How's the FZ30 for a newbie?

[ignavia]

Well, the subtitle pretty much says it all, but I'm really looking into an FZ30, but I'm worried about my wife using it. She had trouble with my Dimage Z2 on auto, with the photos not coming out too well. I think, though, with a Sunpak 383 would do a whole lot better for the indoor stuff.

I'd love to get her a pocket P&S of her own, but can't afford it atm.

Thanks in advance for the opinions.

[rduve]

ignavia wrote:

Well, the subtitle pretty much says it all, but I'm really looking into an FZ30, but I'm worried about my wife using it. She had trouble with my Dimage Z2 on auto, with the photos not coming out too well. I think, though, with a Sunpak 383 would do a whole lot better for the indoor stuff.

I'd love to get her a pocket P&S of her own, but can't afford it atm.

Thanks in advance for the opinions.

The FZ30 works very well as a point and shoot in P Mode. I often leave it there and the pictures come out fine. However, if somebody just doesn't have an eye for taking pictures, they might screw it up, regardless of the camera. I used to have a Dimage Z1 and it worked very well for me, too. So, if your wife has trouble with the Z2, she might also have it with any other camera.

For a small Point and Shoot, I can highly recommend the Fuji F11 (available as an import from Prestigecamera.com for $280). It takes superb images and is very easy to use. The FZ30 might be a little too imposing for her.

[genece]

My wife will only touch 2 buttons on a camera the on/off switch and the shutter button. And on the FZ20 the zoom button....and she was not crazy about the zoom ring but she has become accustom to it now.

So I would say your wife will do fine.

I set the camera for the way I think it works best and she uses that way also...No problem.

If she is going somewhere I feel the light will be bad I will set the camera for that...I have tried to explain how to make some changes if necessary but thats a waste of time.



The FZ30 is a pretty smart camera.

[rduve]

...as far as the Sunpak 383 is concerned, that might be a little much for your wife to handle, because everything (aperture and exposure) needs to be calculated and set manually. Probably better to just let her use the built-in flash.

[hkj]

New Panasonic FZ7 with "simple" mode and smaller size would be perfect, I think. You loose external flash option (other than slave flash) and zoom ring, LCD and EVF are also with lower resolution and LCD is fixed and you cannot change memorycard when shooting with tripod. What do you get is weight difference 740g vs. 357g (with battery and memorycard), cheaper price (around 150-200 dollars / euros), 16:9 movie mode and smile from your wife . I do not say FZ7 is better, because it is not, but it is not that much worse.

http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/l..._up/index.html

The photos I have seen taken with FZ30 and FZ7 are allmost the same if you talk about quality not resolution.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/pa.../gallery.shtml
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/pa.../gallery.shtml

[ignavia]

Thanks for the replies. As for her hacing trouble with the Z2, it was mainly because the Z2, IMHO, didn't do well in Auto mode. P mode was fine, though, but when I had it in P mode, it was at custom ISO/EX/Sharpness/etc. settings, and she didn't know how to change the settings back. So eventually, I told her to just put it in Auto mode, because there were (almost) no settings there.

Does the FZ30 have an "Auto" mode that's different from P mode, and does it suck?

[genece]

It does have a Red A simple mode ....but my wife just uses my settings in P mode,with no problem.

That dial is one of the buttons my wife will not touch.

[ignavia]

Thanks, that's what I was looking for. Hope she doesn't mind the bulk, 'cause it looks like I'll be an FZ30 owner very soon!

[Bootneck2]

WoW!.....Just can't wait wait for the comments from our lady contributors