FZ45 or G10 (1 Viewer)

I am hoping some Members may be able to put me In the right direction here.I am thinking of buying a Panasonic G10 or a Lumix FZ45 for some bird photography.I am a birder first,before even thinking about photography but would like a camera to take with me and perhaps getting some half decent,record shots of what I see.

Would welcome anyone's thoughts on this ?

Ben Nevis said:

I am hoping some Members may be able to put me In the right direction here.I am thinking of buying a Panasonic G10 or a Lumix FZ45 for some bird photography.I am a birder first,before even thinking about photography but would like a camera to take with me and perhaps getting some half decent,record shots of what I see.

Would welcome anyone's thoughts on this ?

Click to expand...

Haven't got the FZ45 but have got the it's predecessor the FZ38, have also got the G10 but only with the 14-42 kit lens so don't use it for birding just general photography.
The FZ45 gives you 600mm at the long end but if its anything like the FZ38 images will be a bit soft at extreme telephoto. The G10 option would cost a lot more but pictures should be better.
Personally I would go for the Fujifilm HS50EXR (about £280) which is a bridge camera like the FZ45. It's 1000mm at the tele end and images are excellent (much better than the FZ38 and probably better than the FZ45) plus it's a lot cheaper than the G10 with a long lens. Just my opinion.....

HTH

Nick

Upgraded my FZ45 to a Canon SX50 - it's simply a much better camera. I haven't used the SX40 but from the threads in the Canon section for these 2 cameras the performance isn't far off so if you can find a copy of either at a good price then I would go for either of these or the Fuji that Nick has suggested - I would guess that there is a thread in the Fuji section for this camera.

The image quality from the Canon is much better than the FZ45 plus I find it easier to use. The IS is exceptionally good too

Paul

Some light reading for you:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=252231

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=252231

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=213076

The FZ45 is good but being an older model now it seems a little 'slow' when compared to newer models. We upgraded to the FZ200 and the difference is huge, though some would deem its 24x zoom too little, for me, it's still plenty enough and equates to 600mm, about the same as a 400mm lens on a crop sensored DSLR. The biggest plusses are its leica lens which boasts a 2.8 aperture throughout the range so it's able to gather twice as much light as most others, allowing for lower ISO/ faster shutter speeds and therefore overall better IQ.