Hi Jacqui,
I can tell you the settings that work for me. I've taken nearly 130,000 pictures with the FZ28, so I've tried most settings to get to the ones I'm happy with.
I mostly use Aperture Priority, as this gives the widest aperture possible, so the fastest shutter speed. It's best to leave Aperture Priority at it's defaults, and set it up as a Custom Setting. In case you don't know how to do this; turn the dial to Aperture Priority (an "A" will show in a red box top left of the screen), then save it as one of your Custom Settings (for instance C1). Then turn the dial to select "C1", now you can adjust settings without altering the main Aperture Priority settings. My settings are as follows:
Focusing = Spot (I change this depending on the situation, Multi is better for birds in flight)
Metering = Centre Weighted (I change this depending on the lighting, but not often)
I.Exposure = Standard
Intelligent ISO = ON
IS Mode = 2
White Balance = AWB (sometimes it gets it wrong, but not always)
Contrast -1 (helps to limit blown highlights)
Saturation 0
Sharpness -1 (less noise, and you can sharpen later)
Noise Reduction -2 (more detail, and you can reduce noise later if needed)
Leave everything else to their defaults, then save to C1 again. Now you've a custom Aperture Priority mode which is fine 99% of the time. I might have forgotten a few settings, if so, I'll edit this post if and when I remember.|=)|
Have a look at my
Gallery to see if the results are OK for you (no need to comment, just look|=)|). EXIF data is embedded in all my pictures, so you can see what my settings were: