Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38 Comments

Man Alive. I want this Camera even if my bank balance wont. Its pretty much a do it all device. Are we talking over 300 notes or what?

Wow, I'm impressed, that's the quickest I think I've ever seen a review of a just announced product appear on TR :D

With CCD sensor size 2.33 it is hard to believe that it is getting 10/10 for image quality. Wait one month for Fuji's S200EXR with Super CCD sensor size 1.6 and EXR technology.

Even my five year old compact had a larger sensor size than this...

It always amuses me to see how often Exeter cathedral has scaffolding around it.

What about the Fujifilm Finepix S9600 for best review. That's an absolutely awesome camera. I've owned one for a year now and haven't even considered upgrading to an SLR. I know they're generally better and more flexible, but I'm living off a student budget :)

As an owner of an FZ18, I'm rather dissapointed they kept to a small sensor. I would like to have seen a reduction of noise at the higher iso settings. Is there a reason manufactures don't produce a compact with a larger sensor even if it means a larger body size? On a simialr theme isn't it possible to produce a dslr but with a macro and large zoom lens that is found on compacts.

@Darfuria

It amuses me more that I have never ever seen anyone working on said scaffolding in any review!

Being a relative newbie and a 'point and shoot' person with a Sony DSC-P120, would I be better to go for this or the TZ7?

Any advice appreciated.

I have the fz28 and am VERY happy with it. I am most impressed with it's macro capability, matching that of my old SLR which I no longer use. The only thing I wish was better was noise on higher ISO levels. There's little to seperate that and the new model- I wonder if some would just be happier paying less for the earlier model.

I noticed in the local Gazette the Council has put out tenders for scaffolding restoration.

@Ron

TZ7 is a truly wonderful camera - I own one. You can't go wrong with it.

@ all the naysayers

If they've done as good a job with the sensor and optics on this as they have on the TZ7 then it will be one fine camera indeed, regardless of sensor size.

@Pihrana: Park Cameras has it on pre-order for £320, putting it in the entry-level DSLR price range where most other bridge cameras also seem to be ending up nowadays.

How can this be the best of breed if it doesn't have a hot shoe?

@Cliff - advice please... this review is tempting me to upgrade from Lumix DMC-FZ30 (which serves me v. well), mainly due to the video features which I use occassionally but not enough to want/afford a separate camcorder. Thoughts?

Im hoping that maybe I can grab a clearance bargain on the FZ28 when this starts hitting stores.

I owned FZ28, bought it in February 2009 after reading Cliff Smith's review and another review in www.steves-digicams.com

FZ28 is indeed a powerful super zoom bridge camera, maybe just loss a little bit on points to that Canon SX10 but FZ28 still win on price.

I rather buy an extra additional add-on lens for my current FZ28 rather than upgrading to FZ38 (at least not for this year)

However, if I suddenly hit a lottery, I don't mind upgrading to Panasonic G1 - the red color...

Hi,

I currently have a Panasonic DMC-TZ1 which I love. I have taken fantastic photo's with this, however I am thinking about upgrading and saw the FZ28 today.

If I was to upgrade should I go for the FZ28 or the FZ38? I have also seen second hand FZ28's on ebay and was considering buying from there as I don't have a lot of cash to throw around at the moment.

What would you suggest? The full whack of cash or the second hand?

Thanks for your help in advance.

I own the FZ28 and I like it very much. But I'd rather have the new camera. While I'm not all that interested in the new video capability, it's nice to have if you need it. But what really attracts me are its improved optical image stabilization ability, faster auto focusing and improved low light picture quality.

I have had the FZ28 for a year and it has changed my photography. I very seldom use the manual settings and get excellent results consistently. I will probably get the FZ38.

Many of the comments about the Panasonic DMC-FZ28 seem to be based on assumptions of what to expect from a compact camera because of the relatively small size of the sensor. The size of the sensor can be an issue, but you also need to consider lens quality and the processing software in the camera. These two factors can far outweigh the impact of a relatively small sensor. We bought this camera for our business several months ago after doing extensive research on DSLR and super zoom models. Based on our limited budget (i.e. $560 CDN maximum) we narrowed our selection down to the Nikon D60, Pentax KM and the Pansonic DMC-FZ28 (all are 10 mega pixel cameras). We took an SD chip into a number of retailers and did some test shots of identical subjects. The main use for this camera is to shoot still objects in our mini studio so image quality was our #1 priority. We took some shots of an outdoor brick wall (an ideal subject btw since you can check for barrel distortion and image softening in the corners very easily.) Since we have an HP Z3200 large format printer we were able to take 100% crops from of images from each camera, print them on a 17" x 22" format and compare the printed results. We found that the Panasonic outperformed both the Nikon D60 (with kit lens) and the Pentax KM (with kit lens) with less barrel distortion and almost no loss of image clarity in the corners of shots etc. The jpegs that came off the cameras varied tremendously in terms of size with the Panasonic doing less compression than the other two. The Nikon D60 produced jpegs about 2.4 to 2.6 MB in size, the Pentax KM produced 3.4 to 3.6 MB images and the Panasonic produced 4.8 to 5.1 MB images. The quality of the Leica lens on the Panasonic is simply superb and the macro feature is fantastic. We get excellent images, especially when using a macro tripod in our mini studio. The Venus IV processing engine does a wonderful job and produces excellent quality jpegs. We have shot in RAW and find it easy to use and modify with the provided software. Jpegs produced from RAW are about 11 to 12 MB in size. If you want to get the absolute best results from the Panasonic you will find it is superb when shooting at ISO 100 using the aperature priority setting and shooting at f5.6 to f8. Very crisp, detailed images. The biggest thing to determine before you buy a camera is to clearly identify your needs in terms of use. We bought this camera to shoot primarily close up work in our mini studio, using a tripod, with our objective being outstanding image quality. The Panasonic DMC FZ28 delivers this in spades! We ended purchasing the Panasonic DMC FZ28 on sale for only $370 - about $200 less than either the Nikon D60 or the Pentax KM. Suffice to say it has been an OUTSTANDING investment for our business.

Well I've just bought one. (FZ38). Unfortunately none of the bundled editing software works in 64bit systems. The most important, Silkypix, software for editing raw2 files will install and it looks quite flash but it will create a lot of anomalies in every picture you load. If you go to their website you will find, in very small print that it doesn't work in 64 bit - I wish they'd told me before I'd spent 1hr trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. I have 64bit because I'm running 8gigs of ram. I have 8gigs of ram to handle the processing of large image files. The PHOTOfunSTUDIO 4.0 HD Edition refused to install telling me from the start that it didn't work in 64bit - honest at least. Even Photoshop CS4 doesn't yet support raw2 for the FZ38 and until it does I shall not be able to get the best from this camera - disappointing.

What is the difference between the FZ18 - 38 range and the FZ30-50 range besides a few minor spec differences and one major size difference. Is the FZ30-50 range supposed to have better image quality because of its slightly bigger sensor even though it has lower MP/cm2. To me the compactness of the FZ range is attractive but I have access to a FZ50 at a bargain price.... but who needs to lugg that heavy thing around the bushveld. Confused by all the different ranges - please help???

Oh dear, I put the bundled software problems down to vista 64. The software doesn't work on my netbook running xp either. In fact the results are exactly the same. MediaImpressions 2 can't convert the rw2 files singly or in batches and silkypix renders each picture with the same granular anomalies as it did in vista. Panasonic pull your finger out because at the moment there doesn't seem to be any software at all that will handle the FZ38's rw2 files.

Ok - to those of you who haven't read my previous comments - I've just bought an FZ38 and had a lot of problems with the software that came bundled with it.
It seems the problems were down to a lack of information rather than faulty software.
MediaImpressions2 has partial functionality in Vista 64bit and XP 32bit. You can download jpegs and rw2 files from your FZ38 and store them on your hard drive. You can preview them as thumbnails or as full screen pictures but you can't convert or save them.
Silkypix works on my XP 32bit netbook and my Vista Home Premium 64bit desktop. In Silkypix you can preview your rw2 files as thumbnails and batch convert them to jpg's or other formats. The granular appearance of my early photos was due to a high ISO setting when the pictures were taken. I've been told that I can reduce noise in these pictures with Silkypix but I've read the manual, the bit about sharpness and noise reduction anyway but I'm still none the wiser. The software looks very pro but the terms are not familiar - they talk about "applying, loading and saving tastes" - a taste can be a lot of different parameters, and "developments" which can be saved with lots of other features. What I'm trying to say is that it's very complicated and I still haven't figured out how to make any observable changes to the picture I've loaded. Photoshop, Paintshop Pro even the Gimp are all fairly straightforward. Silkypix is a bit bewildering - maybe it's great - I'll keep at it.

FZ8-38 and FZ30-50 ranges: The single crucial difference for me (just bought the FZ38) is that the zoom starts at 27mm (35mm equivalent) rather than 35mm. As I'm still pining for my old SLR's 18-35 wide angle zoom lens, 35mm as the widest angle would be unacceptable for me. There's also more range at the other end, though for me the difference between 486mm and 420mm is far less important. Other difference: the 30-50 range's newest model (50) came out in September 2006, and the FZ8 in 2007, so the x8 range has whatever technical advances have been added in the last 3 years.

Guys I need your help here. I do mountain climbing and love landscape and wildlife photography a lot. I've been going through tens of reviews on the net and have narrowed my choices to Lumix Fz 38 and Fujifilm Finepix s100. Here are my expectations from the camera:
1. to perform well in low light conditions. (I've seen that fz 28 totally kills the colors in low light- my brother has one)
2. to take very Sharp images.
3. video is not important to me at all. I've got my Samsung omnia cell phone for that. and it's always with me.
4. weight isn't that important either.
The thing is I can get both cameras for about 450 $ over here (I live in Iran and pannies are a bit too expensive here). Your help would be appreciated.

What Box does this not tick! Am going to say internal memory for the laff even though its nothing to be bothered about.

Does this camera have a filter thread, and if so what size? I am considering this instead of the Canon SX20IS that I have just returned as the image quality and autofocus were so bad.

Yes to the filter thread - 46mm. Unticked boxes: maybe a movable LCD screen.

I'm currently using a Panasonic DMC-TZ5 that I've owned for about a year or so. I love the quality of the images, but I'd really like to have a longer optical zoom. I like the 28mm wide-angle lens too, and the macro is fantastic, for my needs. I'm wondering if I should move up to a super-zoom type of camera, such as the DMC-FZ38, or splash more cash and go for a digital SLR. I travel a lot, so a compact body is quite important to me too.
Any thoughts or suggestions?

@DaveD. Have you ever considered the Panasonic Lumix TZ7 (aka ZS3)? It's got a zoom from 25 - 300 mm, and is very compactly sized.
I 'downgraded' a month ago from a Nikon D90 (!!) to a FZ38, and have not regretted it so far. Although, I must say, the D90 is a fantastic camera, but it's so big and heavy, and if you don't want to carry around several lenses, the zoom range is very limited. So, I decided to get the FZ38, and have already shot some really nice pictures. Nevertheless, I have to get used to the fact that the FZ38 is slower than the D90, but then again one cannot compare these two cameras. I like the movie function of the FZ38, especially as you can now also use the zoom during filming, and it's so small and light that you can carry it around almost without noticing.

Hi. I want to buy my first real digital camera, the one that i had and broke was a crapy konica-minolta 4MPS one from 2004 (also compact).

I want to use my camera mainly for family pictures. And pictures on trips, and inside spaces (of objects closer then 20m) with low light. (Preferably using built in flash)

I love taking pictures of landscapes wile i travel (pretty often, short work related travel) I often found with my old camera, that not everything of the landscape is in sight, and was angry because i couldn't upgrade it with wide angle to fit more in one picture.

From all the reviews i found this to be the best image quality camera, of all price ranges. 10/10 (i wonder: compared to what image quality ?) I cant believe that a camera that costs more then 2000 euros has the same image quality than this Panasonic FZ38.

i have some main thing that aspect from my new camera:
1. it should start up fast, so i wont miss the moments that need to be captured, (my little daughter growing up so fast)
2. it should capture nice clean pictures using built in flash inside the house.
3. it should have a visor, for grater image stabilizing, and in bright sun light, one cant see the lcd.
4. it should have energy saving capability, so battery lasts longer between longer pauses from one picture to other.
5. it should have fast focusing, for the same reasons as in point 1.
6. it should be in my price range of maximum 500 euros

optional prefered:
1. should be powered with AA sized rechargeable
2. should be possible to fit an external flash
3. should be possible to remotely take a picture, for example, a picture of all the family members including the person who should take the picture

PLS help me find the right one. I wont buy other camera until this one gets broken, as my last one.

THX guy's.. i hope there are more experienced ppl out there who can chose more wisely then I could.