DMC-FZ15, FZ20 or Dimage Z3 ?

[Bigbird]

I've had a Konica-Minolta Dimage Z1 for a bit over a year now, but am ready to upgrade. I wanted something with more megapixels - at least 4 - with at least a 10x zoom, as I like to do wildlife photograpghy, and super-macro capability - which I've used quite successfully to digitize old slide images. After doing a lot of research on the web, going over reviews, etc, the Lumix FZ15 and FZ20 and the K-M Z3 all seem to fit the bill. I've been able to compare test photos from the web for all 3 cameras, and the FZ's seem to have the edge in sharpness and color over the Z3.
However, my Z1 has been very user-friendly and I'm a bit hesitant to give up familiarity with the K-M. How do the FZ's stack up in ease of use? Finally, is the FZ20 that much of an improvement on the FZ15? Most of my images will be 4x6 prints, when printed, but I want the ability to be able to print at least 8x12 for some. Do I need to go up to 5MG? Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

[pixelator]

The image quality is better, the zoom more powerful, and is quite user friendly.
For prints until 12x8 4 mp is enough.

[John_Reed]

I've had a Konica-Minolta Dimage Z1 for a bit over a year now, but am ready to upgrade. I wanted something with more megapixels - at least 4 - with at least a 10x zoom, as I like to do wildlife photograpghy, and super-macro capability - which I've used quite successfully to digitize old slide images. After doing a lot of research on the web, going over reviews, etc, the Lumix FZ15 and FZ20 and the K-M Z3 all seem to fit the bill. I've been able to compare test photos from the web for all 3 cameras, and the FZ's seem to have the edge in sharpness and color over the Z3.
However, my Z1 has been very user-friendly and I'm a bit hesitant to give up familiarity with the K-M. How do the FZ's stack up in ease of use? Finally, is the FZ20 that much of an improvement on the FZ15? Most of my images will be 4x6 prints, when printed, but I want the ability to be able to print at least 8x12 for some. Do I need to go up to 5MG? Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.As for "user-friendly" features, when you get around to trying to manually focus on a subject, I think you'll find that big focusing ring on the FZ15 and FZ20 to be a lot more "user-friendly" than the "rocker switch" arrangement that the Z3 uses. The FZ20 gives you a little more "zoom reach" than the Z3, with a faster aperture at full zoom (432 equiv. vs. 420 equiv.; f2.8 vs. f4.5, over a full f-stop faster). As far as overall "ease of use" goes, all the FZ cameras have a P mode, where the camera pretty much "does all the thinking" for getting the right exposures. In fact, Simon Joinson, a reviewer for the "dpreview" site, said that he was able to get the highest "hit rate" (percentage of useable images) shooting with the FZ cameras than he'd ever experienced before. (Though he may have been discussing the FZ3, his comments would still apply, I think) Incidentally, it's been well demonstrated that even a 3.2mp image is ample for a good 8X12 print; the FZ15 and FZ20 offer more and more cropping room, both having more than enough pixels to do the job.

Depending on what kind of photography you favor, one aspect of the Z3 has me in a quandary, frankly. I'm referring to shooting photos of small birds at a distance, which a lot of us UZ camera freaks like to do. Powerful as it is, the 420-432 zoom reach isn't quite enough to nearly fill the frame at the usual distances. So it's nice to add telephoto extenders (like the Olympus TCON-17, or the Canon TL-55, for example). It's very easy to do that with the FZ10, 15, and 20 cameras, because of the nice threaded ring concentric with the lens barrel. Several after-market adapters make it easy to mount telephoto extenders, and also Plus-diopter closeup lenses like the Nikon 6T. I've looked at a Z3 in the flesh, and I don't see how this would be done. I know that K-M sells a wideangle adapter that somehow mounts to the camera, but I don't even know if adding a telephoto extender is possible! Of course, I'd welcome correction on this "small" point. :cool:

[keiffer]

You check this out also. http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/camera/specification/compare.html
LetsGoDigital | Compare camerasan also check this out for more info.