Electronics Top Reviews

Comment from J. P. Riquezes
Time October 9, 2010 at 2:52 am

I bought it for 360 just few days ago… Is there something wrong with this camera and the FZ100? It is so irritating…
Rating: 5 / 5

Comment from H. Bowman
Time October 9, 2010 at 4:52 am

Very well made camera…Made in Japan….Took indoor pics with zoom x24 Great! Good focus…Fast…..I have 8GB class 10 card….Put on screen protection…Should be getting 52mm uv on Fri…Not very heavy…So far a sweet camera….Will test this weekend…Hope videos good! I really like the software included…
Rating: 5 / 5

Comment from Bird That Flew
Time October 9, 2010 at 6:59 am

I bought this camera to replace my older Panasonic DMC-FZ28, which I adored but is no longer useable due to recently succummbing to the dreaded “lens cap error” message of death. I told myself I’d never get another Panasonic because of it, but then I did some research and saw that several brands (including Canon) had this problem and that it seems to have been resolved in all the new models. I loved my old FZ28 so much that I just couldn’t resist getting its newest relative (with a 3-year warranty this time…just in case). After having played around with my new FZ40, I feel I definitely made the right decision.

I generally shoot things like plants in my garden and my animals (cat, horses), though I do a fair amount of indoor shots as well. This camera performs very well where all are concerned. It is way better in low light than the FZ28 was, and the flash is not so bright that it looks like you’ve got a spotlight on your subject when you use it. The quality of the images in the LCD screen are incredibly crisp, and the big size makes it easy to review everything your shots. This camera comes with a rechargeable battery, which I vastly prefer over AAs (in my experience, rechargeable battery charges last way longer).

Most importantly, the pictures the FZ40 takes are flat-out awesome. Crisp, clear, detailed, just excellent. I was so excited to try this camera out that I wasn’t being careful to hold the camera perfectly still when shooting. Even so, there was absolutely no noise or blurriness in any of the shots I took, even in low light without the flash. THAT makes me happy.

Only a couple teeny tiny things I don’t love but that aren’t a big deal: I don’t love the lens cap. Basically, tension holds it in place at the end of your lens and it just doesn’t seem really secure to me. I bought a holster-style camera bag for that reason, and hopefully it will offer a little extra protection for the lens when transporting. Also, the review feature on the FZ40 is a separate button instead of an option on the dial like on older models. I preferred it the old way, but it’s no big deal.

All in all, I am EXTREMELY pleased with this camera. If that changes or if I notice anything noteworthy about it over the next few months, I’ll come back to update.
Rating: 5 / 5

Comment from ULong
Time October 9, 2010 at 7:51 am

I’ll put new findings up here:

PRINTS:

I just got a chance to have some prints. I have one of bees photos (cropped to size 1168 x 1557) printed at costco 8 x 10, very (not super) sharp and detailed. Not to mention those 4 x 6.

LOW LIGHT PERFORMANCE:

Let’s be fair. Let’s compare apple to apple, not to orange. Those good low light performers, like LX3, only have 2.5x zoom, and have up to f2.0 aperture, so to compare I used f2.8 (the largest aperture of FZ40, no zoom), I got decent sharp images! When using zoom, it requires more and more light, so use large aperture, you won’t be disappointed. Also, keep ISO as low as possible. I used up to 400. See some night scene photos I posted.

Close-up mode works well in low light (indoor), I got sharp images consistently (handheld, 2 sec self-timer helps), even with 20x zoom sometimes.

VIDEO:

Simply amazing! Sound is great!

RAW:

Some RAW files (size 3244×2436) are not recognized by ACR. I think this happens when using i.Zoom feature with full zoom, not sure maybe a bug or by design?

FYI: regualr RAW file size 4320×3240, I got different size raw files, but ACR won’t recognize anything around 10mb. Maybe this is an issue that ACR should take care.

Not available in some mode, e.g. iA mode. Writing RAW file is slow, a couple of seconds (I use Class 10 16GB sdhc card). I wouldn’t use RAW for sports mode though it’s available.

———–

Frankly speaking, I am just an amateur (at most) in photography, so if you’re like me, read on…

At first, I thought I would get a decent DSLR, like D90, it would look cool with it on the shoulders, but the price keeps me away. Actually price for D90 is going up! (demand and supply rule, I guess?). Consider the body plus lens, it easily costs me $1500! That’s big commitment. At my level, a bridge camera seems most appropriate.

I’ve been searching for compact camera under $400 (the limit I gave myself) for a couple of weeks before I came with a short list of three super zoom cameras: Panasonic FZ40, FZ35 and Fujifilm S200EXR. I prefer shooting birds to shooting night scenes, so I gave up on cameras like LX3. I also gave up on those without RAW mode.

When I read S200EXR reviews, I was excited about its unique features. I even downloaded the manual and printed it out. I was just waiting for the price drop down, but it was the day before I made the final decision I happened to learn something about HDR. It seems to me most of those sample images come out of S200EXR are kind HDR images, which I can do by myself with software, maybe even better since I can control the settings. I might be wrong here. Also, both FZ35 and FZ40 have High Dynamic mode (but I’m not sure they are comparable or not). According to those reviews, S200EXR is better than the other two in low light condition (?). But I don’t think it will help with the long zoom end anyway. Besides I will use the camera mostly during the day (with good light) in the nature. If I really need one for low light, I would get a LX3. Another thing, Adobe doesn’t support its RAW format! (due to its unique sensor, maybe?) Although there is a convertor out there, I don’t feel comfortable. So S200EXR was scratched from my list.

Next thing is that, according to most of the reviews, FZ35 has better IQ than FZ40, but its price is getting higher lately! Is it against me or what? I guess it’s mixed with some truth and some tricks (i.e. strategy to get rid of the old stocks). One thing I don’t feel comfortable is the joystick, never used this kind of thing. Again, the day before I made the final decision, I found some decent images come out of FZ40/45 at flickr.com, so I thought FZ40 is new, loaded with more goodies, and with the price getting narrow between FZ35 and FZ40, this is at least a good deal (last check FZ35 is even more expensive than FZ40!!!). Besides some average IQ images out there are most likely due to users’ skill, not the camera (I would hope). Another thing is the Leica lens (Germany brand, might be made in Japan? Either way is superb). So much for the searching, I put an order as soon as the price dropped to $349.99 at Amazon.com…the price keeps dropping!

Waiting is finally over, delivery is fast for free service as usual. I was so happy yesterday when I got my new “toy” (pretty light and small in hands, I had Nikon CP995 which is much heavier than this one), made in Japan (meaning good quality itself). While waiting for the delivery, I downloaded and printed out the manual (it comes with the camera on one of the two CDs, not printed, save some tree or go green?), I think it’s helpful to get familiar with those new features first. I don’t want to list those pros and cons here since many reviews have already done so. I played with it last night, I found AF is not working well in low light (as explained and expected), I tried MF and it turned out pretty useful. I also like the custom settings, you can save three different settings for later use, which are pretty handy feature. iA mode is pretty cool, I got some decent sharp images in low light, but unfortunately you cannot use RAW for this mode. Auto Bracket is easy to set and use, but again not available for RAW (this is odd, maybe due to the processing limit?). I think a tripod (or at least monopod) is a must-have for this camera to get sharp images (especially for long zoom end). So far so good, the menu is intuitive, the buttons are easy to reach but small, I guess I have to get used it. Time will talk. I hope the weather here will be nice this weekend so I can go out and play more. I might have to update this review with more findings later.

Talking about something else, if you don’t want/need super zoom, LX3 or even LX5 (if money is not an issue) is a very good camera (just my feeling by reading all the reviews and pictures), but they belong to another class though. Technology is changing quickly, more and more new stuff will come out , who knows what’s like in five years, ten years. I would hope compact camera with bigger DSLR-like sensor will be a trend to watch. Also, it would be interesting to see how far Micro Four Thirds can go. This is just my opinion. For now I’m going to enjoy shooting with my new toy…

Hope this will help some people like me make a decision (right or wrong, it’s your money after all).

Cheers!

Rating: 5 / 5

Comment from S. L. Burcham
Time October 9, 2010 at 9:38 am

WOW, this thing cooks!!! I’m comparing it to my work camera, a Sony DSC-H50 (by no means a cheap camera) and a Nikon L110 ( my personal camera). The Lumix FZ40 takes great photos and the video is superb!! I’m not disappointed at all and I’m sure you won’t be either. The end result couldn’t be any greater than it is – that’s my humble opinion after starting with an Olympus digi camera back in the year 2000.
Rating: 5 / 5