Fellow Covers,
I am in the market for a new digital camera. If you had $300 to invest, what brand and type would you buy? Please share with me your experiences. Oh yes, I've been on practically every possible site. I do value and appreciate my Fellow Covers' opinion.
Stijloor.
A couple of years ago I had a similar decision and went with a Panasonic DMC FZ20K. I'm vey pleased with it. You probably get more megapixels for less money now.
It's somewhere between a compact and a DSLR. The lense doesn't come off but it has a whopping 12 times optical zoom (35 mm camera equivalent is 36 to 432 mm) with optical stabilization, and it's made by Leica so you know it's good. (There's more in the digital zoom but I don't use it because of the reduction in picture quality.)
Also, and one of the main reasons I chose it, this camera has great ergonomics for a keen amateur - manual focus ring on the lense barrel, and digital controls that make it easy to adjust aperture, shutter speed, stop up or down, or bracket.
I was nervous of it at first because it has an LCD viewfinder, but in practice it has not been a problem.
The only slight annoyance is that it takes a proprietary battery, so if it runs low while you're away from power you can't just pop into the nearest shop and reload with AA batteries. But I carry two and that always seems to be enough for my purposes - I get about a hundred high resolution pictures per fully charged battery.
It's the first camera I've owned for several years that I have not wanted to upgrade after a few months. It's staying!
Pat