Change my Oly c740 for Panasonic DMC Z5 ?

[clinger]

Hi there.
Just discovered this excellent site while searching for info / reviews.
Hopefully someone could advise or at least give their own opinion, as the more specs and reviews I read, the more undecided I'm getting.

I've only recently got into photography, having puchased myself an Olymus c-740. Excellent camera - great pics and full manual controls, 10x zoom etc.
Now though I want to upgrade a bit beyond 3m pixels and have seen a Panasonic z5. The main reasons I'm attracted to it are 5.0mp, 12x zoom / image stabilizer / lens hood and ability to add filters. The only thing worrying me is the lack of manual focus which up to now I've used regularly on the Oly as a lot of my shots are evening, sunset or night shots taken in aperture priority.
Basically I need to know is the auto focus system of the Z5 good enough for me not to worry about MF or are any difficulties offset by the advantage of having an image stabilizer?

Sorry for such a long winded (1st) post.

Cheers.

[emalvick]

I don't own a FZ5, but if you want all of its features plus the MF system, look at a FZ20. It is a bit bigger than the FZ5, but it has MF. It also has a hot shoe for an added flash, and it can hold an aperture setting of f2.8 up to a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second.

Erik

[clinger]

Great advice - I was actually looking at both the Z15 and Z20 but unfortunately they're just a little beyond my budget at the mo, especially as I'll be putting a few pennies into getting filters and a polarizer.
Thanks anyway.

[Anex]

Check out the Canon S2 as well. Jeff's review specifically discusses the differences between the S2, FZ5, and FZ20. My general feeling is the FZ20 is a better photographers camera while the S2 is the better every day multipurpose use camera. Check out the reviews for all 3 cameras, but the S2 review gives you a good comparative review between all 3 as it was just done on saturday.

If I were to buy a digi cam for the first time, I'd buy the S2 becuase it has a broader feature range and is great family camera. If I were buying a camera strictly for myself, however, then I'd buy the FZ20 (which is what I did last year).

[clinger]

Thanks Anex. Unfortunately I can't seem to find anywhere selling the S2 or FZ20 within my budget. After much searching and reading of reviews though, I think I've found an alternative option in the K.M. Dimage Z5.
The more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea of having no manual focus.
Thanks again for all the rec's.

[herc182]

dont pick the konica Z5. it is nowhere near the camera that the FZ5 is.
i got the FZ20 for £350 from pixmania, on finance. so i pay interest free payments over a year, which lets you get a more expensive camera (or at least justifies it!). the purchase has to be over £350 to be allowed to use the interst free option (called "able to buy").

definately get FZ20 in my opinion. check reviews on this site for the konica Z5 (compares it to FZ20).

cheers

[Donato777]

Lowest price for Canon S2 SI is $446.55 at Page Computer, but I don't know about buying from the online vendor; Panasonic DMC-FZ20: $449.00 from ButterflyPhoto.com and Panasonic DMC-FZ5: $373.00 at ButterflyPhoto.com. The FZ5 price sounds like a bargain, but it does not have manual focus. If I were you, considering the price difference is only around $75, why don't you just put aside the difference and buy the camera that you really want, instead of settling for less than that. It the price difference was in the hundreds of dollars I could see making a compromise, but this is an investment. JMO.

If budget is a real issue, you might also want to consider the Fujifilm S5100 (10x, 4 mp. and a 7.6 rating from cnet.com). You can find it for $284.95 at H1Photo.com

[clinger]

Thanks for all the advice - Herc, I think I'll hold out another month or 2 and get the FZ20 instead of the Konica. Who knows, it might even drop a bit in price. Pity I can't get it on finance from Pixmania (they don't appear to offer it on the Irish site). No matter.
Incidently, how do you find the noise levels on the FZ20? Pics that you put on another post seem to be fine but I've seen some minor concerns on various reviews. Nothing much to worry about?

Donato - stop teasing me with those prices :eek:
Cheapest I can get the fz20 for is the equivalent of $655 (€535) and we can't buy electrical goods online from the US.

Thanks all.