Elliern wrote:
Sorry if I was misleading in my comments. I thought I mentioned I had to read 2 manuals to find what I was looking for. I downloaded the Panasonic manual and Graham Houton's manual. Read them both, too. 😊
I only meant to point out that in my opinion, there would be a learning curve using this camera. But it may be a bigger curve for me and not so much others.
Today was the first time I had a chance to really shoot with it. Unfortunately, I was not very successful. However, I am sure I just need to adjust a setting or two. Every shot was extremely noisy/grainy. Loved the colors. The viewfinder is fantastic. so, going to read some more tonight and try again tomorrow.
It has a 30 day return policy. So I intend to give it a fair chance. But, so far I have gotten good results with the Nikon P610 that I am also trying.
Sorry if I was misleading in my comments. I thoug... (
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I have had my FZ200 for a couple years, now, and have found it to take very nice images. It only seems to get grainy/noisy in low light situations where it sets to a very high ISO. Other than that, it does very well, keeping in mind that it has just a 1/2.3" sensor. Fortunately it has a good processor to back it up.
The zoom works well, however if you use the extended, or digital zoom feature, while it gets out there enough, the IS is disabled and the image degrades. Using a tripod helps out with that.
You are right about it having lots of buttons and such, but with some use and practice it's not that hard to learn. The one thing that my escape someone new to the FZ200 is the fact that the rear control wheel controls both aperture and shutter speed, but you have to push it in to toggle back and forth between the two.
I, too, find that having to use a switch to go from the screen to the EVF is a bit of an inconvenience, but I have learned to live with it.
In my opinion, the FZ200 is a very good camera that would be a great camera if it had a larger sensor. Even a 1" sensor would be an improvement, but I'd rather it had an M4/3 sensor.
My biggest complaint with the camera is that it only stops down as far as f/8, so it has to compensate by manipulating shutter speed and ISO. In my opinion, Panasonic should have at least provided for it to stop down to f/16. On the other hand, one of its best features is the fact that the lens stsys open to f2.8 for the entire zoom range. Most other bridge cameras immediately start stopping down as you zoom the lens out.
All this having been said, I would recommend the FZ200 in a heartbeat. While it is true that Panasonic is coming out with an upgrade model, it won't be cheap, and most certainly not in the OP's price range.