Successor to Panasonic FZ-50?

I'm looking for a travel and backpacking camera for the times I want to leave my

D200 and various lenses at home. The FZ-50 looks like a pretty good candidate.

The thing is, it looks like Panasonic usually announces new models every couple

of years in July, and I'm guessing the FZ-50 will be updated soon.

 

Is there anything on the grapevine about a potential successor?

I don't have any information at all about any possible successors -- sorry for that!

 

But I can comment a little bit about the FZ50 because I have one. Granted, I mount it on a tripod and use a cable release whenever I can -- an old habit which I refuse to change with either digital or film cameras, of which I have both!

 

I really like the quality I get from this camera! I shoot almost always at ISO 100, so I can't comment on the noise at higher ISOs. But having shot a lot of Tri-X over the years, I doubt it would be that objectionable to me....

 

I have found the 35mm focal length (35mm film equivalent) at the wide end to be a bit of a limit, but not much. When I want to go wider, I use one of my film cameras. And, in the past, I haven't found that angle of view to be much of a limit anyway; a wider lens often includes too much for my liking anyway. I just like to have the option.

 

Also, I haven't knocked it around any, so I don't know how it'll hold up to backpacking and other rigors.

 

But I find the layout and controls to be first-rate, and the lens is terrific at all focal lengths. I'm amazed that such quality can be squeezed out of such a small sensor.

 

I'm in no way connected with any camera company -- I'm just an enthusiast.

 

Of course I've also been really pleased with the camera I had before I got the FZ50, which is a little Olympus SP320 point and shoot -- which I still use sometimes. But I do prefer the FZ50, which is much more versatile.

 

The only other thing I can offer is that the best camera is the one you actually have and are using. If you can wait to decide until new products come on-line, then that's great. But I wouldn't wait if your next important trip is coming up real soon.

 

One more thing: Have you considered one of the current line-up of SLRs? They're really not that much more than an FZ50 and with the right single zoom lens, you'd have it made. I suppose that the FZ50 might still be lighter in weight, but it might be a close call. I really like what Nikon's been doing lately, and if I had the money to spend right now, I'd go get one.

Thanks, Michael. FZ50 owners seem to be pretty much in love with the camera. I just hate to buy it a month before they (maybe) improve on it. I'm considering a Nikon 18-200mm to put on my D200 instead of the FZ50, but that's a considerably bigger and heavier outfit. Decisions, decisions....

I own an FZ30 and have backpacked with it off-trail for several years. I didn't buy the FZ50 because I don't consider adding more megapixels to the small sensor to be an upgrade (nor NR smearing of jpegs). Besides adding yet more megapixels and adding reach to the long end of the zoom, I don't know what an upgrade would include that would make waiting for it worthwhile (unless, of course, it's a new less noisy sensor design).

 

Today, if I didn't own the FZ30 (which I like a lot), I'd buy the FZ18.

Don, I don't know why you'd want to jam all those pixels on the even smaller sensor of an FZ18, although I can see it if it's just for the small size of a backpacking camera. I even liked my FZ5 until I lost it on a car-camping trip. Just a little *too* small, maybe.

I have the FZ-30 and I love it. The reason I bought the camera is for the lens. Yes, it's a noisy camera but using Silkypix to process my images makes the noise virtually disappear while still retaining nearly all the sharpness that the Leica designed lens produces. The ONLY reason I would personally go for an FZ-50 is because it has a TTL hot shoe, while the FZ-30 has a standard hot shoe. What I don't like about the FZ-50 is how the Venus III processing engine smears the images to the point where they look like paintings instead of photographs. I feel this defeats the purpose of using razor sharp optics. You can buy a new FZ-50 at amazon.com for about $500 while the FZ-30 is selling used for up to $800.

 

Loads of pictures I've taken with the FZ-30 can be found here: http://photobucket.com/girlperson1