Just what I wanted!

I've been looking to replace my Olympus C40 (also known as the D40) for years. When I first got it, it was one of the most compact 4-megapixel cameras out there, but at a 2.8 optical zoom, it just doesn't cut it for occasions when you need something closer up, as might happen at the zoo.

Before getting the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 I'd purchased the Olympus C730 in 2003, and the Konica-Minolta Z3 in 2004. The C730 is 3.2 megapixel but has a 10x optical zoom. Unfortunately, it doesn't have stabilizer technology, and I felt the images were slightly blurry compared to the C40. So I carried 2 cameras around.

The Z3 does come with stabilizer technology, which it calls "anti-shake"; it's got 12x optical zooming and 4 megapixels, and should've replaced my C40 with no problems. It didn't quite work out that way, as I've explained in a separate Epinions review. It was relatively compact, but my major peeve was that it didn't stabilize very well and the pictures were still blurry compared to the C40. Carrying 3 cameras around is kinda clunky, but I did it.

Technically speaking, the FZ5 is an incremental step up for me, being a camera with 12x optical zoom, 5 megapixels, and Panasonic's Mega O.I.S. stabilization technology. Practically however, its qualities are a major advance - I've finally got the camera that will replace my C40!

Size, weight, battery life
It's somewhat larger than the C40, but way smaller than the other long-zoom cameras I have. Unlike the others, it doesn't work on AA batteries, so I'm going to need to buy a spare Lithium Ion battery just in case; but the battery has been holding up so far in a series of shots with the flash on each time, so I suspect the cameras with the AA batteries (I use up to 2500 mAH rechargeables) may run out long before the FZ5 will.

One upside about not using AA batteries is the size and weight. This camera is so light it almost seems like I'm not holding anything when I'm taking a picture.
As an aside, I've played with Panasonic's FZ20, which is also 5-megapixel and has 12x optical zoom. The FZ5 is much smaller and (I admit) has a cheaper-looking chassis, with a smaller lens; the salesperson explained that the FZ20 is about US$300 more expensive as it has a better lens with a wider angle that captures better colour. I would've been willing to pay for the FZ20, but the FZ5 is SO much smaller!

I also happen to like the lens cap a lot. The lens caps for the Olympus and Konica-Minolta can come off really easily. With a relatively big lens you can just imagine how bad this could get. The cap for the FZ5 is designed differently and basically cannot be pushed off accidentally. This camera comes with a lens hood as well but I'm not sure if I'll be using that. It looks really professional and all but would be an additional item to bring around with me.

Documentation
Panasonic advises that you read the manuals thoroughly before use. I don't read manuals much, but I have to say that Olympus manuals are cryptic at the best of times, Konica-Minolta manuals are clear but say very little, whereas Panasonic has put a lot of effort into making manuals practical and easy to use. The manuals explain how to use various features (yes, manuals are supposed to do that, but they don't necessarily do so!) and even give practical tips on what to do under various situations.

Look-and-feel
The FZ5 is remarkably easy to use. I'm not a technical photographer, so leaving the camera in "simple mode" - that's the symbol of a heart that's on the mode dial - has worked very well for me. Panasonic's Simple mode looks equivalent to the Auto mode on my other cameras. Just point, zoom, and shoot. Playback is quite easy too - there is a triangular play symbol on the mode dial, and a handy physical delete button near the bottom right corner of the screen if you don't like the pictures.

This has been a major point for me as I had had my eye on one of the Canon PowerShot G series cameras. The pictures look wonderfully sharp; it's 7-megapixel and has 4x optical zoom, and would've been better than the C40; but it's also pretty hard to use. It took a while to figure out how to switch it on, and it can't be done easily either. The FZ5 has a simple slider for 'off' and 'on'.

While other manufacturers have chosen to place various functions on a menu accessible by a menu button, the FZ5 has a number of these functions accessible through buttons on the camera body. I'd rarely tried such functions in my other cameras, but since it's so convenient now I may eventually learn how to use them - finetuning exposure, for one.

There is one set of functions that my other cameras placed on the mode dial, but which Panasonic has stuck into the menu instead. The Olympus and the Konica-Minolta cameras have settings on their mode dials for various circumstances, night photography, portraits, or indoor photography for instance. The Z3 actually guesses which situation you're in under Auto mode (albeit sometimes wrongly), but the main point is that you can just spin your mode dial just before you want to shoot something.

With the FZ5 this becomes more cumbersome - there is a Scene setting on the mode dial, after which you have to get into the menu and choose which type of scene you're capturing - snow, fireworks, party (indoors), night, and so on. While the range of scene modes is wonderful (I mean, a mode for fireworks? Though I'm aware Canon also has this) I prefer to be spontaneous, and spinning a mode dial is way easier than this multi-step process in the FZ5. Having said that Simple mode has worked well for me so far.

Picture-taking
The Leica lens is one of the highlights of this camera. Friends have argued that the fact that it's Leica may mean nothing as lenses for digital cameras are obviously designed differently from those in manual cameras, but there really is a qualitative difference here.

This camera works great when focusing. Although the manual says there is a minimum distance I can literally place the lens about 0.5cm away from a page and still get a picture of clear text. And this isn't under macro mode, either.

Zooming to the max works wonderfully as well - and the clincher for me is that pictures at maximum zoom are sharper than those with my Olympus or Konica-Minolta cameras! Pictures in general are clearer than with any of my other cameras. I'm sure it is partly due to the fact that the images are now 5-megapixel, but my C40 at 4-megapixel still returned better pictures than my Z3 at 4-megapixel. It also seems like there's less noise in the FZ5 pictures, though I'm no expert on this.

The stabilizer seems to work quite well, particularly at brighter light conditions. I'd say the stabilizer is better than the technology on the Z3, though still nothing like the Olympus E100RS digital SLR that my husband has.

Unfortunately, the FZ5, even with its AF-assist lamp (none of my other cameras has one), was unable to take good pictures in dim lighting at maximum optical zoom without a flash. This is something that the C40 shines at, but then again it doesn't have that kind of zoom - certainly my 10x C730 and the 12x Z3 failed at this as well.

The wide angle isn't as wide as I'm used to as well. The C40 has a wider wide angle, but then again I take more closeups than landscape pictures so I'll look on the bright side.

The LCD screen is bright and reflects brilliant colours. The Konica-Minolta has an LCD screen which didn't reflect clarity properly so I really appreciate it if I can review my pictures to tell it they are in focus. While most people seem to rely on the LCD screen a lot when taking pictures, I tend to leave this switched off to conserve battery life.

Movies
Other members have mentioned that they haven't been happy with the movie functions. I just wanted to say that digital still cameras may be able to take videos, but digital video cameras are probably the way to go if you take a lot of movies. It's enough for me that this particular model can record audio and that there don't seem to be any limits on the amount of video other than the capacity of the memory card.

Picture size, memory cards
The camera comes standard with a 16MB SD card, which is ridiculous. When I bought my camera the shop threw in a 512MB SD, which is at least acceptable. The manual says the camera can only accept up to a 1GB card though so hopefully my needs don't change too much!

The FZ5 can record at several picture sizes and qualities. TIFF images take up the most space, and according to the manual, only 197 JPG pictures will fit on a 512MB card at 5-megapixels and in fine quality mode. My test pictures were basically over 2MB in size, which is much larger than I'm used to. I typically store 380+ pictures on a 512MB card with my 4-megapixel Z3, so this was quite a shock - this has big implications on how fast you run out of space on the memory card, and also for hard disk space. I've compromised by setting the camera to take 5-megapixel shots at standard mode instead. I'm able to take more pictures and they average slightly over 1MB now, and I'll probably switch to something higher quality for "postcard opportunities".

Initial conclusions
I haven't had the camera long but basically it has everything I want: size/weight, ease of use, and sharp pictures. It looks like I'll be able to retire at least 2 out of 3 cameras.. it's always got to have a backup!