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Posted by: Hal from Everett
Review: One of the best all around for an average of $ 500.00 price tag. A slightly larger adjustable display screen would have been a nice touch.
Pros: Great optical zoom (12x) at 2.8 f-stop.
Cons: Not many local stores carry this item.
- Review posted on 7/23/2005 11:33:52 AM
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Posted by: Gail Pierre from New York
Review: I have owned and tried a few other marks in this catagory but none can compare to this camera... wooo I just love it! I especially love how easy it is to use, most of the features like Manual mode are all on the dial. You dont have to do much internal search to set the mode. If you are a beginner you will love the ease of this camera. It is easy to figure out right from the box. If you are more of a pro this camera will still give you the creative outlet you need...after all where can you get a camera with such a fast lens, all in one? The pictures are crisp and beautiful. The LCD lens is a good size, the camera also fits nicely in my hands. It has a sturdy feel but it is not heavy at all. The Manual mode, Apeture priority mode and shutter mode are all located on the dial so there is no searching inside of the camera to change the apeture and shutter...this can be soo annoying as I have experienced with other camera. It comes with an adaptor which allows you to add filters and other lens attachments. The Leica lens is cool! Would have love to have an DSLR but could not aford the price or the lens that the FZ20 gives. In the end it is not just the camera but the skills of the one behind the camera. If I say any more about this camera Panasonic will have to pay me.
Pros: Loads of great features, all of what I would have wanted but could not find in just one camera. This one does it.
Cons: The battery. I just wish it worked with AA batters as my Olympus c740 and canon does.
- Review posted on 4/11/2005 2:12:46 AM
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Posted by: Steve from San Diego
Review: I have had the camera for about 2 weeks now. I am amazed at the quality of the pics. The camera has auto everything if you need it or you can manually set it up.
great for learning basics...
I would buy it again and have no regrets.
Pros: great pics, fantastic lens, easy to use out of the box.Image stab. works even at x12
Cons: occasional problems with auto focus. Buy exta battery and SD cards when you get the camera, you will need them.
- Review posted on 12/20/2004 2:13:42 AM
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Posted by: richard from cape coral, florida
Review: I have been using this DMC-FZ20 in a wide range of settings for about a month now. I did a lot of research in advance of purchasing, ruling out some that cost twice as much. I am not one to waste my time writing a reviews for free. Sometimes a company just does things better than expected, and its nice to say “keep up the good work”. For the record my film cameras are a Nikon N80 for fun and a Bronica S2A for serious work.
By far this is the best made, most well thought out for ergonomics, and best engineered camera in its price range. In fact I would rate it higher than many cameras costing twice as much. I looked at, and tried several other name brand cameras, some with more features, and kept coming back to this. For one, this is both small and light compared to most, yet feels rock solid in my oversize hands. This is important to me as I am more apt to leave it behind and miss the photo if it is cumbersome. No camera is good packed away unused.
The buttons and menus are a breeze to work with. Nothing cryptic. The menu is always relevant to what you are doing at the time. All the buttons have a good feel and are accompanied well defined icons on-screen. Items that are used frequently, like burst mode shooting, display, and exposure control, have a separate button so you do not have to go through a menu. Real big plus. Burst mode shooting is great for people shots, or shots of moving objects. Just delete what you don't need, and that can be easily done from the camera. The lens is almost silent in both focus and zoom. The manual focus feels silky smooth like you are focusing a vintage Nikon. The image stabilization works great. I took a hand held picture of a dragonfly on a reed at 48X from about 25 feet away. It filled the frame. No movement blur. The real zoom range is 12X which is just over 400mm equivalents on a 35mm camera. 48X is adding a digital zoom which I would not use in real life. Better to do that on the computer. The batteries last a long time, (over 200 shots) and spares can be had reasonably.
I would have to past the wonderful ergonomics of this camera if the image quality was not up to my needs. That is another place where this camera shines. With some fancy lens work by Leica, Panasonic managed to keep the lens fast (F=2.8) at it full range of zoom. The large aperture of this lens does not hang out in front of you, or change length as you zoom. Everything is internal.
At 5 Mega pixel some might consider this on the small side, yet if a manufacture boasts a high pixel count, and does not support it with a lens that can make use of it, all you are getting is a larger file size, and a degraded picture. Manufactures seem to like to push the mega pixel count (number of photo receptors on the chip) rather than the size and sensitivity of each pixel. Using a given size CCD chip, as you increase the pixel count, you decrease the size of each pixel. This makes each cell require more light (bigger lens or longer exposure) as they are not as sensitive. As available light diminishes, electronic noise (heat, stray electrons) becomes a problem. Just zoom in as close as you can on a dark gray area of a photo taken by a low grade camera. Why is it not an even gray? The electronic noise is growing faster on the CCD chip than the image. This is where the pro cameras shine with their large format CCD's. While noise is a product of all digital cameras, Panasonic made an excellent match between their CCD (which has a unique color matrix and excellent color rendering) and the high grade Leica lens.
All in all I have to say “Hats off to Panasonic. You did it right!”
Pros: Listed well in review
Cons: There are only two things that I do not like about this camera. The neck strap is a cheaply made poor excuse to put on a camera this nice. I would have rather Panasonic not included one and sold it seperately than include what they did. Serious, it is that bad. The second thing is the red eye reduction method. It seems to be a flash, a delay, and then a double flash during the exposure. During this double flash people or photographer seem to move and you get streaking of the image. I just turned it off. Red eye reduction is easy to fix on the computer later.
- Review posted on 12/2/2004 9:15:20 PM
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Posted by: Charles from Dallas
Review: I love my LC5, but my FZ20 is becomming my mistress. I never thought I'd find pictures that looked better than an LC5 generates, but I haven't taken more than a dozen pictures with it since I got this camera. I bought it for its longer optical zoom. I use it now for all the other features. Too bad more owners don't review this camera, you'd see more positive reviews than just pros who jump all over one feature that doesn't fit their concept of what real photography should be about. If you own it, you won't find much to complain about that isn't intrinsic to every digital camera. This blows everything else I've ever used away.
Pros: There may be something they missed but, other than the one mentioned below, Panasonic got this right. The pictures are fabulous. The built in flash is very good. The lens is bright, fast and crisp.
Cons: I prefer the larger LCD screen on my DMC-LC5.
- Review posted on 11/24/2004 2:01:19 PM
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Posted by: jerome from chicago
Review: Given the high resolution, sharp results produced, the excellent overall performance, lack of optical problems in 99.9% of shooting situations and keen pricing, it's impossible not to recommend the FZ20.
Pros: excellent white balance and image stabilization. Highly recommended in dpreview.com.Very high resolution and detail capture throughout the zoom range Sharp results Good, natural color Superb 12x optical zoom Very effective image stabilization Excellent handling - more compact than a DSLR but very stable Comprehensive range of controls Very fast operation Well designed menu system Nice handling and control layout Easy to use Excellent screen Usable EVF Autofocus illuminator Powerful flash Good battery life Good value for money Program shift TIFF mode
Cons: Visible noise at ISOs above 100 Very occasional exposure problems Focus at extreme telephoto sometimes hunts, occasionally misses Low resolution movie mode Some red fringing at 12x/wide apertures (rarely seen in prints) Mode dial too easy to knock in use, changing modes Images can look a little soft viewed at 100% - sharpen up well though
- Review posted on 11/4/2004 10:19:14 PM
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Posted by: Mariusz from Cleveland
Review: its very good camera. she have very good lens from leica, Mega zoom and MEGA Image Stabilization, very fast shot-to-shot speed, image quality, Features, Picture Quality, Quality Construction....(Looks, performs and feels like a much more expensive camera)
One camera that can do it all with one lens, wide angle to ultra-zoom. You can't go wrong with this camera for the money.
Pros: very good lens
Cons: batery
- Review posted on 10/9/2004 7:24:25 PM
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 S Description: The DMC-FZ20S has a 12x optical lens system that is equivalent to 36mm to 432mm in a 35mm film camera. It comprises 13 lenses in eight groups, including three aspherical lenses and boasts F2.8 brightn... 
