Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 (black)

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Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 23 reviews Back to product review
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6 out of 7 people found this review helpful

4.5 stars

"Great all around camera"

by Cpt_Chaos on November 28, 2007

Pros: The auto features are fantastic and any level of camera user can adapt to its features easily. I took it out of the box and with no instructions took some great photos.

Cons: Whoever designed the instruction manual should be shot! Its choppy and not very useful. Sometimes you have to use the "Force". The EVF and LCD can take a bit to autofocus.
Summary: After reading, and reading lots of reviews and people's opinions about Superzooms vs. DSLRs I have to say, the choice is simple: If you are a professional photographer or going to do super zooming or cropping of your pictures and want to carry tons of varying lens, then go for the DSLR. If you are the point and shoot or the amateur (like me)who wants to learn some more about photography, then this camera is for you.

What I like about this camera is: If you dont want to think about 10,000 settings and you are wanting to take that opportunity picture, then switch 1 button, point and shoot and bingo. A great picture.

Additionally, the range of the zoom is fantastic, I have taken some pictures in varying conditions and its reach is fantastic. However, sometime the Intelligent function isn't the best (e.g. indoor low light photos or night time photos) but with some experimenting, you can tweak this camera's abilities. But in its defense, I took my new toy, to an indoor-outdoor museum and took a ton of great photos with no flash and only 3 or 4 weren't usable.

My biggest pet peeve about this camera is I would like to shoot the rocket scientist who designed the user's manual. Its not the best one I've seen. It explains how to do the different functions, but sometimes in a confusing way.

But with a little experience and practice, this lightweight superzoom, is a great is a great camera.

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 (black): $848.96

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