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"A Best Buy" on by honest ed
Pros: anti-shake, great tele lens
Cons: wrong shape for pocketing
Summary: The Panasonic FZ digitals invented the 12X lens for non-SLRs. The FZ4 is by far the best buy of the FZ series. It tops the FZ3 in handling and in performance and, at the same time, it is close to the FZ5 in most parameters. Panasonic put out as a loss leader, I suspect, and did not promote it at all, concentrating on the FZ5 and their P&S models. This meant the savvy shopper could get a camera at about a third less than the FZ5 that would do everything except record sound when shooting movies and had a 1.5" LCD compared to a 1.8". In return, however, it got a burst program that is faster (4 frames/sec vs 3 and 10 frames max vs 7 for the FZ5). The FZ4 is a delight to use; it is ready just a couple of seconds after being turned on and has as a brief shutter lag as can be found. I use mine mainly for nature shots around the pond my home is by and for shooting sports events and casual gettogethers. It is not a studio camera nor does it pretend to be. It is, however the best allround digital I have found, as long as you don't want 9"X12" prints. It will disappear from the marketplace in the near future so get yours now. You won't regret it.
Updated
The FX4 was put on the market to fill a gap between the FX3 and the FX5. The FX5 was heavily marketed in the 5 megapixel group and the FX4 became more or less a loss leader, not advertised and dropped within a year. It was Panasonic's best buy digital camera this decade but
Panasonic never realized what a bargain it was and let it die on the vine. The FZ4 did everything the FZ5 did except record sound when in movie mode; also it has a 1.8 inch LCD rather than the FZ5's 2 inch. The biggest difference was that the FZ4 packed 4 megapixels as compared to the FZ5's 5 megapixels. However, they both use the same ccd, which gives the 5 a slightly sharper picture but in return the 4 has less noise and much less color fringing. In everything else the two are just about impossible to tell apart, pgysically and photographically. When I bought my FZ4, almost a year ago, it sold for about a third less than the FZ5. I've used a lot and I'm still very pleased with. It is a great snap shooter and nature camera (I shoot a lot of pics of the birds around a pond next to my home, ducks, geese, hawks and one blue heron) and an excellent camera for photographing sporting events, which is important because I live within 25 miles of NC Stae, UNC, Duke, the Durham Bulls, the Mudcats and the World Champion Carolina Hurricanes, so the 420mm lens and image stabilization get quit a workout. No complaints, just praise and enjoyment of a small $240 digital camera.
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