Rating: 
Summary: Good camera - terrible manual
Review: I was attracted to this camera for sports and wildlife photography by the combination of a Leica lens and image stabilization. IMO image stabilization an essential at 12X. Unless you're dead, you'll shake.Controls are adequate and, except for the shutter being flat on the top instead of angled, well placed. The plastic body can be overlooked, it seems sturdy. I was annoyed with the SD card being next to the battery until I figured out that it was not meant to be removed for downloading. Card readers don't work = at least mine doesn't. One must download to your PC directly from the camera by using USB. And this is where the manual fails. That fact is never explained and finding out how to download required a lot of patient search. The manual is filled with halfway explanations, assumptions and cross referencing by page number. The quick start gets you through the taking of a photo, but you're on your own from there. They tell you to read the whole thing before you shoot. Like your going to remember everything. Sheeesh. I'm NOT a newcomer to digital photography - I own and use an Oly E-20. I've shot film for fifty years so the terminolgy isn't foreign and I've had a Mac on my desk since 1985. I edit on PE2 and sell prints through small galleries and gift shops. I think English may be a second language for the tech writers who wrote the manual and worse yet, they are probably engineers. Be patient and find yourself rewarded. Panasonic would do well to have the manual edited, but it won't happen so...
Rating: 
Summary: Great in-betweener camera, very minor drawbacks
Review: I've never owned a digital camera, but I've had a Canon AE-1 for about 20 years. My wife and I wanted to get a digital camera that we could share (manual for me, point and shoot for her) and the Panasonic DMC-FZ10 seems to be the perfect compromise. The picture quality and color fidelity are truly amazing. I'm happy with the ability to adjust almost all of the settings, and the gun-and-run style pictures are great too! Two minor annoyances with this camera: - The lens cap isn't attached. We're going to lose it sooner rather than later;
- Low light settings: The camera sometimes struggles to autofocus in low-light conditions sans flash. This won't affect you if you're using your own settings, but be aware that low light point-and-click isn't perfect; also in auto mode, the LCD is almost impossible to read in the dark. Other than that, we're thrilled with the camera. If you truly need an SLR with swappable lenses and full control, spend more for the Canon Digital Rebel. If you just want point and click, spend less and get an A70. But for the in-betweener, this camera really hits the sweet spot.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Digital Camera
Review: I,ll make this short and to the point, this is a superb digital camera, nuff said.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Non-SLR, hands down.
Review: If you aren't going to read the rest of this (fairly short) review: Buy This Camera, unless you want an SLR.
I didn't do much research on SLRs before I bought this, but I DID do a lot on 4-5MPX digital cameras. This one came out on top, no matter how you look at it. The AMAZING zoom was a big seller for me, as was the look and feel of the camera itself. Like everyone says, it feels like a 35mm - just a bit lighter. I love where the controls are (better than any Nikon), and there is no comparison for the picture quality. Plus, it's easy to use, all the features are clearly labeled, yet there are still a lot of advanced options for the experienced photographer.
If you want an example of pic quality, check out:
http://www.slickware.com/uploads/154/120/P1010342.JPG
That's full resolution, so you might want to view it slightly smaller to get the real idea.
My only "but" would be: if you are thinking about buying this instead of a Digital SLR, Don't. I've had the camera for a few months now, and while I plan on keeping it (because I LOVE it), I recently upgraded to a DSLR for better clarity and more advanced lens options. However, my FZ10 will be sticking around!
Rating:
Summary: Great Prosumer camera!
Review: Lumix DMC-FZ10S 4Mpel, 12x optical zoom, non-pocket camera, $550ish Wow! Finally an affordable camera with MORE features, functions and image quality than my old 35mm SLR camera. At about $550 this has to be the best semi-pro camera around. The specs are impressive, but the ease of use brings the full potential to your fingertips. While it can take great pictures as a point-and-click camera - easily beating the Canon G3-G5 - the real power comes when you begin going manual. Conventional wisdom holds that you should buy a digital camera from an established film camera company. Well, this camera combines the excellence of a lens/camera company - Leica - with a great Electronics Company - Panasonic - the best of both worlds! For a sound byte: The Lumix takes GREAT pictures! The lens is an incredible 12x optical zoom (equivalent to 35-420mm 35mm) that works well at both ends of the range (yes it does have a bit of chromatic aberration at full zoom, but only at a 200% blow-up on the screen). The macro works down to a few inches! The lens is rather fast for the zoom - f2.8 and the equivalent ASA is 50 to 400. So a good lens, a good sensor, then comes the really great part: the electronics. It has a very low shutter lag, fabulous MANUAL focus (beating all the SLR's that I have seen!), Image stabilization that makes the handheld 12x optical work (don't try handheld at 1/30sec full zoom, but hey what do you expect for a 420mm lens??), a delay timer for both tripod/handheld AND run-and-get-in-the picture, fast multishot, exposure bracketing, a red eye reduction that works, full 30fps movie mode, great review functions on camera and everything in the viewfinder - for those of us needing reading glasses, this is a dream! I could go into detail on all the features, but that is just an owner's manual read. It works and easy to control, at least for a right hander (I'm guessing it would be a pain for a leftie.) I wish they had more controls on the compression - less compression would be nice since in low light the compression artifacts do show up. The 4MPEL image sensor really seems to be a good capture device. Bottom Line: For a serious amateur, this is a great camera. For a pro, this might take the place of many SLR's. An real amateur can go all automatic and get great pictures and have room to move to better pictures with manual later. It doesn't fit in your pocket, but it takes great pictures! Jerry This is the fifth digital camera I have owned. I replaced my Canon IS90 with the Lumix and am pleased I did. I still look longingly at the Nikon D100 6MP and the Canon EOS-10D, but I can't justify the difference in price to compare to the Lumix.
Rating:
Summary: The best digicam for the money right now!
Review: The best cam for the money and has every potential to become the next 2100UZ as far as legacy is concerned. The lens and IS are 1st rate and you can get beautiful crisp photos in almost no light although focus lock in those conditions can be tricky. The zoom and the digital zoom are all very usable and I have gotten nice photos at full digital zoom. Overall Panasonic did their homework for the most part albeit some minor annoyances I listed below. But there are no perfect digital cameras out there. But couple this cam with the 12x Leica/IS combo and beautiful 4MP picture quality, many user available settings and you have a photographer's dream here. Minor gripes I have-
Handgrip needs to be bigger.
No eyecup, although a workaround is available as the Nikon 2939 cup.
Proprietary battery. Wish this could have taken AA NIMH's.
Lowlight focus can be tricky at times. Other than that once you get used to the possibilities of this cam you won't regret getting it.
Rating:
Summary: Love it!!!
Review: This camera brings the true beauty of pictures if you edit them with software and apply various types of filters. Visit my gallery at http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallByMember.asp?mem=74482 and you'll know what I mean.
Rating:
Summary: Impressiv specs, still .....
Review: This is a top of the line point'n shoot camera. Without any doubt the 12x optical zoom with image stabilizing and fast 2.8f aperture along the whole zoom range of 35-420 mm (35mm equiv.) are the icing on the cake. Nevertheless I'm slightly dissapointed about this camera because the specs read like my dream camera and the engineers from Panasonic just couldn't keep it together. Why? - I will cover this later. I was so anxious about getting my set together that I bought a bag first going by the size of the FZ1 - big mistake. The FZ10 is about double the size. Definitly no camera to slip in your pocket. Battery are pretty expensive, about 50$ a piece. A good replacement, not from Panasonic but way cheaper and even higher in the mAh rating is AC-CGAS002 (the barn were you get 'em from is great). Charge and running time equal almost 1hr.
The Tripod adapter blocks access to the battery and memory compartment. In dcresource the macro is described to work only in the automatic macro mode. So you couldn`t go by your own settings (manual). Good news - not true-. What is also not described in the manual, the camera does the same macro in manual mode. Literally up to the lense, almost touching it, with super sharp images. Personally, I do prefer the manual mode for several reasons and this is where my dissapointment starts. In a dim light situation, still enough to take a decent picture, the LCD is pitch black. It is not broken, that's just the way it is. The techs from Panasonic told me something about achery techniques and how to shoot over the body. I call it a "Misconception". Also the brightness of the flash is not displayed, saying the LCD should get brighter when flash is activated. Still you get nice pictures - with dim light focusing slightly advanced to some other digital pointers- just you don't see the composition and focusing. I consider this the major drawback of this camera. Surprisingly enough though, if you switch to Automatic mode the LCD display in the very same dim light situation with exactly the same setting, is fine. Aperture- or Shutter priority are also good in this respect. I say it again, this applies only to dim light situations in manual mode. In standard light situations you won't notice.
Talking about low light situations, the flash is quite impressiv. Gives you also the option to compensate (-2/+2). This is very helpful if you don't wanna compensate the flash by shutter/aperture. Lense cap has no string to hold it to the body - risk of losing it. I am an avid Photoshop user. So I like the auto braket function to take 3 consecutive shots with different esposures for different layers in the software. Still after every shot you have to kick the bracket in again. There is no button to enable this function permanently like cameras for only a fraction of the price do. I wouldn't mind that if it were not so long winded to get to that function. Between changing the shutter/aperture in Manual mode, engaging the bracket to -1/+1 and back again, it is necessary to push 9 buttons. (Wanna count? exposure/dial up/3x dial right/3xdial up/exposure.) And this after every shot, huhhh. Most people won't mind, but it takes only jpeg format. No non-compression formats available. This camera lets me take considerably more pictures (about 165) with 256mb than my Dimage s414 (about 125), which also happens to be a 4 MP camera - each camera in the best jpeg settings. With best settings this camera takes file sizes wich average about 1,5MB (Dimage S414 about 2MB). OK not every manufacture uses compression to the same extend, and in this setting Panasonic has surely found a nice compromise between quality and compression. Still I would be happier if Panasonic had tweaked its compession less aggressively, in order to achieve higher quality (but lager file size). Expecially since non-compression is missing and this camera is supposingly more oriented towards the prosumer section. Nevertheless the picture quality is superb across the whole zoom range (the lense seems to make up for it).
I read reviews were people complained about noise. I figure they chose the wrong ISO (Auto ISO?). Try to use 100, 50 if possible. Everything from ISO 200 on gets indeed noisy, so is it with other cameras. And the fast lense 2.8f over the whole zoom range together with the Image Stabilizer give you quite some options here.
The image stabilizer works great. I think this feature should become as much of an standard as it is for camcorders. This from Panasonic should be a wake up call for the other manufactures to install it in there ultrazooms.
Very positive is the overall speed of the camera. SD memory might help it. Run-up, Burst mode and time between shots is very fast. High Burst gets you 4-5 shots in 2sec. After that you are ready again after about 4 sec. I consider this to be very fast. The only issue in the Burst mode is that it freezes the picture in the LCD screen. Burst makes sense for moving objects. And that is were you find it almost impossible to keep your object in focus when you just see a series of taken pictures with a delay of about 0.5 seconds.
The purple fringing, which often comes along with extreme zoom lenses seems to be moderate. I haven't seen any so far with taken lots of pictures in situations where this is supposed to be most present, like against the sun with darker objects in front. Still it is mentioned in some of the reviews. Verdict: Even thought I wrote critically this shouldn`t distract from the fact that this is a state of the art point'n shoot camera with a great Leica lense and a stabilazation system you won't find in any other model of this category.
So giving away some of my high expectations this is still an excellent camera which will epeal to the advanced photographer with a need for an extreme zoom.
Rating:
Summary: i've give this camera 8 starts if it was possible.
Review: This is an amazing camera. I have been researching what camera to buy for the last few months! and I haven't found a camera that comes close to this one.
First of all the camera is big, so if you want a small zoom camera this isn't it. I'd recommend the Panasonic DMC fz1 or the Olympus C-750 models.
This camera comes the closest to perfect for me and what i've wanted in a camera.
Pros:
(1) leica lens (fyi leica makes $2000 cameras, so for this camera to have a leica lens, it's got to be good).
(2) the camera has auto and manual focus, and auto and manual modes so u can either point and shoot or learn to take pix with the more advanced features.
(3) movie mode is very descent and it has good sound.
(4) has a 16:9 ratio for 1 photo size (quality) setting, so u can take a pic and it'll be in widescreen...cool huh?
(5) all the modes on the dial, portrait, night portrait, panning (makes a moving object in sharp while the background is blurry), sports, macro.
(6) battery life is good. lasts pretty much all day.
(7) has this cool flip animation, you can make movies with ur clay figurines, if you'd like!! take a pic of a figurine and move it slightly every time and when done itll convert it into a quicktime movie.
(8) of course, the super ultra yummy zoom! how could i forget that? that's what got me interested in the camera in the first place.
(9) aperture range of the lens is f2.8 throughout the focul range from wide to telephoto.
(10) menus are easy to navigate and quick.
(11) can use conversion lenses for wide and tele.
(12) burst mode, can take 4-5 pics quick.
(13) histogram on play and record mode - good for composition measuring.
(14) turns on in about 2-3 secs after getting lens ready.
(15) great photo quality!!! which is the most important thing!!
(16) creativity for pictures!!! Now for cons:
(1) of course, price.......but ah well...shouldn't be a con, nice things cost money!
(2) i found that you cannot thread filters to the lens (lens not threaded) so can't protect lens with a (for example a UV filter to leave on permanently.) But can thread filters (72mm) to the lens hood (the camera package includes) which attaches to the lens barrel, (lens hood) roughtly 2-3 inches wide.
(3) and the movie mode.....cant use the zoom!!!! wonder why!?!
(4) extra batteries are expensive, and hard to find at ur local store. despite these 4 cons i have found in the last 3 months of researching for the perfect zoom camera, this has gotten to the closest i've found.
Also, get a SD card at least 256megs or larger and start shooting away!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Buy it for the lens
Review: This was my first post-film camera, and it turned out to be a relatively easy transition. It's about the same size as the SLR film cameras I was accustomed to, albeit half the weight. It provides full manual controls once you decypher the menu protocol.
If you're into nature photography, as I am, the FZ10 is just about unbeatable. You can reach out with a 420mm equivalent for shots of birds or other wildlife and in macro you can take a portrait of a bug on a flower. Unbelievable!
The image-stabilization gyroscope combined with the Leica optics means you can take hand-held shots in daylight at full zoom that are super-sharp -- if you know how to squeeze a trigger.
Shutter lag is not a problem -- about 1 second betwen shots and the burst mode gives you 4 frames a second.
Downsides:
1. Poor low-light performance, common with digitals, is perhaps even more problematical with the FZ10, since it has no focus-assist light. (The internal flash is fairly good, and there's a hot shoe for something with more punch.)
2. It's not an SLR, so no interchangable lenses. (But if you need more than 420mm, use your feet!)
3. The proprietary battery is expensive, about $50, but they can last for a whole day of fairly heavy shooting.
4. Forget the lens cap (it's unattached so you're gonna lose it anyway) and get a 72mm skylight filter to protect that great Leica glass.
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