nutshell, the Panasonic has the best ergonomics with quick menu joystick, is faster (start up, AF and shutter and shot to shot), has wider aperture through midrange of zoom, superior Leica lens, and of course the best IQ of any non-DSLR camera I tested period. The iA mode rivals any manual tweaking I could do 90% of the time. Video is very good with usable zoom and AF unlike competitors. Posters that are hyper critical of the video functions ought to be using a high quality HD digicam anyway. I consider the video just a bonus to this amazing camera. The IQ rivals DSLR without the expense, bulk, and extra lenses. My conclusion: This is the best ultra zoom bridge camera available and a great value at current prices.