Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 user reviews

Martin Shorthose 6 June 2005

Good: Everything just works a treat - Panasonic's image stabiliser does exactly what it claims to do and all the manual over-rides make creative shooting easy

Bad: Lack of 'B' shutter setting. Switch from viewfinder to screen is a little clumsy (button could be better placed).

Comment: I was toying with the idea of a digital SLR but hadn't got the budget so I was expecting to be disappointed by this fixed lens machine. In reality however, it has performed absolutely superbly and knocks the photos from my Nikon AF SLR into a cocked hat.
Even night scenes are impressive - lock the ASA rating to prevent noise and choose the 8-second exposure in Manual mode and photos are clear well after dusk. Raise the ASA and you can almost take shots in darkness! Buy the 20 and not the 15 - the hotshoe is a welcome accessory as the built-in flash is not hugely powerful although fine for party shots and portraits.