Panasonic Lumix FZ150

And the winner is...

A few weeks ago, I was in the process of deciding what new camera I wanted to buy.  I had decided on the Fuji HS30.  Shortly after that, I took a short motorcycle trip which gives me lots of time to think on roads I've been on many times.  I noodled over the differences in the cameras and decided many of the descriptions of the HS30 had one troubling feature - that the focus could be slow.  Several reviews called it lazy.  After looking into the hard numbers for focus and lock times, I changed my mind and bought the Panasonic Lumix FZ150.  I think I would have been happy with the HS30 and I really like that it has a manual zoom, but so far, the FZ150 has met my expectations.

My picture taking falls into three categories.
1.  Candid shots with friends or at family gatherings, etc.  I really think the best option here is a quality point and shoot.  The small sensor allows for a broad depth of field and the camera can be handed to anyone to take pictures.  Cost is low and if it is dropped or broken it is not a big loss.
An SLR is an OK option, but cost is high and the large sensor can be a negative at times with a too-narrow depth of field.  The super-zoom is an adequate option filling the definition of a bridge camera.

Candid pictures of the dogs show the FZ150 is perfectly capable here with fast focus times and very good resolution.  The picture below is of Jackson lounging in the back yard.

On an extreme crop into his back, we can see the even though this is a picture taken at a moderate zoom, the resolution is more than adequate to see individual hairs on his back.  This is pretty impressive.

2.  Vacation photos.  A small point and shoot runs into problems for anything but the relatively close shots.  SLR cameras are great for this IF you are willing to lug around a few lenses and have the tenacity to bring them with you when venturing away from the storage capacity of a motor vehicle.  But, here is where the super-zoom or bridge camera shines.  Good resolution, light weight, easy to carry and sufficient zoom to compose pictures well.
Since much of my vacationing is hunting or with limited capacity of what I can store in my motorcycle saddle bags, the super-zoom makes most sense for me.

I'll be going on vacation soon and will have more of an opportunity to test the FZ150 in this capacity.  I really wish I had played with the High Dynamic Range (HDR) capability of the Panasonic for the picture above, but there will be other opportunities for that in the future.
It is the gunner, not the gun...  Vacation pictures are also where composition makes the difference between a great picture and a painful one.  In 2009 I went bear hunting.  While getting pictures taken with my bear, I gave my camera to Ed.  His pictures were not bad, they were terrible.  How anyone can take a point and shoot camera and take such terrible pictures is beyond me.  Every shot was poorly framed.  Luckily, Stan took some good pictures to capture the event.
I've also seen pictures of friends vacations where every picture is a close-up of a person.  These could commemorate the occasion, but they might as well be taken in the back yard.

I have at times gone to great lengths to get the right vacation picture.  There is one extreme example of this.  In 2008 I rode my motorcycle to Alaska.  On the way north, there was a place where I was able to get a great picture of the Alaska Highway.  After viewing the picture later however, the light was just not right and the drain tile in the frame was distracting.

On the way into Southeastern Alaska nearly a week later, I backtracked hundreds of miles to retake the picture.  The light was near perfect and the composed shot was wonderful.  I'm very glad I had the time and took the time to do this as it has to be one of the best pictures of that entire trip.

3.  Pictures for sake of photography.  These are the pictures that I take just for the fun of it.  Cropping is cheating and anything beyond minor post photograph manipulation is also wrong.  I might even call them art.  Often, I see a picture on-line, in a magazine or anywhere and it sparks an idea of what I would like to try.  Here, an SLR is by far the best choice if one is willing to invest in many lenses.  As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I still have my Pentax K1000, but the benefits of digital photography means it stays in the closet unused.  I still wish someone would make a less expensive digital fully manual student camera compatible with old lenses (these can often be bought on the cheap).  Alas, I doubt this will happen.  The super-zoom is an adequate choice for this and more than adequate as long as there is enough light.  To quote a letter to the British Journal of photography from 1880, "This new fangled idea of ready-made plates takes all the fun out of photography.  The next stage might be a shop to produce prints and lantern slides to order -- but that is too distressing to anticipate." This is not a new issue for a Luddite.

Compared to other digital non-SLR cameras I have used, the focus times on the FZ150 are excellent. At wide angle, the lock time is near instantaneous. I've been desperately trying to get a picture of one of the hummingbirds in the Rose of Sharon bush near the house. I still have not succeeded in getting a good one, but I can't blame the camera for that. This picture was taken through the screen in the front window. The picture is not that good, but does demonstrate the ability of the Panasonic to focus quickly in a challenging environment.

I love macro photography.  The FZ150 does a great job in this, much better than I expected.  Wide angle focusing is approximately 1cm.  It has a 52mm lense thread which accepts filters.  This is great since I have 52mm macro filters which allow very close focusing even at longer zoom ranges.  There is some vignetting, but I can accept that for the flexibility this allows during composed pictures.

Yesterday, I planted some paw paw trees that I had started from seeds.  This morning was one of the first dewy fall-like mornings of the year which allowed a great opportunity to capture the small plants in low angle sunrise light.

So what don't I like about the camera?  Everything in life is a trade-off.  Everything.
The manual controls are not as easy as they could be.  This is somewhat offset by the abilities of the Program mode of the camera.  There should be easier access to the ISO setting in full manual mode and a faster method to access all functionality after the controls disappear from the screen.
I don't fully understand the flash use on this camera and the manual does not describe it very well.  It works flawlessly in fully automatic mode, but in the more creative modes it is a little obtuse.  So far, I tend to get overexposed shots when using the fill flash mode (not in full auto though).  I'm sure I'll figure this out.  In the interim, Intelligent Automatic mode works well for this.
I originally ordered the camera from an East Coast vendor who had a price a little better than amazon.com.  Several days after ordering it, I still had not received notice that it shipped.  Only after I contacted them did they inform me that they were no longer carrying this (popular) camera as the FZ200 had just been announced.  I found it odd that the FZ150 would not be sold as it is likely months until the FZ200 will be readily available.  The advancement of the FZ200 camera is a full f2.8 throughout the zoom range which is quite an optical engineering feat.  As there is no such thing as "best" I decided not to wait for this option which would have taken at least months to get and cost approximately $200 more.

As of now, I'm happy with my purchase of the Lumix FZ150.  It does what it advertised and does it very well.  I may have been just as happy with any of the other options, but as I was still relatively happy with my old super-zoom, I anticipate many good pictures from the Panasonic.

Vacation is only a few weeks away.  This will be a true test of the camera to perform as well as a robustness test as it bounces around the country in a saddle bag through whatever weather I can find.