Please help.... Is this a good camera???

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Hello I have decided to buy myself a decent second hand camera but really dont know what I am doing! I have always used small auto compact cameras which you just point and aim! However I do enjoy taking photos and I am good at taking a picture so feel I want to move on with my camera. I have been offered the following camera for £110 and wondered if any of you can advise firstly whether this is a good price for the camera and secondly whether a new budding photographer will find it easy to use?

The camera is a PANSONIC LUMIX DMC-F27 + ADDITIONAL LENS & 2GB SD CARD with a "3x TELEPHOTO LENS INCREASING THE OPTICAL ZOOM TO 36X AND THEY HAVE ALSO INCLUDED A 2GB SD CARD RATHER THAN 8MB SUPPLIED WITH UNIT" and A SMALL TABLE TOP TRIPOD WITH IN-BUILT TORCH LIGHT IS ALSO INCLUDED"

Your kind advise would be greatly appreciated.

If you think this camera would be too difficult for a novice user please could someone advise me of a camera that would suit me?

Many thanks
Jill
 
Hi Jill,
do you mean the Lumix DMC-FZ7?
if so I have one and could probably comment.
 
Hi Jill,
first of all there's a very good review of the camera, features and ease of use here:-
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz7
Ease of use is a doddle, Leica lens is superb and image stabilisation works very effectively.
This is known as a "Bridge Camera" so it's kind of a half-way house between a full blown DSLR and a point and shoot.
Having gone down this route myself, I found the Panasonic great for street work as it's unobtrusive and the zoom is fantastic. It also helps you to develop framing of your pictures and composition (it has a digital viewfinder as well as a conventional LCD screen for photo taking).
If you take a look at Flickr (www.flickr.com) you will find many example pictures as it's a very popular camera in USA.
After about 6 months, I found the panasonic restricting in what I wanted to do as you can't change lenses for different applications like you can with a DSLR so I changed.
The wife continues to use the Panasonic (as it's not too complicated) but I strongly recommend that you get the printed manual (or .pdf file) as there are many features that you may not be aware of.
The biggest and only drawback as far as I am concerned with the Panasonic is the inherent noise generated in the pictures which you can lessen with software like Neat Image but you cannot entirely do away with it. Some people find it unacceptable (compared to DSLRs) but for the price you are being asked to pay, I would say it's one of the best of its type. It is a discontinued model now and getting accessories for Panasonics can be difficult in the UK.

So have a read of the professional review and if you have any further questions please ask (we all had to start to learn so don't feel embarassed to ask).

Hope this helps.
Mbscad
 
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