Best high end non DSLR

[HoboSyke]

Looking for the above camera.
Requirements are.
5 or more megapixels
Rechargable Li ion battery supplied
5x optical zoom or more
Decent macro coverage

So far im interested in Panasonic DMC-FZ-20

Anyone care to share some info on what their using or have information on.

Cheers. :hail:

 

[Big Mike]

Any price or size requirements?

I've heard good things about Canon's G5 or G6.

 

[summers_enemy]

I loved that camera, and Panasonic is releasing the FZZ 30 in a few weeks so the FZ20 will be quite cheap then. Just make sure that you aren't going to be doing a lot of high ISO shooting. Anything above ISO 80 on the FZ20 and the noise levels are too high to get a decent shot. Unfortunately from what I've seen, Panasonic hasn't fixed this on the FZ30 either...

 

[Alison]

Any price or size requirements?

I've heard good things about Canon's G5 or G6.

I'll second that! I started with a Canon G1 and they've got a nice line of non-DSLR cameras.

 

[damian5000]

The canon A610 ($300 5mp) and A620 ($400 7.1mp) can be preordered now. They are the new version of the A95 and are supposed to have the same lens as canon's G series. If you can afford more ($500), look at the G6.

- Damian

 

[Smith2688]

I find the Fz-20 quite good. You can use ISO80 and 100 easily and 200 if you expose it well and don't plan on blowing it up much. The Fz-30 coming out will probably be larger than you want, plus you don't get f/2.8 throughout the zoom.

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Canon G6

Screw macro. Look for something with 28 or 24mm wide angle equivalent. That you're gonna use much more often.

 

[Smith2688]

Why screw macro? I imagine he was interested in having some ability to do it if he listed it as one of the requirements.

 

[amoki]

G6/G5 is actually quite nice... I wanted to buy it, but ended up with a D-Rebel instead. The lens is 3X I think, but you can buy add-ons for it - (and since you can use a macro thingy for it it pretty much satisfies what you have in mind). .

Alternatively you can always pick up a Fuji Finepix (focal length 6-36 mm I think : it's 6X optical + macro... but 3.2 MP)from your local WareHouse if you support potato import to Australia from New Zealand :lmao: .

But to be completely honest there's too much compact-to-advance digital cameras out there that settling with what you have is already quite good.

 

[Don Simon]

I'll almost certainly be getting the DMC-FZ20 on the next price drop, so although I can't recommend it from experience I can say it looks pretty cool. Most of the sample shots I've seen from it I would consider pretty decent up to ISO200; even with the night shots at ISO200 I wasn't exactly recoiling in horror. The only thing that concerns me is that apparently you can't brighten the LCD in the dark. I'll be trying to actually get my hands on one before I buy it (which could be a lot harder than it sounds since no-one in the UK seems to sell the Panasonics) and I guess you should probably do the same, as with any camera.

 

[damian5000]

G6/G5 is actually quite nice... I wanted to buy it, but ended up with a D-Rebel instead. The lens is 3X I think, but you can buy add-ons for it - (and since you can use a macro thingy for it it pretty much satisfies what you have in mind). .

The newer A series (510,520,610,620) and the G6 have 4x zoom (I'm pretty sure G3 and G5 also).

- damian

 

[mal]

I've got a Fujifilm Finepix S20 pro and I'm extremely happy with it. The macro mode is fantastic, it has 6x optical zoom, and a 6 megapixel sensor. It's powered by 4 AA batteries, but if you invest in a good set of 2000+ mah NiMh cells then this shouldn't be a problem. PM me if you're interested and I'll go into a bit more detail.