[rulocal]

I am looking to get a 200 quid compact and have whittled it down to one of the above two Lumix. I am not in any way an experienced photographer but would be keen to learn and therefore would like to have have some settings to experiment with. This is pushing me towards the FX500 which has manual aperture and speed settings. The gadget freak in me is also drawn to the touch screen focusing/tracking system.

The only "but" is that it has a 5x optical zoom whereas the TZ5 has 10x zoom. I watch a fair bit of live sport and would be disappointed if the lower zoom was a big restriction.

I would appreciate any comments on both phones and any general views on whether, in practice, the reduction in the zoom is a massive hindrance.

Cheers

[mpw2081]

i have just bought tz5 and from what i can see very good camera, i wil post a few pics i took today but i am not pro or expert just point a shoot

[mpw2081]

[rulocal]

Cheers

Could you take a picture of something in the near distance, say 20 or 30 m and then shot the same thing at 5X zoom and again at ten times zoom as I want to know whether the 5x zoom of the FX500 might be sufficient.

ta