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4.0 Megapixel Lumix Digital Camera

This DMCFZ10K digital camera offers a lot to the seasoned photographer, including manual control. It's also the industry's first 4-megapixel consumer digital camera with a 12x optical zoom. A MEGA Optical Image Stabilizer helps ensure crisp images.

Panasonic FZ10 Digital Camera

Reviewed By: Patricia Owsley - Cody, WY

We purchased the FZ10 in July 04. We are enjoying this camera very much, even though we have a lot to learn. The pictures we have taken are very clear and good color. We took a few night pictures with the flash and the pictures were very good. We were hoping for better quality distance pictures, but feel we have not learned all the settings to give this a fair review. The more we use this camera, the more excited we get about it.

Panasonic DMC-FZ10 rocks

Reviewed By: Chris Kahle - Los Angeles, CA

I had read a few reviews of the FZ10 on-line, and was impressed that many of them included 'fun.' After having this camera for a week, I must agree. I use cameras for a few snapshots as well as for documenting landscapes for my work as a cultural geographer. I wanted to get a 'real' digital camera that would be easy to use but also provide prints large enough and of good quality to mount for interpretive exhibits. The FZ10 has met all requirements so far with flying colors. I especially appreciated the ease of use - I was able to figure out all the basic features in about 30 minutes of playing. After experimenting on the 4th of July at a party, and up in the mountains with a friend - I give the FZ10 high marks for outdoor and portrait photography. This week, I'll be testing it in the field to get some landscape shots urban alleys in my case, and I expect it to perform as well. I particularly like the anti-shake feature - it has been fantastic, as my other digital camera a Minolta Dimage X often caught jittery images because I don't have the most stable hands. I would highly recommend the FZ10 to any amateur for work or play - I really like how it has a 'real camera' feel but still offers advanced features of many digital cameras like the awesome 12x zoom. And at Vann's anyway you can't beat the price!

FZ-10 A lot of camera for the money

Reviewed By: Harald Paetow - Hutchinson, MN

I am very pleased with the FZ-10, I have used it quite a bit already. I am very impressed with the macro function, I have taken some extremely close up shots for some Ebay auctions and the detail is great. I have only used the camera in automatic exposure mode so far, and have gotten terrific results. I The Leica lens is in a class by itself when compared to other camers in this price range. The manual focus works great, and that is a feature not available on other cameras in this price range.

Criticism

I wish they would come with a bigger card, the 16mb card isn't very useful at all. Buy a bigger card right away.

Panasonic DMC-FZ10 - Great camera - Great dealer

Reviewed By: David Schurman - Bremerton, Wa

I received my new FZ10 Digital Camera a week ago and am extremely impressed with the camera and with the service I received from Vanns Electronics.

The camera is everything that the reviews say it is and more. It takes pictures that can be printed at 8 X 10 and look like they were taken by a Pro. With the 12X Optical zoom and image stabilization the pictures taken at max telephoto come out clear.

Overall I am very satisfied with the FZ10 and would recommend it to anyone. I also would highly recommend Vann's as the seller with the best prices and the best service.

great camera only two defects

Reviewed By: Phillip M. Feldman - Santa Barbara, CA

I'm extremely pleased with most aspects of this camera. What I like best

1. The 12X image-stabilized zoom lens is tremendous.

2. The camera is highly responsive very low shutter delay, and the burst mode rate of 4 shots per second is also excellent.

3. Given the size of the lens, the weight is a relatively low 1.2 pounds.



I have only two complaints about the camera

1. The video quality is rather poor. With a file size of 30 MBytes per minute, I would expect somewhat higher quality, i.e., better resolution and fewer compression artifacts.

2. The EVF is fairly useless in low light conditions.

I love this camera!

Reviewed By: Deb Milford - houston, tx

I bought the 2MP version of this camera, the DMC-FZ1K, and I think it's great. I've had it a little over a week and have used it almost every day. This is my first digital camera and I'm not up on all the technical lingo but I'll share my observations as your average everyday 40-something woman.

First, appearance--I bought the black version and this is one sharp looking camera! I've had many compliments on it already. It is not one of the really compact cameras because of the lens, but I can stil hold and operate with one hand if I want to, so it is by no means big or bulky.

Next, ease of use I was a little disappointed initially because I had eagerly awaited its arrival right on time, by the way and wanted to use it right away, but I had to charge the battery first. That only takes an hour and a half, but I was impatient! So, I changed gears and read the manual while the battery charged. Keep in mind that this is my first digital camera, so I was a little worried that I might not be able to stumble along on my own, but my worries were for nothing. The instructions so far have been quite clear and the camera is easy to use. I have not yet tried everything it does a lot!but I have been really pleased with my results so far.

Quality I have taken pictures indoors and out, day and night, with and without flash, and at various sensitivities. To my untrained eye the quality is fantastic. Since I doubt my untrained eye, I made some prints and showed them to an 'amateur' photographer that I know who does great work people want to buy her stuff and she was impressed 'These are awesome!' I had thought they were good, but it was nice to have validation from someone more experienced. The 12xzoom with image stabilizer is the main reason I chose this camera over the others I was researching, and I am happy with that choice. I love taking close-ups and these are clear and crisp. I am a nature lover and was able to get some great shots of a bird landing in a tree and then eating an insect he caught. I did this using the sports and high speed burst modes. I took pictures of a variety of bird species that day and was able to clearly identify them in my bird book when I looked them up at home.

Miscellaneous stuff The software that comes with the camera is also easy to use. I haven't checked it out throughly but I have used it to make some prints. Along those lines, uploading pictures to the computer is also easy. The battery life seems to be good but I really don't have anything to compare it to. I know on day one I left it on and used it pretty continuously for 6-8 hours and it was starting to get low at the end of that time. Since then I have turned it off and removed the battery between periods of use and it has lasted longer. Also, I live in Houston and the book says that high heat and humidity can affect battery life, and lord knows we have both of those things here! The memory card that comes with the camera is pretty useless. I bought a 256mb to replace it right away, and that one will hold about 300 pictures. My nose bumps the LCD monitor when I take pictures, this isn't uncomfortable, but it means I have to wipe off the monitor every so often because it gets noseprints on it. The camera feels solid, not cheap. I do wish the MC lens protector came with the camera, I'm going to have to track one down or order it, and I would like to get a spare battery as well. Can't think of anything else right now other than to say I think this is a great camera, it works well for me as a first time user, and it does a lot that I will find useful as I become more experienced!

FZ10K

Reviewed By: Phillip Ervin - Tallahassee, Florida

Reviewing the Panasonic FZ10K -

Great Camera, everything I was hoping for. Slightly larger than I was expecting but that doesn't really bother me at all. Basically this camera has everything but Time Lapse photos and night shots tend to come out a bit darker than what's previewed on the lcd screen. Used dpreview and dcresource for my research of this camera. It came down to this one and the Minolta Dimage Z2. Happy with my purchase.

Great camera

Reviewed By: Mark Tompkins - Berkshire, NY

This camera was better than I expected. It has a lot of features, and at first I thought it was gonna be too complicated to use all of the features. I was wrong. It is simple to use and easy to learn. After having it a week I have managed to use all of the features except the motion picture feature. The pictures are the best digital pictures I have seen. If you want a camera with a lot of zoom, buy this one.

Panasonic DMC-FZ10

Reviewed By: Warren Willis - Las Vegas, NV

I held off for over a month to ensure I had done enough research on this camera. I had whittled my choices down to the Minolta Dimage Z2, Kodak 6490, Olympus 750 and this camera. I'm now very happy that I did all the research. For the buck, this has to be the best digital camera on the market. The camera is simply awesome! This is my third digital camera purchase in 3-yrs and you simply can't beat this camera for what you get for the dollar - plus great pictures! This is my first purchase from Vanns and I will definitely purchase from them again - they even told me the exact day I would receive the order no online merchant has done that before. Great camera! Excellent merchant!

Lumix DMC-FZ10

Reviewed By: Paul J. Romano - Baton Rouge, Louisiana

About 2 weeks ago I purchased a Lumix DMC-FZ10 from Vanns of Montana. I am no where near a pro but have owned and dabbled with 35mm SLR cameras for more than 30 years so I do know a little bit about cameras. I do also own a 1.3 MP Olympus digital and about a month ago decided to go for something better. At that time I had never heard of the LUMIX brand name nor Vanns of Montana.

In the short time I have owned this camera I have not yet taken it through all of it paces but I am very impressed with it. I bought this camera mainly for its 12X optical lens but my secondary consideration was its manual mode capabilities. The camera itself is quite large for a digital but fits in my hand just like the big 35mm cameras I have except it is much lighter in weight. The owners manual does a good job of getting you started and the function buttons on the camera become intuitive in no time. For the average photo shooter the auto system works very well but you will get a bad shot now and then and it is almost always your fault not the cameras. I am now into the learning of the manual modes of this camera. Lots of GOOD shots and lots of BAD shots. On purpose to learn. Manual digital photography is much different than manual 35mm photography.

The camera is quite big but I like that, 4MP is a bit low for the latest digital cameras but still makes great 8by10's. The 12X lens and optical image stabilization are its finest attributes. It really works! Buy a bigger SD card though.

If I was going somewhere and could only bring one camera with me the LUMIX DMC-FZ10 would be the one.

And what about Vanns? Instant order, instant email confirmation, online tracking, and I hope I can say in this review a great price too!

A great transaction with a fine consumer product LUMIX and a fantastic seller in every way VANNS.

Lumix DMC FZ10

Reviewed By: RichardFlory - Wooster, Ohio

I have only had this camera for about a week and I love it already! The spring flowers are out naow and I have taken many pictures of tulips, a flowering crab tree and mothers day arrangements. I used the macro and caught a bee taking polin for a weeping cherry! The color is fantastic!

I love the ZOOM! So far I have found the camera to be very easy to use. The controls are logical and well placed. The build quality of the camera is excellent. I am very happy with my choice. I am looking to vacations later this summer with this camera!

The purchase at Vann's was excellent also. I would highly reccomend the FZ10 and Vann's!

Simply Outstanding

Reviewed By: Shaun de Witt - Hilo, Hawaii

This is simply an outstanding package. I bought this camera after trying out a number of compact digitals as a replacement for my two now sadly departed Pentax SLR's which put in too many years work. I did quite a bit of research since I had quite demanding requirements. I do quite a lot of sports photography, so I need a combination of good telephoto and wide aperture. I also do a fair amount of landscape photography, for which I prefer a wide angle and small aperture. Well, guess what, the FZ-10 can handle both. This means instead of carting around a whole bag containing two SLR's, a variety of lenses between 35 and 400mm, a tripod and a flash, I now just carry the one camera. The image stabilisation has pretty much eleminated the need for the tripod except for long exposures around dusk with a small aperture.

Initially I was a little daunted by all the options available, but after a couple of days I got used to it, and now find everything really easy to get at. The images I am getting are really superb - very crisp with excellent color rendition. I last saw images of this quality about 5 years ago is it just me or is the quality of either standard film or processing going downhill?. The images stay sharp right through the zoom range, with only slight 'barrel' distortion in macro, but not really noticeable unless imaging something with strong verticalhorizontal lines. I have seen no vignettingchromatic aberrationedge feathering at all. The image quality seems better than a number of other similar camera's I have tested.

Of course I have a few niggles. Personally I find the Manual Focus Assist does not really help me, but heck, I have just turned it off. And I would have preferred to have the option of writing RAW data, not just jpeg.

In my opinion, this camera is superb for either a top end amateur of bottom end professional. I suspect the only thing that could make the camera any better would be a coupe of additional megapixels - I am sure the Leica lens can stand it!

In short, PanasonicLeica have come up with a winner. The marriage of top quality Leica lens and Panasoic electronics is heaven. And it seems to be selling very very quickly, so get one while you can!

Lumix DMC-FZ10K

Reviewed By: Earl J. Kangas - Santa Clarita, California

This is the first time I have purchased something over the web, and Vann's made it easy and secure.

I looked at many different digital cameras, and my research boiled it down to five - including the Lumix. Given the comparitive features, software, the camera's capabilities, price, and other reviews, I bought the Lumix. I will use this camera along with another digital camera that I have.

I've taken nearly 100 photos so far, and they are razor sharp. Features I particularly like are the 12x zoom and especially image stabilization which allows me to take long shots without a tripod. The manual is very detailed and easy to understand, and all the controls are easy to use.

I have had no problems taking pictures in low light. The large LCD and well marked controls are nice too. I also like the fact that I can take photos at different quality levels so I can use them for high quality prints, slide shows on TV or my PC, sending photos via e-mail, and for photos on my web page.

I've used the camera all day, and still had juice left in the battery, but I still would prefer that this camera used AA batteries. Fortunately, the battery for this camera charges very fast.

There is only one thing I do not like about this camera, but it is the same thing for all the other digital cameras too - that puny, useless, 16mb memory card that all the manufacturers stick in their cameras. C'mon, Panasonic, put in at least a 128MB SD, and everyone will be singing your praises for doing so. After one day, I bought a 256MB SD card, and this works very well for me.

This is a very, very, good camera for the price, and, based on my experience so far, I know I made the right choice. Knowing what I have learned about this camera since I got it, I would definitely buy this camera again. I would not hesitate to recommend this camera to friends.

Simply a wonderful camera

Reviewed By: Ted Siuta - Phoenixville, PA

I've now had my Lumix FZ10 for a few weeks, and I can certainly say it was money well spent! This camera is replacing my Nikon Coolpix 995. I find this camera very easy to use, and HIGHLY versatile! From taking tranquil scenery shots, to close-ups of flowers, to action shots at my son's ice hockey games...this puppy can do it all!

The images straight out the camera in full auto mode look superb. In addition, there are a host of manual settings you can change to get the most of the camera. The best part is, since the images look great in auto mode...there's no need for you to stay up nights memorizing the manual! you can experiment at your own pace.

The optics are fantastic...one look at the Leica name, I knew it would be good, and hasn't let me down! The 12x zoom is also superb, fast and QUIET! Add into this mix the image stabilization, and you can now take pictures in full zoom or lower light without the need for a tripod.

You're really going to struggle to find problems with this camera. The lens cap is not permanently attached via a string or something. I'm sure a few will be lost, but that's an easy solution. The 16MB SD card that comes with the camera is undersized, and suggest getting a larger one. Get a Panasonic 256MB card, as it's a VERY FAST card at 10MBsecond data transfer! I am also aware of an issue where the LCD screen will darken when using full auto AND an external flash. The on-board flash is pretty powerful, so if you're not planning to get an external flash, this is not an issue. There is no focus assist lamp, although I've never had a camera with one. There is manual focus ring that works great when you need it!

I'm sure there's a lot more good stuff I'm missing. If you're thinking of getting the FZ10, and just not sure...I can safely say you will not be disappointed!

Panasonic DMC -FZ10K

Reviewed By: Dale Willi - Hudson, Wisconsin

I recieved my camera about 10 days ago and am very satified with its performance. I have taken various pictures of people, scenes, plants inside and outside, and of rain drops on a clothes line after a shower. I selected my subjects to check the sharpness, color reproduction and clarity of the pictures. All of the pictures met or exceeded my expections and compared very favorable with film pictures. When I printed my pictures, I did not need to make any adjustments to the original shots, except to adjust the picture size.

Great Camera!

Reviewed By: Charles Miller - Lawrenceburg, Ky

After extensive research, I finally decided to purchase the FZ10K from Vanns. I was looking for a good long-range zoom to be able to take close-ups of my children in their activities with image stabilization, and in good resolution size to be able to crop photos for digital scrapbooking. The FZ10 excels in BOTH areas! To say I am pleased with the camera is a definite understatement!

The image stabilization works great, even at full 12x optical zoom. Very few of my pictures taken so far, even of soccer games in action, have had any blur to them whatsoever. The only exceptions to this have been indoor low-light shots which have had problems, but I am improving them by manual settings each time I take some.

The burst mode also works great, and is awesome for making sure the shot I get is the best one. The 256MB Panasonic SD card that I purchased with the camera writes very fast, with only a couple of seconds delay after taking 5 pics in burst mode at highest resolution, lowest compression.

I am an amateur photographer who wants to get more serious. I wanted a camera that would be easy to use up front, but which provides me with enough flexibility in controls to 'mature' into as my skills increase. I am happy to say that the Panasonic FZ10 has been just the right camera for that job!

Panasonic DMCFZ10 Camera

Reviewed By: Jerry S. Abbanat - Monterey, CA

This camera is a terrific replacement to the 2Megapixel SLR camera Panasonic made previously. The camera is easy to operate for a novice and has many other features for the advanced user. I personally use it 90 percent of the time in the automatic exposure mode. I particulary like the Leica lens, 12X Optical Zoom, great battery life and easy to use modes like portrait, night, and macro. You cannot go wrong with this camera and Vann's shipped promptly and has a great price.

Panasonic DMC-FZ10K

Reviewed By: Joseph E. Kushner - Southington, CT

This is a camera that does all that I expected, from ease of use to overall performance. Battery life is very good as is the mega 12X mega zoom. The only down side is that it is not a camera that can be put into your pocket.

Review of Panasonic DMC_FZ10PP-K

Reviewed By: Darys Dean Hutman - Freeland, Wa.

Although I have owned the Lumin FZ10, for a short

period of time, the Camera is as solid and responsive as I had hoped. I have been able to

produce great pix in a short time with this Camera.

Negatives are very minor and the camera controls

make it easy to adjust to challenges of any situation. The Burst mode is simply great. The Camera is solidly built with Panasonic Quality.

I highly recommend this camera for the serious

Photographer. I give it a rating of 5.

a lot of camera for the money

Reviewed By: Ron Houser - Panama City, Fl

After reading a writeup about this camera in a photo magazine, I knew it was the one I wanted. Basically this camera is a big, fast, mega zoom, image stabilized, high quality lens with a good digital camera attached. So far I have been well pleased with the quality of construction and quality of images. Focusing at 12X takes some getting used to and seems to work best with manual focus with focus assist, but it's nowhere as easy as focusing a 400mm lens on a 35mm camera, since the digital viewfinder is small and a bit dark. I am impressed by its' ability to focus down to about 2 inches and like being able to attach a separate flash. I would definitely buy this camera again.

Panasonic DMC-FZ10PPK Digital Camera

Reviewed By: Jack W. Coers - Fort Ann, New York

As Phil Rizzuto, the former voice of the New York Yankee's used to say when ever someone hit a home run... 'Holy Cow!'. That's been my reaction every time I've used this camera. This is some fine piece of equipment. I must admit that when I purchased this camera it was a compromise. Being new to digital photograpy but not to film photography, I was reluctant to spend upwards of $2500 for equipment without at least testing the water first. I researched for a month or so, read all the reviews and made my decision based mostly on spec sheets and opted for the DMC-FZ10K. To say that I'm not disappointed would be an understatement! This camera is terrific! I would reccommend it for newcomers to digital photography like myself because of it's automated features, ease of operation, short learning curve and of course, it's relative low cost. Pros would be wise to pick up one as a back up camera for 95 per-cent of their small format work. It has all the manual controls they normally would use for most of their work, good optics and is very well constructed.

As far as Vann's is concerned...this was pretty cut and dried. I knew what I wanted, their price was the best, they had it in stock, it arrived when they said it would and in good condition...uh, I really don't know what else to say. They did exactly what they said they would do. I have nothing negative to say about them so until something goes wrong I will continue to do business with them.

Jack W. Coers

Excellent Camera

Reviewed By: Peter Salisbury - Townsend, Massachusetts

I received this camera a week ago and have been learning it. It does take a while to learn all the features but thats what makes this camera nice it does have the features. Until you do learn them it works fine as a point and shoot camera. I love the 12x zoom. I love to take nature photography and the zoom is wonderful for that. My only complaint is that the teleconversion lense costs so much. It costs as much as I paid for the camera. I can make do with the standard lense.

Nice camera!

Reviewed By: Gene Strupe - Smyrna, DE

This is my first digital camera, and as I expect others do, I researched it very carefully. Based on the features, especially the 12X optical zoom, and other independent reviews, I decided on this camera. So far, it has performed extremely well, and I am especially impressed by the very short delay between pressing the shutter release and the actual exposure being made. It's almost as fast as my Minolta 35MM. Picture quality is excellent. In my first outing , I was having trouble with the auto-focus, but found I had accidently moved it into the manual-focus mode. This was frustrating until I discovered my error. This is the only problem I've had with the camera. Buy it!

A Camera That Anyone Would Love

Reviewed By: Richard Andrew Dunn - Natchitoches, Louisiana

I am a 14 year old teenager that is obsessed with electronics. Before this camera that my dad gave me, I had a digital camera that is less than a megapixel, no zoom whatsoever, and it does not have an LCD screen. My dad gave me this camera because he bought this model for himself, and he was impressed with it. So I said to myself, I had to get myself a new digital camera. At first, I was going to buy another brand that was advertised on t.v. So I studied it for awhile, and then my dad said 'If you pay for half of the price for the Panasonic digital camera, I will make up the difference.' I thought about it and I said okay. So a couple of days later, I got the digital camera. I charged the battery, and 90 minutes later I was outside taking pictures like I had never taken before. The quality of this camera is outstanding. I think you cannot get a better digital camera than this camera, even at a higher price.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ10

Reviewed By: Paula Jensen - Nye, MT

I've waited along time for a digital camera like this and now it's here! As an avid outdoor photography enthusiast and user of two 35mm SLR cameras, a Canon and Minolta with many lenses, a 35mm Olympus Stylus and an Olympus D-40 4MP digital camera, I couldn't be happier with my new Panasonic.

When I got my Olympus digital two years ago, it was a great pocket-size camera for shooting family and landscape photos and wildflower close-ups in the macro mode. The only thing that it lacked was a long zoom of 300mm or more to capture quality wildlife photos.

I did a tremendous amount of research before buying the Panasonic. When I first read about it last year, I decided to wait for its release and I'm glad that I did. Here are the reasons why

1. For my work, a 4MP camera like the Panasonic is sufficient to produce high quality images and 8x10 prints...no need to spend more money for more pixels if it isn't necessary. I would have preferred a 5 Megapixel for those few times that I'd like to do a blow-up but the vast number of features of the Panasonic more than compensate.

2. The superior Leica f2.8 lens produces sharp, high quality images throughout the entire focal length of the zoom. Indoor and outdoor photos were excellent and actually seemed a bit sharper than my 4MP Olympus digital camera.

3. Speaking of the zoom, WOW!! The 420mm zoom allows me to stay far enough from wildlife without scaring them off...makes for more natural wildlife behavior photos. A conveniently placed lever on the top of the camera also allows you to switch between telephoto and wide angle. That's a great benefit giving you more photo options from a single postion.

4. The incredible Image Stabilization feature really is outstanding! I've already taken photos of deer, eagles, geese and ducks on the move or in flight and the results are great. If you're shooting over 200mm, a tripod is usually a must...not true, though, with Panasonic's built-in Image Stabilization feature that even has 2 different modes.

5. Auto and manual focus are also provided. In addition there is a neat feature called Program Shift that allows you to change the exposure settings..aperture and shutter speed...while in automatic Program AE to make a background more blurred or give more clarity to a subject in motion.

The camera also allows you to take pictures with total aperture or shutter priority if desired. You set the aperture and the camera automatically sets the appropriate shutter speed. Want to take a sharp picture of a fast goose in flight? Just set a higher shutter speed and the camera automatically sets the corresponding aperture setting. All are great features.

6. The Panasonic also has a little button that you can use quickly and easily to switch between the electronic viewfinder and the LCD monitor. I've found that by using the EVF without the flash, you'll get more shooting time on your battery.

7. The camera is very durable, lightweight for a long zoom camera, extremely quiet in operation, easy to hold, and the menus are logical and easy to follow. The manual is far better than any manual I've had so far.



8. Unlike some of the other cameras on the market, the Panasonic includes a lens cap, lense hood, and battery charger and it charges in 90 minutes or less. The 72mm lens allows you to add filters and, believe it or not, there is even an optional teleconverter available for getting even more distance with your zoom.

9. There are 6 scene modes, on a dial on top of the camera, that give you the flexibility to set the camera for just about any given photo situation. There is a built-in flash and a hot shoe if you want to attach a separate flash device. I haven't had an opportunity to test the camera in low light yet so I can't comment on the adequacy of the built-in flash.

10. Although I use editing software to enhance saturation and contrast, the camera does have a color adjustment feature that allows you to adjust these items. I haven't tried it yet, but it's a nice feature for those that don't do their own editing work.

11. More serious photographers will especially enjoy such features as exposure compensation, white balance adjustment, the displayed histogram, color effects, auto bracketing, and burst mode.

I've had my camera for exactly one month now and have been out almost daily putting it to the test and trying all of its features. Needless to say, I couldn't be happier. I looked at other cameras like the Olympus C-750 with 4MP, 380mm zoom but no image stabilization or lens cap, the Minolta Dimage A1 with 5 MP, an anti-shake feature but only 200mm zoom, the Fuji FinePix S7000 with 6MP, no IS, only 210mm zoom, and the Nikon 5700 with 5MP, a 280mm zoom but no image stabilization. Although all of these cameras are excellent cameras, the Panasonic offers ALL of the features I need and wins out easily. If you want to be able to shoot great outdoor photography without lugging around tons of camera gear and lenses, this is the perfect camera.

Vann's now carries a super high speed battery charger that has a 12-volt adapter. I plan on buying this so I can always have a spare battery pack charged and ready to go when I'm on the road. One suggestion You should really pick up a memory card with a minimum of 128MB of memory. This camera is so much fun, and with the 420mm zoom, you'll probably be shooting a ton of pictures. The 16MB memory card included with the camera, although standard with most cameras, is not really sufficient.

Bottom Line This is a great camera! It's easy to operate for the rank beginner yet carries advanced features that appeal to every serious photographer. I looked at a number of cameras and the Panasonic by far is a real bargain for the money.

Panasonic DMCFZ10 Digital Camera

Reviewed By: Gordon Nelson - San Angelo, TX

I have five digital cameras, including a recent one retailing at a much higher cost thn the FZ10 which is also called the Lumix FZ10. The FZ10 simply beats out the competition, primarily because of its fantastic 12 power optical zoom PLUS image stabilizaion. Yes! IMAGE STABILIZATION which means you can shoot at 12X even at 160th handheld. This is not just hype. It is an amazing camera at any price, yet it is priced less that comparable cameras. Actually, there are NO comparable cameras with a 12X lens made by Leica and image stabilization. Panasonic has hit a homerun with this one!

Can't go wrong...

Reviewed By: Richard Dunn - Natchitoches, Louisiana