FZ3, FZ20 now available on-line!

[John_Reed]

Circuit City On-line has both cameras, advertised at full MSRP ($399, $599, respectively), free shipping, taxes where applicable.

[Dave Dilks]

Interesting. Circuit City says they have them immediately available, while at Amazon you can order one now and they say they will ship them as soon as they become available on September 21.

[John_Reed]

Interesting. Circuit City says they have them immediately available, while at Amazon you can order one now and they say they will ship them as soon as they become available on September 21.

Be more specific. Circuit City On-Line has them; their retail stores don't. I saw the Amazon date too; all I can say is that on dpreview's "Panasonic Talk" forum, there are at least two who have ordered FZ20s, and one even cited a Fedex tracking number, so it has the ring of truth to it. I remember when I bought my FZ1, I was in a hurry, going on a vacation, and it was introduced only at certain Fry's stores. I had to pay a friend who was going to Sacramento to pick one up for me. It was a month later before Fry's had them in the SF Bay Area stores. Panasonic has always had a weird way of establishing its retail channels, in my opinion.

[PixChick]

I noticed the same thing with Amazon when the Oly C-765/770 came out.

[Listener]

I just went to the Circuit City link posted above and it says "Not Available" from the Online Store.

Drat.

[John_Reed]

I just went to the Circuit City link posted above and it says "Not Available" from the Online Store.

Drat.

You're right! When I posted it, both the FZ3 and FZ20 were available, now it's just the FZ3. Either they didn't have very many stocked, or they got a huge surge of orders somehow. I still haven't figured out how they get the word out about the availability/non-availability or even the great features of those cameras, other than random posts like this?

[D70FAN]

You're right! When I posted it, both the FZ3 and FZ20 were available, now it's just the FZ3. Either they didn't have very many stocked, or they got a huge surge of orders somehow. I still haven't figured out how they get the word out about the availability/non-availability or even the great features of those cameras, other than random posts like this?

See John I told you that they were listening...

...it's the great unseen masses.

As far as I'm concerned the new FZ series is in a class by itself, and currently the only Ultra-Zooms I recommend. Adding the AF Illuminator put them over the top. If only they had gone with a 1.8" LCD on the FZ3...

Incidentely, I finally got a good shot of lightning. Had to go to ISO 1600 to get continuous shooting at night, but..

http://d70fan.smugmug.com/gallery/197044

The shrubbery shadows on the wall are from the streetlights! This was handheld.

[kloid]

Hello all,

I was one of the people that ordered from Circuit City and it is indeed on its way, its shipping out of Marion Illinois according to my FedEx tracking page. Very anxious to get it and test out some images and I will try to post some examples shortly. Its always hard to hit that submit button on these type of purchases because of so many choices. Wasn't sure if I wanted to dive into the DSLR arena or not. Well I am hoping the camera proves to be capable of some nice photos.I wonder why they raised the ISO from 64 to 80 on this model, I have read alot of people liked to shoot in 64.

[John_Reed]

Hello all,

I was one of the people that ordered from Circuit City and it is indeed on its way, its shipping out of Marion Illinois according to my FedEx tracking page. Very anxious to get it and test out some images and I will try to post some examples shortly. Its always hard to hit that submit button on these type of purchases because of so many choices. Wasn't sure if I wanted to dive into the DSLR arena or not. Well I am hoping the camera proves to be capable of some nice photos.I wonder why they raised the ISO from 64 to 80 on this model, I have read alot of people liked to shoot in 64.

Actually, the FZ10's lowest ISO is 50; you can't get 64 manually, though sometimes in auto ISO it may choose 75. Looking forward to getting your impressions!

[John_Reed]

See John I told you that they were listening...

...it's the great unseen masses.

As far as I'm concerned the new FZ series is in a class by itself, and currently the only Ultra-Zooms I recommend. Adding the AF Illuminator put them over the top. If only they had gone with a 1.8" LCD on the FZ3...

Incidentely, I finally got a good shot of lightning. Had to go to ISO 1600 to get continuous shooting at night, but..

http://d70fan.smugmug.com/gallery/197044

The shrubbery shadows on the wall are from the streetlights! This was handheld.

I was really impressed at the sharpness of the house at 1/10 of a second; was the lightning sort of working like a strobe for that illumination? If you can hold it that steady at 1/10 without a stabilizer, you don't need one for sure!