[dlambert]

I just recently got an FZ28 to replace an old Canon G3 - I thought long and hard about a DSLR vs. super-zoom, and decided on the FZ28 in part because of its low cost and low weight. I do a fair bit of camping, and I really wasn't excited about the idea of dragging a few pounds and $1000+ worth of equipment over the river and through the woods, if you know what I mean.

Once I'd decided on a super-zoom, I spent some time trying to figure out which one I wanted. I'd seen announcements from Canon and Sony this spring - both announced new cameras that use CMOS sensors, and I'd held out hope that they'd be a little more sensitive than the CCD sensors on other super-zooms. When I saw early reviews start to show up, though, the reviews were pretty marginal - it seems that the small sensor size pretty much negated the different sensor tech.

So I ordered the FZ28, and it showed up on my doorstop on Friday.

I love the reach of the FZ28, but so far, I'm not too impressed with the low-light performance - it's pretty noisy. I shot some pics of my son at a band concert, and the noise was awful at ISO 400 & 800. I've seen mixed opinions on this, but my impressions so far are that anything over ISO 200 is pretty useless. Luckily, the camera has an ISO limit setting.

Next big peeve: the electronic viewfinder. I'd gotten spoiled with the optical viewfinder on the G3 - even though it wasn't TTL, it was still better than an electronic viewfinder, IMO. The jury's still out on whether I'll get used to the electronic viewfinder on the FZ28 or just stick to the LCD screen.

After seeing the noisy concert pics, I did some side-by-side shooting against the G3, and I found that at similar settings (zoom, aperture, exposure), the pics were really comparable - not a huge improvement even with the extra resolution of the FZ28. I found this a little surprising, but the G3 really was a pretty good camera when it was in its "comfort zone".

Flash pictures are better on the FZ28. The flash has more reach than the G3, but it also seems to have more control, so it doesn't wash out at close range. It's a good thing that the Panny has a good flash, though, because there's no hot shoe like on the G3.

The image stabilization on the FZ28 isn't dramatic, but it's quietly effective. In a couple of shots where I hand-held both cameras, I got a blurry pic from the G3 and a perfect shot from the FZ28. More usable pictures = success.

The biggest benefit of the FZ28 is the awesome reach of the lens - just be aware that you're not going to pull off a long shot unless you've got good lighting. At my son's concert, I got caught trying to grab some shots with the long lens that just weren't going to happen because of the lighting. Technically, I "got" the shots, but they wound up way too noisy. I can't wait to do some shooting outside where I can test the reach of the lens under better lighting conditions.

Other wins for the FZ28 - it's a ton faster than the G3 (mechanically - not optically). Power-on to first shot blows the G3 away, and focus and zooming are faster, too. And then there's the movie mode - I didn't expect to use this much, but it's really very nice - I may end up using this more than I'd expected.

Bottom line (so far) - I think this is going to make a fine camera to take hiking and camping, but for indoor shooting, I'd recommend spending a couple more bills on an entry-level DSLR.