Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic DMCFZ28 Digital Camera - Black (10.1MP, 18x Optical Zoom) 2.7" LCD

Having had a very simple sraightforward digital camera up till now I was looking for some thing that would improve my very basic photographic skills. I studied the net for about Three weeks before deciding on my PanasonicDMCFZ28 Digital Camera Bought one through Amazon.co.uk Ordered Sat Afternoon arrived into Highland Scotland Monday afternoon Delivery from Amazon remarkable as is the camera. This is a no nonsense quality piece of kit that within less than an hour I was taking some really crisp sharp and well coloured pictures. The menu setup is in a very logical way and going through the basics is very easy, the technical stuff will need the book but that is layed out very well to, bearing in mind I am no photographer!!Time will tell but this seems to be remarkable value for money. Thought about a camcorder for a while but HD is expensive This has it although its a bit heavy on the memory card over some time but ithas the facility to do both. Absolute marvelous You wont get better!!

I agree wholheartedly with the last reviewer that this is an absolutely outstanding camera. Why have I only given it four stars? With an interest in HDR photography, I upgraded to this camera from a Canon compact, mainly so I could shoot in RAW format to get better HDR results. Disappointingly, I have found that the RAW converter in Photoshop CS3 does not support the FZ28's .RW2 RAW files, even after downloading the most recent update. A list of supported cameras shows that the previous model, the FZ18, is supported by CS3 so maybe in time the FZ28 will make it onto the list. If anyone disagrees with my findings here, I'd be happy to be proved wrong! To further compound my disappointment, I have found that my other HDR software, Photomatix Pro, doesn't support the FZ28's .RW2 RAW files either. A double whammy! Although I'm disappointed, I'm not sorry I purchased the camera. It has a fantastic zoom (up to 128x if you're happy to let the resolution plummet). One thing I was surprised at is that because the zoom starts at a very wide 27mm, by the time you zoom out to the standard 18x the magnification is equivalent to looking at your target with the naked eye. Drop from 10 to 5Mp, though, and you achieve a more noticeable magnification. Macro is fantastic with crystal-clear, well-defined images at as little as 1cm from the target. I photographed a flower, the petals of which were actually brushing the lens, and the definition was still sharp on the resulting image. There are so many plusses about this camera that I could go on and on. If you are looking for a top range point and shoot (aka a bridge camera) with more whistles and bells than you'll ever use, buy this camera now as you won't be disappointed. Unless, like me, you're into HDR!

I bought this camera (not through Amazon - sorry - needed to part ex my 35mm gear!)in Feb. I have a Nikon D80 and a couple of zoom lenses but carting these around on holiday was geting a bit of a bind and all the faffing around changing from lens to lens was a pain, but the biggest pain was getting marks on the sensor (which put paid to taking pictures for most of the 2nd week of my holiday in the US last year)so I decided to look into bridge cameras, no lens to change, far less chance o sensor problems. I spent a lot of time researching and the FZ28 was getting great reviews, including on Amazon. I already had a Panasonic TZ3 for carrying around on a daily basis and was really happy with that so I went for it and bought the FZ28.

After a week or so I had put the camera on ebay as I really wasn't happy with the pictures I was getting from it compared to even the TZ3 never mind the D80, but, I couldn't understand why everyone seemed to be raving over it so I had a good read through the manual and lo and behold eventually twigged that the pictures were coming out darker than I expected because the screen brightness was on the lowest setting - the shop I bought it from had obviously adjusted it when demonstrating to others. Having sorted that little problem out I withdrew the camera from sale and went off to Italy for four days (Florence) and was exceptionally pleased with the results (I'll post some pics when I get a chance). Biggest plus is just how light the camera is it probably weighs about the same as the TZ3! It also uses a Lithium Ion battery instead of 4 re-chargables like a lot of other bridge cameras...much easier to carry spare batteries. The Image Stabaliser works really well, video quality is so good I'm thinking of flogging my camcorder...even less weight to carry around.

There are plenty of options for creativity, when I was in Florence I found myself switching from colour to black and white for people shots / street scenes , I know that I could shoot in colour and fiddle around in photoshop, but actually looking through the viewfinder in b&w makes you look at things in a different light (well, it does me!) I also shot in combined Jpeg and Raw mode (one of each taken at the same time)so I could get creative on the PC if I wanted to. I know there are new bridge cameras coming out from Nikon and Olympus with longer zooms but in a test against the Olympus SP-590UZ, Canon SX10IS and Casio EX-FH20 in Digital Camera Buyer magazine this month (April 2009 - issue 83)the FZ28 came out overall 5 star winner (the Canon also got 5 with the others getting 4 each). If you're looking for a great all round, lightweight camera that gives great quality results I would really recommend this one !

As a point and shoot camera in AI mode it seems to cope well with almost any situation. The Sunset Mode gives nicely rich images.
I read the manual before opening the camera (surprise Christmas present for the Wife) and found I need to read it again as some of the advanced features are not easily found in the menu, and now need to read it again knowing what I want.
So far we are very happy with the camera and are even thinking of ditching my video camera as this shoots 720p video, but this video setting does eat memory cards.

We bought this camera a day before our safari holiday. We wanted something that was a bit better than a pocket camera but not too expensive as we are only amateur photographers but wanted to make sure we got good pics from the holiday. The most important features for us was that it had a really good zoom on it and the camera was extremely light to carry. We had to have the instruction manual out a lot as we did not have time to study before we went. We also met another couple who had also just bought the same one and they helped us discover some great features on it. Very Good Value.