Panasonic viewfinders (1 Viewer)

My wife has until today been using my old Lumix FZ50 with a 1.7 telecon and she has been making a great job of it. She's been having success with birds in flight with it that I never managed when I used it.

Unfortunately she won't be able to do so any more because some thieving toerag snatched her bag with her camera and binoculars from the footwell of our hire car while my back was turned for no longer than three minutes. Two weeks of her trip pics gone, including some stunning close-ups of a Ruppell's vulture.

We are now being pragmatic (or trying to be) about it and looking for a replacement model.

One of the great advantages of the FZ50 was that it has a "proper" eyepiece viewfinder as well as the screen on the back.

I've just been looking at the specs for the FZ45 and the FZ100 and while they make a great show of having a 3" LCD screen there is no mention of an eyepiece viewfinder that I could see.

Can anyone confirm that this is the case, and if so are there any equivalent models that have a proper viewfinder? Screens are usless for bird photography in the field.

Hi, I am so sorry to hear what happened to you. It is beyond belief what some people are capable of isn't it? same thing happened to my mum a few weeks ago with her shopping bag, turned round for a minute and it was gone! Both cameras you mention have viewfinders, although as far as I can tell they are not as good as the fz50's. (please anyone feel free to correct me if am wrong there) As far as the fz100 goes I have read that the photo quality is just not that good compared to other fz's out there, although I haven't owned this camera and there may well be disagreements about this, but it is what I have read many times over. I am not sure about the fz45, but I do know the fz38 has a very good reputation for image quality and can confirm this having owned it. These are all cameras with viewfinders. Also depending on your budget you could always wait for the release of the new fz150 which, so far, is looking pretty good. It is due for release in 2/3 weeks I believe, and does have a viewfinder. Then there is always the option of picking up another secondhand fz50 from ebay etc. if she was really happy with that, hope this helps and good luck, jacqui.

I too am sorry to hear about the loss!

I have the fz18 which has a decent EVF, and the GH2 (which obviously is a very different and more expensive camera) which has an excellent one. Everything I have read indicates that the EVF in later versions of the FZ series just was not on par with the one in fz18.

Niels

njlarsen said:

I too am sorry to hear about the loss!

I have the fz18 which has a decent EVF, and the GH2 (which obviously is a very different and more expensive camera) which has an excellent one. Everything I have read indicates that the EVF in later versions of the FZ series just was not on par with the one in fz18.

Niels

Click to expand...

It is a smaller viewfinder on the later ones but still useable when you get used to it, I had no problems with my FZ45.

Sorry to hear about your loss. I have both the FZ18 and the FZ100. Both have viewfinders. The viewfinder on the FZ18 is bigger than the FZ100, but its also grainier that the FZ100. The FZ100's viewfinder isn't perfect, but I use it all the time, as I hate using the screen for trying to find subjects like birds. If you have to buy an new camera, then wait for the FZ150, it will be out in the next week or so, I have ordered one myself, as it has significant advantages over the FZ100. Things like the "light speed" autofocus, which brings it up to being as fast, if not faster than most DSLR's on the market, plus the addition of an alternative zoom/manual focus lever on the left of the camera. Very handy if you want to zoom in or out while keeping your finger on the shutter button. Image quality is also better, although if you look up FZ100 on Flickr, you'll see some pretty good results from the FZ100.

Thanks folks. there's no panic to replace it for a few weeks as she has a fall-back for home use.

The loss of the photos from this trip is pretty tragic, though. She had some nice ones, including a belter of a Ruppells vulture in profile at very close range flying against a backdrop of wind turbine towers at Tarifa.