reporting winner: Pan FZ5

[onewasjo]

First off, this website is amazing. It has been a great resource for me and I hope to contribute by posting this thread on my own decision.

Enthusiast camera user - wanted 1 digital camera for fun/work that is fairly compact, with some manual controls.
Mostly for friends, family, everday, macro pet (tarantulas), fun
Occasionally for film stills, art work, headshots (really want TIFF or RAW for this)
Other cams considered: super-zooms H1, S2, FZ20

Image qual seemed pretty equal among all with FZ20 ahead, but I nixed FZ20 early on b/c weight/size did not compensate for hotshoe, continuous F2.8, RAW, manual focus.

I nixed H1 next b/c I (almost arbitrarily) trust the glass on S2 and FZ5 (Leica) more. And b/c S2 and FZ5 reportedly performed faster/better than H1 or FZ20.

So btwn the S2 and FZ5:
I like that the FZ5 can record in lossless TIFF and the purple fringing (or not) issue surrounding the S2 made me nervous. Also, the Leica lens was a big selling point, though Canon has very nice lenses too. But it was really the size and price that sold me ultimately. I found the FZ5 for $360 (free ship/no tax) from 6ave (will post review of merchant once I receive my cam) which was almost $100 cheaper than S2 (from what I consider reputable retailers). Its less bulky and I wanted something that I could carry with me all the time. Also, tho the battery IS proprietary, it makes the camera lighter, which appealed to me too.

All the above seemed to compensate for FZ5's lack of add-ons (Canon has lots incl fun stuff like underwater housing), true time lapse, and LCD swivel.

I also ordered a Kingston Pro Elite 1GB SD card from Newegg for $65 - $10 rebate. I will post notes in Pan forum once I get everything and have time to play.

Hope this is helpful.

[x3ro]

First off, this website is amazing. It has been a great resource for me and I hope to contribute by posting this thread on my own decision.

Enthusiast camera user - wanted 1 digital camera for fun/work that is fairly compact, with some manual controls.
Mostly for friends, family, everday, macro pet (tarantulas), fun
Occasionally for film stills, art work, headshots (really want TIFF or RAW for this)
Other cams considered: super-zooms H1, S2, FZ20

Image qual seemed pretty equal among all with FZ20 ahead, but I nixed FZ20 early on b/c weight/size did not compensate for hotshoe, continuous F2.8, RAW, manual focus.

I nixed H1 next b/c I (almost arbitrarily) trust the glass on S2 and FZ5 (Leica) more. And b/c S2 and FZ5 reportedly performed faster/better than H1 or FZ20.

So btwn the S2 and FZ5:
I like that the FZ5 can record in lossless TIFF and the purple fringing (or not) issue surrounding the S2 made me nervous. Also, the Leica lens was a big selling point, though Canon has very nice lenses too. But it was really the size and price that sold me ultimately. I found the FZ5 for $360 (free ship/no tax) from 6ave (will post review of merchant once I receive my cam) which was almost $100 cheaper than S2 (from what I consider reputable retailers). Its less bulky and I wanted something that I could carry with me all the time. Also, tho the battery IS proprietary, it makes the camera lighter, which appealed to me too.

All the above seemed to compensate for FZ5's lack of add-ons (Canon has lots incl fun stuff like underwater housing), true time lapse, and LCD swivel.

I also ordered a Kingston Pro Elite 1GB SD card from Newegg for $65 - $10 rebate. I will post notes in Pan forum once I get everything and have time to play.

Hope this is helpful.

I just purchased the same Camera, except I purchased mine from Beach Camera. I also purchased the exact same memory card from newegg! Small world!

Can't wait to get the stuff :cool:

[Donato777]

I also bought the FZ5 and I am loving every minute of it. What a great camera! The size, price, (6ave.com rocks!), image quality, weight and the Leica lens were all selling points for me too. Enjoy!

[fnoel]

First off, this website is amazing. It has been a great resource for me and I hope to contribute by posting this thread on my own decision.

Enthusiast camera user - wanted 1 digital camera for fun/work that is fairly compact, with some manual controls.
Mostly for friends, family, everday, macro pet (tarantulas), fun
Occasionally for film stills, art work, headshots (really want TIFF or RAW for this)
Other cams considered: super-zooms H1, S2, FZ20

Image qual seemed pretty equal among all with FZ20 ahead, but I nixed FZ20 early on b/c weight/size did not compensate for hotshoe, continuous F2.8, RAW, manual focus.

I nixed H1 next b/c I (almost arbitrarily) trust the glass on S2 and FZ5 (Leica) more. And b/c S2 and FZ5 reportedly performed faster/better than H1 or FZ20.

So btwn the S2 and FZ5:
I like that the FZ5 can record in lossless TIFF and the purple fringing (or not) issue surrounding the S2 made me nervous. Also, the Leica lens was a big selling point, though Canon has very nice lenses too. But it was really the size and price that sold me ultimately. I found the FZ5 for $360 (free ship/no tax) from 6ave (will post review of merchant once I receive my cam) which was almost $100 cheaper than S2 (from what I consider reputable retailers). Its less bulky and I wanted something that I could carry with me all the time. Also, tho the battery IS proprietary, it makes the camera lighter, which appealed to me too.

All the above seemed to compensate for FZ5's lack of add-ons (Canon has lots incl fun stuff like underwater housing), true time lapse, and LCD swivel.

I also ordered a Kingston Pro Elite 1GB SD card from Newegg for $65 - $10 rebate. I will post notes in Pan forum once I get everything and have time to play.

Hope this is helpful.
Congratulations. I purchased a camera from the same company. (6 ave.com) I am sure you will be happy with them as I was. Only thing is I had to pay $.06 shipping. But when it is that cheap may as well say it is free. As far as memory goes I don't know of too many places that sells cheaper then newegg. Maybe check chiefvalue.com sometimes as they are less at times. That is if you are in the market to buy more memory or anything else. Just thought I would pass this on. Good luck.