Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28K 10MP Digital Camera with 18x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black) by Panasonic
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Digital camera reviews of Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28K 10MP Digital Camera with 18x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)
Digital camera Review: Description
Summary: 1 Stars
The camera is not operated in Europe, description is not correct. Seller does not care.Digital camera Review: Disappointed with picture quality
Summary: 3 Stars
Picture is grainy and not very highly defined. Pictures taken with 7 mega pixel simple point-and-shoot cameras look much better than pictures taken with this camera. Very disappointing for a higher quality camera.Digital camera Review: Don't buy DicaPac WP710 with Lumix DMC-FZ28K
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't know why Amazon paired DicaPac WP710 with Lumix DMC-FZ28K. (1) DicaPac WP is way too small for Lumix DMC-FZ28, only hold a mini camera/ (2) The picture showed is total misleading, the real product is a flat plastic bag, is not the one in the picture.
I bought Lumix DMC-FZ28K to replace DMC-FZ7. If you like FZ& yould should like FZ28K.
Digital camera Review: EXCELLENT CAMERA!!!!! :)
Summary: 5 Stars
I searched the internet and read reviews on many different cameras for about a month before deciding on the Panasonic Lumix Fz28. Finally I narrowed it down to either the FZ28 or the Canon SX10IS. I was leaning toward the Canon only because it had a 20x optical zoom instead of 18x zoom, but then I compared the quality of the pictures taken by both cameras on flickr.com and the FZ28 blew the Canon out of the water in my opinion. I also loved that I could use filters on the fz28.
I was looking for a good affordable camera for my wedding and honeymoon in Hawaii and I'm sure this is it! I received the camera for Christmas and in 2 days, I had taken over 800 pictures! It is very addicting and now I updated Myspace, Facebook, Flickr, etc. One thing I was very impressed with was the sunset scene. I was in the car the other day and I took some beautiful sunset pictures. The camera did all the work! I look forward to taking many more awesome pictures with my new Panasonic Lumix FZ28.
I am so glad I chose the FZ28 over the Canon SX10 IS!!!! Just to let you know I never type reviews, but I just had to share this awesome product with people out there so they can make a good decision. Thanks!
Digital camera Review: Earned the hype.
Summary: 5 Stars
I spent a lot of time researching before I bought this camera, and now that I've played with it for a couple weeks and taken hundreds of pictures, I figured I'd pass on some of the things that had interested me in the camera for future buyers.
First off, I rated this camera five stars. Not because it's the best camera in the world, but because it does an excellent job of everything it aspires to do. I'll start off with some pros and cons.
Pros:
-Minimum focal length of 1mm; excellent for close-ups.
-The telephoto is awesome, and in one contained lens.
-Image stabilization works beautifully.
-The HD video is of better quality than my dedicated HD camcorder.
-The controls and menu are dense, but very intuitive. I found myself looking at the manual only for one or two trivial things. I had handled a Fujifilm camera before buying this one, and at the time I was thinking "How am I going to get used to using this thing? The menu makes no sense." I was relieved that Panasonic did a much better job.
-The LCD is something I consider to be ancillary and wasn't a factor in choosing this camera, but, for those who are interested, it is big, bright and seems to perform well outdoors.
-I was afraid the joystick was going to be problematic for manual focus (as opposed to a focus ring, which this camera lacks), and that it would be difficult to use for fine adjustments, but that is not the case. It's very easy to use and the manual focus assist (enlarges a portion or all of the image to see detail) helps greatly.
-Battery life is good. It's rated for 400 pictures, and I know I took about that many the first time I used it on one charge, with no shortage of playing with the LCD for reviewing images and checking out menu features.
Cons:
-I find that the autofocus doesn't want to focus on things within a couple inches of the lens, even when spot AF is enabled on the item. The same is true of telephoto macro shots where the camera is near its minimum focal distance for that zoom. For these shots, I use the manual focus. Personally this isn't a bother, but I list it under cons as it may be for some. Interestingly, my old Nikon 4100 did a better much job of autofocusing for macro shots.
-As others have said, yes, the manual focus can be engaged accidentally, but personally I keep the display on and check my settings before taking a picture. I've done it and caught myself before it was a problem a couple times now.
-The camera body does feel as though a fumble to the floor would do it no favors. But, it's light, and ergonomic.
-The battery/card compartment is inaccessible when the camera is mounted on a tripod/tripod shoe.
-The raw image format is RW2, which if I remember correctly is a proprietary format designed for Panasonic's supplied software. I haven't shot any raw yet, so I'm not sure if my version of Adobe Camera Raw will support RW2, but I know that earlier versions won't. I'd suggest researching to see what, if any, versions of Camera Raw support RW2 before buying if that's a deal breaker for you. I also have not installed Panasonic's supplied software (If I can't use Camera Raw, I'm not interested in the feature).
Other things to note:
-It actually took me a few days to figure out the quick menu. I'd been using the joystick for navigation, but I knew was also supposed to serve as a quick menu and I was confused because nothing happened when I pressed it. Well, for some reason it took me that long to try holding the button down. It takes about a second holding to activate the quick menu, probably to prevent accidental button presses when using the joystick.
-So far I've found no use for the burst mode. My experience has been that if you want to catch a still of something happening quickly, the best way to do it is to record a video and then use the camera's review mode to snap a still from it. I have some shots of a 9mm casing ejecting from a semi-auto rifle that were done this way. The quality will never be great, but certainly it's enough to know what's going on.
-The shutter lag and repeat between shots are things people have reviewed both positively and negatively, but I find them both to be as expected in sufficient light. I wouldn't categorize them as either pros or cons.
-I never use the "intelligent auto" mode. Even for snapping pictures of family and friends. I prefer to use aperture priority mode with face detection if I want to snap a few casual images. I'm sure the IA mode has a use for some users, but my thinking is that for anyone vaguely camera-literate, its purpose is limited.
Having written this it seems like I spent more time talking about what could be wrong with the camera than with what's right with it, but that's because I wanted to address the things that might concern people. Plus, it's easier to list the things that are wrong with the camera than the things that are right with it - that list would be too long. It's a safe bet that if I've omitted something in this review it's because it landed in the pro side and I felt it would be a given.
To summarize, this is a great compact camera that gives the user significant control over his images. That being said, if you want the absolute best shots you can get in low light situations, a DSLR is the only way to go. Likewise, if you're a casual photographer and don't plan to use the manual settings, I would say there are other cameras that would be cheaper, more conveniently sized, perhaps easier to use and may even work better for what you want than this camera. But for people like me who want a significant amount of control over their images, and want to be able to photograph just about anything without carrying around a bag full of lenses and a bulky DSLR body, this is the camera for you.