I am considering getting a Xmas present for the house - a Digital Camera. I am not at all knowledgeable about these things, but have noticed the following (largely due to a huge advert on the underground, and my penchant for all things Panasonic);

- DP Review of Panasonic DMC-FZ3
- Panasonic DMC-FZ3B Site




Anyone know if thats a good un or not? I currently have this: Konica KD-20M wot I bought from Argos a while back when I was feeling adventurous.

I'm after one thats simple enough for me and the lady to use and get good quality prints out of...
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dp

Posted 9/23/2004.

Comments:

1.  Damo says @ 1:28 pm
   This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
2.  Damo says @ 2:18 pm
   Ooooops. Sorry. Should have thought about that, shouldn't I?
3.  swisslet says @ 9:26 pm
   My digital camera thoughts are this:
   
   - make the decision if you want a compact or not. All the other stuff is basically ephemeral once you know if you want a camera that you can pop in your pocket, or if you don't mind having one you have to wear on your shoulder. For me, I never take enough photos: there is probably a whole decade of my life from 18-28 where there aren't any decent, candid pictures. I wanted a camera that I would have *on* me to take those kind of pictures, and a bulky one wouldn't be with me. This panasonic looks a little big for slipping in your jeans.
   
   - think about image quality. I reckon 4m pixels is about standard now. This is just over 3m. It's not necc. a problem (I have a canon ixus v4 which is 4m, and my everyday setting is the lower medium quality - which blows up to A4 fine and suits me - this obviously means I'm not really making the most of that extra 1m pixels. Worth thinking about though.
   
   - zoom. Are you likely to want a decent zoom? If you are, then this looks good. It's the optical zoom figure you should be interested in... the digital zoom will be pants and you should have it turned off at all times. My Canon has a 3x optical zoom, and I thought this was pretty good until I checked out my mate's new camera in Athens and got instant zoom envy (although see point 1 - his was not a pocket camera)
   
   - battery. I have a lithium ion rechargeable battery(phone style) and it's been fine. I do always make sure that I have a fully charged spare on me at all times though, as if you run out of juice when you are out and about, there's bugger all you can do about it. Lots of cameras use AA style batteries. In the main they are rechargeable and are a bit fiddly, but they do have the priceless advantage that at least you can buy AA batteries pretty much everywhere in an emergency.
   
   These are my thoughts.
   
   My little Canon has been brilliant, but I am reaching the point where I am thinking about getting Caitlin a proper full on SLR style digital, as she is proper into photography, and I thought it would be good to have the option of taking some REALLY quality pics as well as the everyday type that my Canon does so well.
   
   To be honest, I'm not an expert either, and DP review is as good a place as any (there are a couple slightly less technical sites that do the same job and I found them very helpful - I just did a google search for reviews on the camera I was looking at...)
   
   Hope that helps?

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