Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 Reviews: Lumix Digital Hybrid Camera

+ point and shoot straight out ff the box! loads of programs .long battery life ..

- easy to put fingers on screen!

+ Excellent intuitive menu, easily the best I have seen. Amazing choice of options for taking photos plus superb 'Intelligent Auto' function. The build quality is the best I have seen on a bridge camera and nearly up to that of my professional Canon digital SLR. The pictures are clear and capture very accurately colour, even in low light and challenging situations. This is my fourth non-SLR digital camera and easily beat even my high expectations.

- Some people may find it a little odd that the flash never pops ups automatically. You have to manually push a button to activate it and pop it up. You have to decide for yourself whether or not to use flash. Personally I think is is good as stops the many infuriating times when the camera pops up the flash when you don't want it. To some, including me this is a good point, but to many it may be a bad point.

+ Lovely picture quality, nice big viewing screen, wide lense, lots of features to get the best possible picture, face recognition, rechargable battery, very light for an advanced camera.

- Comes without a memmory card and case, but you do get a lense cap.
Quite expensive 10 mega pixels! Some of the buttens are quite small for big hands.
The volume isn't very loud when viewing video's on the camera but it is fine when you plug it in and view the video on the computer. We havn't really found any other problems yet, we have only just bought it. This camera may be too professional for some people.
So many features that you may not fully use them all to their potential. The quide is 150 pages long with very detailed descriptions so i definatelly rcomend reading it. Profesional camera for job or A level art.

+ Intelligent auto is very good for simple use. Picture quality is excellent. Almost all the features you could wish from an SLR in a compact body.

- A lot to learn. Plastic body is a bit light.

+ Fully featured camera with powerful zoom in a compact package.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Realy good 'int auto' feature, has produced realy good pics, well enough zoom and control if you want it, best I have used this side of an SLR, have used the Cannon eos SLR and this is easier to use. Poss to set up 2 custom modes for special personal siuations, but the int auto covers it fast anyway.

- doesn't come with a case.

+ Excellent image quality.Has RAW facility.

- None to date.

+ Very easy to use. Brilliantly sharp images. Wide angle lens captures more of the subject more easily.

- A bit bulky

+ Everything - fantastic zoom and macro especially. I also like being able to attache a polariser. I wasn't keen on having a proprietary (rather than AA) battery, but like it now as it makes the camera very light. Even at full zoom, the lens doesn't protrude very much, which makes it possible to use a small gorillapod.

- Sometimes options are very hidden away in the menus. The manufacturer's two-year warranty requires a dealer signature which is missing from my delivery. I emailed customer services about this immediately but have not had a response in 5 weeks.

+ Intelligent auto feature makes point and shoot photography very easy. Battery lasts well. Options for better photographers (not me!) seem to be there with controls on aperture, exposure etc

- None yet

+ fantastic camera

- none

+ Offers 28mm (Equiv) wide angle. Light and compact. Choice of eyepiece or screen for viewing.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Quality photos

- Small view finder is the only disappointment

+ I am a novice user, but this camera is very easy to understand. I was advised to buy this camera by a friend who has this camera. Excellant value for money. Not given 10/10 as not fully got into using camera yet.

- Non as yet

+ Easy to use

- None found - as yet

+ It is great for getting the bird on the branch at a long-distance shot and very sharp. The 18 x optical zoom and inteligent Auto are useful for that.
The screen is a good size at 2.7".

- The performance is not so good in low light as I found out trying to take a close up of a dragonfly near our pond in the evening and the fill-in flash seemed to 'white it out'.

+ overall image quality including HD video

- Short video time and continuous focus issues

+ Very good choice of image modes and easy to access and make changes to. Good image quality.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Very comfortable to hold and is very light, despite it's chunky appearance. The automatic setting which is the one I've used most ,so far, creates excellent pictures, but there are plenty of opportunities to get more adventurous.

- None so far.

+ Great photograps. Easy to use once you become familiar with all the selections

- As with all digital camreas: time delay when taking a photo and also time delay before you can take next photo

+ An absolutely great multi purpose camera for all occasions. Image quality on full zoom is exceptional.
Very light.

- Looks like a DSLR which I didn't really want.

+ It's light, easy to use and is ready for shooting within a few seconds.

- A case should be provided with the camera as part of the accessories.

+ Great camera for this price, easy to use and small.

- No flash connection

+ Very happy with the picture quality, love the fact that it can take a polarising filter, handles well

- Flash isn't great and I don't think it can be supplemented by a separate gun

+ EVF essential for over 50s with fixed focus eyes on infinity. Amazing zoom. Lens quality. Light weight.

- Lens cap instead of protective shutter. Manual focus control is very hit or miss, needs decent analog wheel to adjust instead of the little joy stick. 60 second shutter speed not provided in aperture and shutter priority modes. The ISO setting should be shown in the viewfinder.
No ever-ready case available. EVF eye piece not very comfortable. Panasonic should forget the rear display (useless for over 50s) and concentrate on improving the EVF. Give it larger size, more pixels.

+ Very smooth operation.

- Sometimes a bit fiddly to get to the right program and section

+ Fantastic zoom range (18X) and also a great HD movie function. Camera is small and light, so ideal to carry around all the time, and perfect for travel. Fantastic image quality and much better than my previous Canon digital SLR camera. This was my 3rd Panasonic Lumix camera, which says something.

- only an electric zoom on it, so not possible to zoom by hand. Slight bad point is that you have to buy a plastic adaptor if you want to use filters. Minor points only for what is an excellent camera.

+ Tremendous range of features in a handy compact unit which is well made & very easy to use.

- None so far

+ Compact, easy to use in 'auto' enough options to satisfy the more 'serious' user.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Having previously had a point and shoot camera, I found the progression to the FZ28B very straightforward. The pictures I've taken so far are very very good and I particularly like the zoom ability. The instruction manual is included (I had to download one for my Canon) which I think is a big bonus. Overall I am well pleased with my purchase.

- Unfortunately, I don't seem able to stitch photos together but this is a very minor point.

+ Really pleased with camera, a present for my technophobic husband ! Images are excellent and camera is easy to use. Camera has lots of useful mode and zoom is very good. Computer software that comes with the camera is good too.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Tones of features, fantastic image quality, build quality feels solid and good, impressive in low light & oodles and oodles of zoom

- Finish of the camera body marks easily

+ Camera feels solid without being overly weighty. Battery life good.

- Instruction book badly written and quite difficult to understand in parts

+ Good quality of photographs, wide rang of options, charge on battery lasts a long time

- LCD screen gets dirty when using view finder.

+ This camera is an ideal model for anyone wanting quality pictures with a 'pick up and play' desire. Not complicated and yet offers a large range of features and very good picture quality. Well done Panasonic

- It would have been nice fo rit to come with a camera bag!

+ The Panasonic FZ28 is very light and compact. The menu is easy to use and there appears to be a setting to cover every situation. The 18 times zoom is brilliant. and most users will be able to produce excellent pictures from this resonably priced camera.

- I did not wait a week and buy the FZ38

+ It took me nearly a year of research to find my FZ28, I did not want an SLR but wanted a camera that would do a little bit more than the normal compact cameras to suit my limited buget, so I chose the bridge camera FZ28, obviously it's a bit bigger than the compact, but it is so very comfortable to hold, it's light in weightand has everything I need even shooting pictures and movies in widescreen and HD. For me it's perfect.

- It should come with a memory card included

+ Compact, easy to use, great pictures and quick to set up new shots even with the flash.

- Feels a little flimsy - although there's no evidence that it is.

+ Easy to use for nomal photographs

- Rather Bulky

+ Excellent value for money. Many great features that are easy to use.

- Doesn't come with a case and one to fit is difficult to find.

+ Well balanced and easy to use. Eye piece/LCD screen a great combination. easy to use - even for a technophobe!

- I haven't found any yet.

+ Ease of settings for fantastic pictures

- Instruction booklet a little complicated ie got myself tied in knots trying to format.

+ For the price, the photos are impressive

- Reviewer left no comment

+ love it! : )

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Great value

- Reviewer left no comment

+ wide angle lens

- none

+ cannot think of right words great camera best one ever had

- none

+ Easy for a non techno idiot like me to use,- large visual screen, excellent focus, good zoom.

- Big, but then I like someting to get hold of, like my women.

+ Good image quality, colours excellent. All control buttons in good position unlike my last (first) digital where my fingers were constantly hitting buttons. Like the overall control of the camera away from auto mode.
Lots of features (not tried all yet) including raw files.

- First impression is that its a very delicate machine (very light) and could be easily damaged but time will tell.
Spare battery mega expensive.

+ i am still getting used to all the features of this camera but at this moment i am very happy with it

- none

+ easy to follow instructions. the camera does the work not you. it is like magic

- Reviewer left no comment

+ picture quality very good for a bridge camera and the video is tv quality, lightweight build makes for easier transporting

- feels a bit plasticky , and camera a bit smaller than expected,

+ no need for extra video camera, very lightweight, fun to use.

- no HD

+ Reviewer left no comment

- date picture stamp bad in use

+ easy to use clear instructions great results

- Reviewer left no comment

+ A truly excellent camera for the money. Lovely build quality and great photos.

- When not in use the lense shade does not clip on upside down (sorry don't know how to explain it!) so when you put the camera in the case you have to remove it or just place it loosely instead of just turning it round so that it clips back on whilst not needed.

+ The camera is easy to use, pictures are of an excellent quality and the features on the camera are also really easy. A great buy.

- None

+ I like the fool proof settings or "Idiot mode"

- would like to the flash to pop up if required

+ does everything

- manual sometimes hard to follow , camera has too many featues

+ Once the settings are understood it is fairly easy to use. Took me a while to work out but pleased with results........

- Reviewer left no comment

+ The best bridge camera you can buy. I had the previous model but the 18x zoom is perfect. You can get over reliant on the auto settings because it takes such good pictures, however, have a good fiddle and you will be surprised just how well the camera performs in most lighting conditions. Another huge advantage is that this camera makes movies in true 1080p HD. It doesnt brand itself as such but if you look under the settings it shows it in black and white, and as the lens is so good the filming is excellent. I dont need to carry around my DVD recorder anymore as this out performs it.

- Sound recording is not great when recording films

+ ease to use very good pictures great zoom light to carry

- little swichs on /off and cam /view

+ A great camera and tremendous value for money. I bought this bridge camera as it is light enough to carry in a rucksack when walking. I can't fault this camera.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ we wanted the next stage up from a small compact and this fits our needs brilliantly. It's 18 x zoom gives good pictures over distances, and has a fairly easy to follow menu system for various different situations. The colour quality is vibrant, and when playing back pictures within the slideshlow mode it provides accompanying music.

- The various playback options are a little confusing.