Best all around camera

I reviewed this camera at some other website even before it was released in the US. In my review I thought that it was already doing what I expected. This can be a follow-up to my first review. It is still doing everything that I expected and is still surprising me with its flexibility. The stabilizer helps a lot in zoom and dark shots, no more blurs, the small size allows me to always have it around, the 12x zoom creates marvelous shots. The flash, although small, delivers well - as I have observed when I zoomed during an office party, the subjects lit up like I was in front of them. I am a casual shooter, I have it in my bag all the time, and takes it out only when something really inspiring catches my eyes. The long battery life/retention allows me to charge it maybe once in every 3 weeks and it always powers up, ready to shoot...I have a Kyocera SL300 which was supposed to be a backup but eventually, after a few weeks the batts go dead on it, the FZ5 always manage to give me at least 10 shots even with the batt indicator almost gone.

The lens hood also serves as a 52mm adaptor, which allowed me to attach a polarizer lens...other lens effects can be used, although graphic softwares can pretty much do the same job. Downside is its a bit annoying to remove it when shooting wide indoors, because if you dont, the flash will cast a shadow.

It wouldn't be fair to say that this is the best, because I have not really used the other brands in its class, I have, however, display-tested the others before settling on the FZ5 and my first impression have found it the best for my needs. I made the right choice.