«

Arrived two days ago, so this is preliminary:

1/ Very small and light but too big for most pockets.
2/ Easy to use but the menus are a bit tedious.
3/ IS works well, even at full zoom.
4/ Good exposures and mostly good focus, so far.
5/ Flash works well, so far.
6/ Image quality is very good.
7/ Response time/on time/focus lock time ... all good.
8/ LCD viewer above average.
9/ EVF only OK ... useable but not much more.
10/ Look and feel are both good.

A last comment: My wife took it last night and shot some very nice photos
with it with no prior experience and no reading of the manual. This camera
has a "Simple Mode" that seems to be worth looking at for casual users.
I'll post some shots on my site in a few days.

"Charles Schuler" <> wrote in
news:wYSdnV_qish43uzfRVn-:

> Arrived two days ago, so this is preliminary:
>
> 1/ Very small and light but too big for most pockets.
> 2/ Easy to use but the menus are a bit tedious.
> 3/ IS works well, even at full zoom.
> 4/ Good exposures and mostly good focus, so far.
> 5/ Flash works well, so far.
> 6/ Image quality is very good.
> 7/ Response time/on time/focus lock time ... all good.
> 8/ LCD viewer above average.
> 9/ EVF only OK ... useable but not much more.
> 10/ Look and feel are both good.
>
> A last comment: My wife took it last night and shot some very nice
> photos with it with no prior experience and no reading of the
> manual. This camera has a "Simple Mode" that seems to be worth
> looking at for casual users. I'll post some shots on my site in a
> few days.
>
>

Good to hear another happy customer of the FZ5.

I'm most likely going to buy one, when the prices drop a bit. But, now
the Canon S2 IS is coming out, and I'll probably have to compare that
one to the FZ5.

--
Eric Babula
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

> I'm most likely going to buy one, when the prices drop a bit. But, now
> the Canon S2 IS is coming out, and I'll probably have to compare that
> one to the FZ5.

I decided to vote NO on another Canon product and that's one reason why I
bought the FZ5. My 20D locks up frequently and Canon seems to be in denial
about this problem. The FZ5 is a nice family camera and my 20D is my
serious camera. I have a Canon 100-400 lens and like how close the FZ5
comes to this lens with wildlife shots.

"Charles Schuler" <> wrote in
news:N-KdnTZFR7EDxuzfRVn-:

>
>
>
>> I'm most likely going to buy one, when the prices drop a bit. But,
>> now the Canon S2 IS is coming out, and I'll probably have to
>> compare that one to the FZ5.
>
> I decided to vote NO on another Canon product and that's one reason
> why I bought the FZ5. My 20D locks up frequently and Canon seems
> to be in denial about this problem. The FZ5 is a nice family
> camera and my 20D is my serious camera. I have a Canon 100-400
> lens and like how close the FZ5 comes to this lens with wildlife
> shots.
>
>
>

Just out of curiosity: Do you ever use the digital zoom? Everyone says
to just ignore the digital zoom on a camera. Is it really that bad?

I'm not a professional, so I'm not always looking for the most
incredible pictures.

When I get mine, I'm gonna have to run a series of test shots.

--
Eric Babula
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Goals are deceptive. The unaimed arrow never misses.

Eric Babula wrote:

>"Charles Schuler" <> wrote in
>news:wYSdnV_qish43uzfRVn-:
>
>
>
>>Arrived two days ago, so this is preliminary:
>>
>>1/ Very small and light but too big for most pockets.
>>2/ Easy to use but the menus are a bit tedious.
>>3/ IS works well, even at full zoom.
>>4/ Good exposures and mostly good focus, so far.
>>5/ Flash works well, so far.
>>6/ Image quality is very good.
>>7/ Response time/on time/focus lock time ... all good.
>>8/ LCD viewer above average.
>>9/ EVF only OK ... useable but not much more.
>>10/ Look and feel are both good.
>>
>>A last comment: My wife took it last night and shot some very nice
>>photos with it with no prior experience and no reading of the
>>manual. This camera has a "Simple Mode" that seems to be worth
>>looking at for casual users. I'll post some shots on my site in a
>>few days.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>Good to hear another happy customer of the FZ5.
>
>I'm most likely going to buy one, when the prices drop a bit. But, now
>the Canon S2 IS is coming out, and I'll probably have to compare that
>one to the FZ5.
>
>


Me too. I was disheartened reading the PC Mag Review. It was not
favorable and differed from all of the other reviews I read. I would
like to see a review of the S2 from PC Mag.

The issue with the S2 is that is does not come in black. I think that
the black models are nicer. If the reviews of the S2 and the Z5 are
close than I would get the black FZ5. If the S2 is far superior I will
have to compromise.

Eric Babula wrote:

>"Charles Schuler" <> wrote in
>news:N-KdnTZFR7EDxuzfRVn-:
>
>
>
>>
>>
>>
>>>I'm most likely going to buy one, when the prices drop a bit. But,
>>>now the Canon S2 IS is coming out, and I'll probably have to
>>>compare that one to the FZ5.
>>>
>>>
>>I decided to vote NO on another Canon product and that's one reason
>>why I bought the FZ5. My 20D locks up frequently and Canon seems
>>to be in denial about this problem. The FZ5 is a nice family
>>camera and my 20D is my serious camera. I have a Canon 100-400
>>lens and like how close the FZ5 comes to this lens with wildlife
>>shots.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>Just out of curiosity: Do you ever use the digital zoom? Everyone says
>to just ignore the digital zoom on a camera. Is it really that bad?
>
>I'm not a professional, so I'm not always looking for the most
>incredible pictures.
>
>When I get mine, I'm gonna have to run a series of test shots.
>
>

If you use it you are giving up resolution. You can do similar things
in Photoshop.

measekite <> wrote in
news:eSsce.10857$ om:

>
>
> Eric Babula wrote:
>
>>"Charles Schuler" <> wrote in
>>news:wYSdnV_qish43uzfRVn-:
>>
>>
>>
>>>Arrived two days ago, so this is preliminary:
>>>
>>>1/ Very small and light but too big for most pockets.
>>>2/ Easy to use but the menus are a bit tedious.
>>>3/ IS works well, even at full zoom.
>>>4/ Good exposures and mostly good focus, so far.
>>>5/ Flash works well, so far.
>>>6/ Image quality is very good.
>>>7/ Response time/on time/focus lock time ... all good.
>>>8/ LCD viewer above average.
>>>9/ EVF only OK ... useable but not much more.
>>>10/ Look and feel are both good.
>>>
>>>A last comment: My wife took it last night and shot some very
>>>nice photos with it with no prior experience and no reading of the
>>>manual. This camera has a "Simple Mode" that seems to be worth
>>>looking at for casual users. I'll post some shots on my site in a
>>>few days.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Good to hear another happy customer of the FZ5.
>>
>>I'm most likely going to buy one, when the prices drop a bit. But,
>>now the Canon S2 IS is coming out, and I'll probably have to
>>compare that one to the FZ5.
>>
>>
>
>
> Me too. I was disheartened reading the PC Mag Review. It was not
> favorable and differed from all of the other reviews I read. I
> would like to see a review of the S2 from PC Mag.
>
> The issue with the S2 is that is does not come in black. I think
> that the black models are nicer. If the reviews of the S2 and the
> Z5 are close than I would get the black FZ5. If the S2 is far
> superior I will have to compromise.
>

Like someone else already mentioned in another thread, I think I would
trust the digital camera websites before I'd trust pcmagazine's review.
PCMagazine deals mostly with computers. Overall, the FZ5 has been
getting very good reviews.

I'm sure you've already checked out dpreview.com, steves-digicams.com,
dcresrource.com, megapixel.net, imaging-resource.com, and
digitalcamerainfo.com.

--
Eric Babula
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Beauty is internal. Looks mean nothing.

Eric Babula wrote:
> "Charles Schuler" <> wrote in
> news:N-KdnTZFR7EDxuzfRVn-:
>
>


snipped


> >
> >
>
> Just out of curiosity: Do you ever use the digital zoom? Everyone
says
> to just ignore the digital zoom on a camera. Is it really that bad?
>
> I'm not a professional, so I'm not always looking for the most
> incredible pictures.
>
> When I get mine, I'm gonna have to run a series of test shots.



If you don't have any kind of photo processing software, download
Picasa 2 and move the magnification slider around on a decent picture.
Watch what happens as the subject gets bigger. Digital zoom does
exactly the same thing in camera. Optical zoom gives you top clarity
at whatever focal length you shoot it and you can do the "digital zoom"
on your desktop in Picasa or whatever post processing you choose in
order to crop or make adjustments. I guess the best way to describe
digital zoom is digital enlargement. You get all the same problems you
get with any enlargement when you go past a certain point. Optical
zoom = best quality. Digital zoom = reduced or worst quality.



>
> --
> Eric Babula
> Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
>
> Goals are deceptive. The unaimed arrow never misses.

> Just out of curiosity: Do you ever use the digital zoom? Everyone says
> to just ignore the digital zoom on a camera. Is it really that bad?

No, I never use it. It's bad because the same thing can be done later in
post-processing (with better control). Always use optical zoom.

measekite wrote:
>
>
> Eric Babula wrote:
>
>> "Charles Schuler" <> wrote in
>> news:wYSdnV_qish43uzfRVn-:
>>
>>
>>> Arrived two days ago, so this is preliminary:
>>>
>>> 1/ Very small and light but too big for most pockets.
>>> 2/ Easy to use but the menus are a bit tedious.
>>> 3/ IS works well, even at full zoom.
>>> 4/ Good exposures and mostly good focus, so far.
>>> 5/ Flash works well, so far.
>>> 6/ Image quality is very good.
>>> 7/ Response time/on time/focus lock time ... all good.
>>> 8/ LCD viewer above average.
>>> 9/ EVF only OK ... useable but not much more.
>>> 10/ Look and feel are both good.
>>>
>>> A last comment: My wife took it last night and shot some very nice
>>> photos with it with no prior experience and no reading of the
>>> manual. This camera has a "Simple Mode" that seems to be worth
>>> looking at for casual users. I'll post some shots on my site in a
>>> few days.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> Good to hear another happy customer of the FZ5.
>>
>> I'm most likely going to buy one, when the prices drop a bit. But, now
>> the Canon S2 IS is coming out, and I'll probably have to compare that
>> one to the FZ5.
>>
>>
>
>
> Me too. I was disheartened reading the PC Mag Review. It was not
> favorable and differed from all of the other reviews I read. I would
> like to see a review of the S2 from PC Mag.
>
> The issue with the S2 is that is does not come in black. I think that
> the black models are nicer. If the reviews of the S2 and the Z5 are
> close than I would get the black FZ5. If the S2 is far superior I will
> have to compromise.

Well you could buy a can of black spray paint. Grin.
I find the lighter colors better for my climate, but whatever lights
your LED. Grin.


--
Ron Hunter