I bought the Panasonic FZ28 around a week back after a lot of research on the net. Sites like dpreview.com, stevesdigicams.com and cameralabs.com were very helpful but not conclusive in their recommendations. All the sites compare this camera with Canon SX10IS and say that both are very good cameras. I have been a Canon loyalist and was using the S3IS before this. In fact I had decided on buying the SX10IS but thought of checking out other options at the last moment because I found the SX10 IS a bit too heavy. So moving on to Panasonic was a big decison for me.
You can get the detailed features, specs and performance reports on a lot of websites. I’ll keep my review limited to what I find good in this camera.
1. It is light! Yes, for a camera with 18x optical zoom, this is pretty light. Very easy to carry around.
2. It has 18x optical zoom at full 10MP resolution. Even better, if you reduce the resolution, the optical zoom increases further! At 3MP you can zoom in to an unbelievable 32.1x optical! Smart feature!
3. Continuous shooting is limited to 3 or 5 shots at 10MP. However, again if you drop the resolution, the speed as well as the numbers increase. At 3MP it fires at around 11 frames per second!
4. It has a joystick for Quick Menu which is very useful. Allows you to change the main settings just before clicking without going into detailed menus.
5. It uses the LCD very smartly. Though it does not have a swivel screen like the Canon, there is a setting where the visibility is better if viewed from below. Meant for shots where you are holding the camera high. interesting!
6. It takes filters. Yes, very few point & shoot digitals take filters. This one does. Though the 46mm size is not very easily available in India. However, these filters are expected to come in soon. I got a UV filter easily. Also got a 46-52 conversion ring so that I can use my old 52 mm filters on this one till I get the 46 mm easily.
7. Allows a longest shutter speed of 60 seconds, which is pretty good for most requirements from a camera of this class.
8. Allows clicking in RAW in case you want to edit the pics as per your choice.
9. Has HD video recording. Though it is not full HD, it is still pretty good, better than regular video. Takes more space though.
10. Batterly life is decent. I find it better than what I got from using AAs in the Canon S3IS.
11. For people with kids and pets, there is a mode where you key in the date of birth. After that each time you click in that mode, it will calculate and imprint the age on the snap. Not a feature you can’t live without, but neat.
12. LCD is pretty good. Clearly visible outdoors too.
I think a dozen points are more than enough for this review.:-)
Now for the downsides. Though these are not major. It basically depends what is important to you and where you can compromise.
- No swivel screen
- No hotshoe for external flash
- No stereo audio recording
- For people used to a little heavier cameras, this could feel too light at times, especially in high zoom modes when the bulk of a camera steadies it to some extent.
- Zooming seemed a little more smoother and faster on the Canon.
Overall, anyone looking for a megazoom camera can easily go for this one. It is a pretty good package at a decent price. Highly recommended!
Available for around Rs.22, 500/- officially. In grey you will get it for around 17, 000/-.
However, if you want swivel screen, hotshoe, stereo audio you can go in for Canon SX10IS. That too is a terrifica camera and in terms of image quality is equally good. It has its own series of little features which might be of interest to a lot of people. It is available in the same price band.