Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38 user reviews

Craig Thornton 11 April 2011

Good: Cheap, impressive camera, very impressive video abilities. All you need for budget photography.

Bad: can be fiddley to use, not an SLR.

Comment: I know comparing this to an SLR is silly but be aware. If you think this will give SLR results it won't. However for a sub £200 camera this will make an excellent introduction to photogrpahy. You can educate yourself about f stops and exposure etc. The pics are good and the zoom is brilliant (aided by impressive stabilisation). This is a great camera but other cameras in the lumix range do the same things and only lack the zoom!

dvd_graham 15 November 2010

Good: PRICE

Comment: MAY BUY ONE

stovax 26 May 2010

Good: the lot

Bad: note

Comment: too much talking about pixels , low light etc , its not a technical exercise , I have used all cameras since Zenith SLR,s , just get out and take photographs with the damn thing , thats what its for.

jamie44 28 April 2010

Good: Easy to opperate, simple menu structure

Bad: automatic metering prefers low ISO speeds resulting in long shutter times

shutterbug_2 13 March 2010

Good: the lens performance ./ feels right in the hand. /fantastic value for money

Bad: no view finder on tz7 lcds dont work in bright sunlight on any camera any price

Comment: Panasonic FZ38 and TZ7

I own both of the above cameras and have found them exhalant cameras to use and agree with most of the reviewers comments on cnet

Of the two my favourite is the fz38 it has a slightly lager lens aperture and has the edge for sharpness
Another important future is the facility to record aperture or speed or program priority in the video mode
Which has not been picked up on most of the reviews I have read

I have found the tz7 is slightly better in low light in the video mode and has a more solid feel
With all metal construction

On both of the above you can go straight to video mode without having to select from the the rotary control on the top of the camera

You can get round the sometimes slow focus by pressing the shutter button as if you are going to take a picture and it will snap in to focus and then press the red video button and your away


I have been in to phograpy from the age of sixteen I am now sixty and have used all the top camera brands over the years my main camera used to be my canon 500d it is now redundant most of the time

The two above Panasonics are real value for money I can recommend them both without reservation

Cheers Dave shutterbug_2