I have been using digital cameras for a long time now.. My first was a Kodak that took about 12 crummy 320x240 pics and cost around $360.00. The battery, which was needed to take pictures as well as upload to your good ol' trusty 133 or 166 Pentium Classic, cost like 9 bucks each and went fast! WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY, BABY!!

This FZ10 is truly the future! I'm going to try not to parrot all of the wonderful praises of my Epinions Colleagues,though they're all true, I'm going to give NEW praises for this great camera.

The first thing you will notice in operation of this camera is, despite it's so many available options, you can start shooting immediately by just sliding the top mode dial to the big red "P". That stands for`Program AE which is a point-n-shoot simple mode. That will keep the new shooter from getting frustrated by the selections. Ultimately, you'll find yourself using the movie mode, it is amazing how nice they come out at while the camera is set for 30 frames per second, certainly better and clearer than any other digital camera that I have ever had. Forget the 30 second clips, too..Get a big memory card (256 or 512) and you can keep shooting movies until your wrist is ready to fall off! That's where the built in stabilization comes in, it makes you look like a human tripod! You eventually will use a lot of the other modes, night portrait, panning, sports, aperature or shutter speed priority and the macro is great too. The 12x zoom is no slouch and you will again see how well that stabilization works when the telephoto is at it's full blast. I have had this camera for about eight months and have yet to use (or even play with) the 3x digital zoom. They're usually a dissapointment, so I recommend to just forget that it is available..

All of the controls are laid out well, they may seem a little clumsy at first, but once you've used the camera for an hour or so, they'll all fall right into place. Certainly better than my old Canon G series, which went into macro mode whenever my nose hit the dial while trying to use the viewfinder!!

Speaking of viewfinders, you do have a choice of the larger sized LCD screen on the back or the eye level viewfinder, which, by the way has an adjustable diopter. The eye level viewfinder is, well, a little wierd at first, as it is not an optical image that you look at, but rather a digital image! The good news is that it totally eliminates any paralax, a common problem.

The Leica designed optics do what they do best take great pictures, sharp, great color saturation and the zoom seems to have much less barrelling and pincushioning than most zooms attached to digital cameras!

Four megapixels is more than enough for most people's requirements, though I understand that Panasonic has come out with a five megapixel model. That would probably substantially reduce the purchase price of this camera, so if you're gonna do it...shop around! and don't hesitate to buy this camera!

B.T.W. Additional batteries can be gotten for this camera in the generic form for substantially less than Panasonic branded ones, and they work just as well. I have two and cannot tell a difference, just shop online or go to the big auction site, you will find them fast.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): appx.450.00
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use