[mallidiv]

regular readers must have known me and my search for a new digi after my pridefull olympus 2100 UZ

and I have been around saying it is final...
for the fz30

but this image quality issue still gets me, since it will need quite some of my budget... My best ally is that it will definately be better than the one I already have.

but friends and you around give me suggestions...
what about
canon pro1
canon s2 IS
olympus 8080

I say again that what I like is the bulk size and nice grip, manual focus, super zoom, 30fps video, non extendable lense...

what I do not like is the long told image noise, the panasonic battery... well sth liek that cannot get sth now...

one other ally is that I think one is coming from the other side of the etlantic so I can get a better price on the market...
I can get the camera for about 500euro, 350 quids... and another 100quid for 1gb and extra battery...

should I give more?
should I wait for fz40?
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[richard plumb]

I nearly went for that camera before going for the canon 350d.

Its a very good ultrazoom. Relatively large, but it packs a lot in - plenty of manual controls, nice zoom ring and great hires EVF etc.

It is supposed to have issues with noise in low light, but how often do you shoot in low light? TBH its likely to have been blown out of proportion by the web - people tend to lock onto the tiniest thing.

I think you'd be happy with it in comparsion to the others if you want a full fat camera.

As for the extra money for memory and a battery - well you'll be in that boat whichever camera you choose.

[hutters]

I sold mine (silver version) on ebay about a month ago for £367 including a 1gb 133x SD card. It was 6 months old.

I thought it was a great camera and the only reason I sold was because I wanted a DSLR. Noise was not an issue, and if it was you run the image through Neatimage or Noiseware and you'd never know. A solid camera, great zoom, great controls and battery life was superb.

UK websites are selling if for about £359.

[Biscuit761]

I have a FZ20, one of the last on sale I think, got it from John Lewis for £199, bargain, then bought a spare battery and a 512mb card from 7dayshop.com for a total of about £25 I think, batteries go on for ever even the cheapy off of 7dayshop, have noticed no let off in performance and have taken about 1700 shots in the 2 or 3 months I have had it.

Would have gone for the FZ30 but when I saw the FZ20 at that price decided to go for that instead. If I decided on a DSLR in the near future would probably get most of my money back on ebay.

Go for the FZ30, if its better than mine you will not be disapointed.

Bill

[mallidiv]

at last...
psoitive thoughts...
I have just printed today images in normal size from my old olympus UZ 2100

and they have not been bad, so it cannot be bad...
I have been playing with manual zoom and it has been quite a change... a nice one...

well I am still on the thought of going for that, since there is no other model getting so many of my criteria...