Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28S 10.1MP Digital Camera with 18x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)

I was sitting the fence for a while: FZ28? SX10? P80? FH20? SX1?
Finally, I bought FZ28, and I am extremely pleased.
SX1 and FH20 probably would meet my expectations better (CMOS rather than CCD), but SX1 is not sold in the US, and FH20 is double the price of (and SX1 would be same if sold around here).

I replaced S1 IS that I liked a lot, so my first impression with FZ28 was that it was so light that the plastic must be cheap. That's actually not the case; it's light but solid.

I would prefer AA batteries, but I can live with Panasonic's choice (especially that Lenmar has a cheap and presumably excellent replacement). After taking 50 or so pictures, playing with the settings for several hours, taking 10 30 seconds or so movies, the battery indicator hardly moved left, so I expect that the reports on the very efficient energy management are confirmed.

The LCD is bright, but I prefer using viewfinder. Switching is convenient and easy. The only complain I have is the glossy surface, but I applied a screen. This is a preference, I guess; I always install matte screen on anything glossy (like my iPhone, iMac, PowerBookPro).

BTW, while on Mac topics, software for Macs is included. The camera works with my Mac with no problem. The videos are in QuickTime (.mov) format, so I like it too.

I like the menu system on FZ28 much more than on Canons (we own/owned a few PowerShot models). It's really easy to play with customizing pre-built photo settings on FZ28 if you want to experiment beyond the iA.

The photos that I took under a variety of conditions are excellent (I settled for highest resolution with 16:9) -- as far as my completely amateur senses are concerned. Video is also great in HD 720p, and I do not have a problem with sound. My AppleTV does not do any better than 720p, so for now I am fine. The 2GB video limit (~9 minutes) does not bother me at all, since I use the video feature on a camera only for very short clips.

No hesitation with giving the camera 5 stars.

I also bought (and recommend after a lot of research, especially with the case):
- Tamrac 3320017 Aero 20 Digital Camera Zoom Case (Black)
- Lenmar DLP006 Lithium-ion Digital Camera/Camcorder Battery Equivelent to the Panasonic CGR-S006A Battery
- 2 x Transcend TS8GSDHC6 8GB SDHC card (SD 2.0 SPD Class 6)

The other reviews tell you most everything you need to know about this camera. I can say i love it myself. It does everything that i want it to do and more. You want HD video, you got it. You want 10 megapixels, you got that too. Very nice camera!

What i wanted to add was that i have found the perfect case for this camera.

DCB-66 High Zoom Camera Case (BROWN)

The bag fits this camera perfectly and also has room for the charger, an extra memory card, and an extra battery. Perfect fit with those 3 items. However, if you want to add anything else this bag will not work for you. I just wanted the basics, and it is very good for that!

This battery also works well if you need a spare for this camera. Lenmar DLP006 Lithium-ion Digital Camera/Camcorder Battery Equivelent to the Panasonic CGR-S006A Battery

I have had my FZ28 for about 3 weeks now and I am very happy with it. This is an extremely versatile camera with very good image quality. The highpoint of the camera for me is the huge zoom range it is capable of. The image stabilization works wonders at full telephoto (18x), and sharp, hand held shots in average light are very possible, if not routine.

So far I have taken mostly outdoor landscape, and full zoom photos of wildlife. The landscape images are sharp and well exposed. I had a little more trouble with the full telephoto wildlife shots as many of these were taken in less than full sunlight conditions resulting in less sharpness and less color saturation than I like. I was able to do some post processing and improve many of them, though. I'm hoping as I use the camera more my technique will improve and I can get sharper telephoto shots.

I also had the opportunity to use my FZ28 at a dimly lit coffee house to shoot some video and stills of a friend playing live acoustic guitar. I really wasn't able to get any infocus stills because I didn't want to use a flash and disturb the performer or the other patrons during the performance. I did take about 7 minutes total of high def video by placing the camera on the table in front of me. I was very pleased with the results. Fairly smooth video capture and decent sound considering how little light was available. I am going to make a DVD of the videos for my friend.

I have also shot some macro photos with impressive results. This thing focuses so close it is like having a 10MP microscope! My friend asked me to take an extreme close up of his eyeball (weird, I know). His ophthalmologist has got nothing on these photos! They are amazing. I converted the photo to black and white and cropped it super close for him. He has it as his desktop background on a 22" monitor! Very striking.

The reason I didn't give this camera five stars is there is a fair amount of noise present in all photos even at low ISO settings. I have a large format 13" x 19" printer so I am more aware than most people of the effects of noise on a large printed photo. I have to do a fair amount of software smoothing (which results in a loss of detail) to be able to print clean photos at that size.

In addition to the noise problem, I also have had some issues with recording video with the camera (or subject) in motion. If I slowly walk around my apartment taking video in average daylight the camera has a very hard time following the motion and staying in focus, especially if I zoom in and out some. I love the HD video option but I am disappointed the output isn't a little better. Also, it is important to buy the fastest SD card you can afford. I have an "A-Data" 8GB Class 6 "Turbo" SDHC card (cheap: $17.50) and I have had the camera stop after recording about 45 seconds of HD video, and give me an error message saying my card is not fast enough to keep up with the video capture. This only happens occasionally and I think it must depend on what you are taking the video of. I didn't have any trouble taking video at the dimly lit coffeehouse but I got these errors outdoors at full zoom while taking a video of a seagull having a snack.

Even with those 2 problems I heartily recommend this camera, and from what I have read it is the best in the long zoom consumer camera category.

As many people said before me, this camera is great! I received it from OneCall a few day ago in perfect condition for a low price. It was new in the box and was delivered right on time. Trying on this camera was a similar experience. It is great!
I am not a professional photographer, I just like to have a versatile camera that can do it all. First off, it has great picture quality in most given conditions. I made most of my pictures inside of my house to test low light conditions and it handled it well. Previous cameras I used always made pictures with yellow tints from indoor light. FZ28 has a party and indoor portrait mode which can eliminate that. And if that is not it enough there are manual settings that can be tweaked in every way.

IA MODE: Perhaps the greatest part of this camera is the intelligent auto mode. It is the best one I have ever seen. I would say, 9 out of 10 using IA were perfect. Its not 100%, but what is?

FOCUS: I am also very impressed with the focusing abilities of this camera. It is very good considering the 18x zoom. Sometimes is takes a little bit to focus well, but once it does it is great.

MOVIE: The movie mode is very good on this camera. It is high quality and there are 5 different quality setting. To use HD make sure you have a fast SD card.

SIZE: It is clear that you will not be able to fit this camera into your pocket. However, it depends how much size means to you. Personally it took me a long time to decide to get this camera and I am surprised that it is actually very small for its parameters. It gives A LOT for its size. So I suggest if you have somewhat of an issue with size but really want a lot for that sacrifice. Buy the camera. Its really not so good to carry a camera in a pocket anyway.

OUTDOOR PICTURES: WOW. WOW. WOW. Outdoor, sunny, well lit places are simply phenomenal!!

ZOOM: 18x optical zoom with 10 megapixel? Heck Yea. And up to 32x optical zoom (125x with digital zoom) on lower megapixel settings (7, 5, 3).

IMAGE STABILIZATION: Panasonic has the best OIS in my opinion. At 18x the manual says a tripod is required, I find otherwise. With OIS mode 1 the picture is stabilized with the shutter button halfway pressed. You can still take a great picture if you can limit your shaking hands.

OVERALL: There is still so much to write about this camera. I am very satisfied with it. It has all functions in a relatively small body. Every picture is great because it could also be tweaked with RAW editing software. Finally, it is easily adaptive to any user. My whole family can use it. I read the manual and set a few custom modes that my parents will most likely use. One for my brother and one for my self. In the end there is still a great auto mode and raw editing.

I have some sample pics uploaded.

I am an amateur that shoots mainly four things... nature "scenes", macro plants and insects, running and playing dogs, and dog still portraits. I got this camera looking for two things... I wanted the extended optical zoom and I wamted to shoot infocus photos of my dogs running that were large enough for me to crop and still print 8 x 10's with. I have owned and still own several digital point and shoots as well as the Rebel Xti, and each has it's own special use for my shooting purposes, however a "stop action" point and shoot and a good zoom were missing. Reviews said this might be the camera for both. I hoped this camera would be the go between for the pocket point and shoots and the DSLR. Got this camera yesterday, shot 200 photos with it on a fairly dark, cloudy day, and I LOVE it. It's fast, crystal clear with the great Leica lens, and the zoom is all it's advertised to be and more. Exposure couldn't have been better. I mostly used the intelligent Auto mode, but did play around with some other settings just to learn about the camera. Only two problems... I had a bit of a problem with the camera telling me something was in focus and it wasn't when I reviewed the photo...and, I kept missing the running dogs since the camera fired just before they came fully into view... guess that is positive and means it's faster than I realize??? Both these problems will resolve with more use of the camera I am sure. I would also prefer an automatic pop-up flash rather than this one that I have to physically open to use. Guess I am spoiled about that??? All in all, despite it's light weight and "cheap" feel, this camera promises to be exactly what I was looking for. Would I recommend it?? In a minute, in fact I already have to several friends!!!