I purchased this photographic camera through Amazon, and was pleased with the process and the fast delivery. I had used SLRs back in the 70's and 80's, but had stuck with a variety of point and shoot cameras ever since then. This is my fifth digicam, and I wanted to upgrade with a camera with more superior features, but without the expenditure, weight, and complications (just like lens changing) associated with DSLRs. I am an beginner photographer who travels so quality, weight, and features matter greatly to me.
The serious contenders for this camera were the Rule Powershot SX30IS, the Nikon Coolpix P100, and the Panasonic DMC-FZ100. All four cameras look like great cameras, but I chose the particular panasonic lumix fz40 due to its rich feature set and value for the money. The others did less than meet my needs for just one reason or another. For example, the Canon is a little too large and heavy.
So far, I am very pleased about the FZ40. It has a sound feel, handles very well, and while I have not mastered all of the features yet, it appears to be what I will be looking for in this type of camera.
My biggest hesitation about purchasing it stemmed from your battery issue. Insisting on using a unique brand of battery is okay, as long as the battery can be obtained to purchase. This appears not being the case so much. In my opinion, it is inexcusable release a a camera, knowing that there is a demand for additional electric batteries, and not having the particular batteries available. I trust that this case will soon be fixed, so I went ahead and made the obtain. I gave five stars due to camera. The battery issue is very important, but I did not want to take anything away from the camera itself.
Panasonic did a great job in delivering any feature-rich camera, with very reasonable overall performance, at a relatively inexpensive price. I feel certain that if Panasonic had the electric batteries available, these cameras would fly over shelves.
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