Review by hrhken for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ40 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 24x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)
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Just received my Panasonic Fz40 from Amazon. I have several other cameras incling a

Lumix point and shoot, and a DSLR. I was looking for something that had DSLR quality in a small package, with strong zoom. Well, I found it ! This camera will bring out the photographer in you. Indoor, and outdoor shots look great. Because of the very long zoom, a tripod or VERY steady hand may be necessary for best results.

It is packed with many features. Most you will find yourself using. Be sure to spend some time with the instruction manual. Both the CD and quick guide. Get ready to read over 100 pages.

For experienced users, you can jump right in. Or use it as a point and shoot.

Image quality is excellent, however, I keep my ISO near 100, if possible. At 400, the noise creeps in like most digital cameras. This is another winner for Panasonic.

Run, don’t walk, to get one !

PS the video is great also.

Review by Jim for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ40 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 24x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)
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I have been searching months for an inexpensive but good quality digital camera and have made the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ40 my choice.

I based my purchase on image quality, range of zoom, ease of use, and price. This lightweight camera is amazing with it’s ‘ai’ (auto intelligent)

engine! Most all my shots are left on this mode. I have only had this camera a week and I am no professional photographer by far but this is a fun camera to experiment with, whether your

into outdoor landscapes or macro, closeup shots of flowers or insects, etc. It’s nice that Amazon has customer reviews and let them post their

photos here, made my decision alot easier. Check out my variety of experimental photos on customer images! -Jim

Review by Ian Jennings for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ40 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 24x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)
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It’s too early for me to give a full review as I’ve only had this camera for 2 weeks and took it on a vacation trip. First BEWARE. You need 52 mm filters for this camera, not 46 mm as Amazon suggests. Maybe the FZ35 had 46mm??? I’ve just had a 46mm polarizer delivered and it’s too small.

The zoom is amazing. When using movie mode, I zoomed right in from wide to telephoto and the focus was spot on the whole way. The camera is so light, which is why I chose it over the Canon equivalent. The batteries are expensive, but lasted a week and I filled a 4 Gb card before i needed to recharge. You can keep your AAA battery cameras, far too heavy to carry around for my liking.

The manual focus override is useful. I’m struggling a bit with the various auto focus options on non-movie modes, so have been overriding until I learn more. the instruction manual(on CD) is a 233 pages long! The intelligent auto will suffice more often than not.

There are too many features though. Like cars, cameras are just getting too damned complicated. It’s the 80/20 theory I guess. I’ll use 20% of the features 80% of the time. I’m sure any 8 year old kid will be able to show me how everything works though! How old am I? My first camera was an Agfa Sillette, I used flash bulbs! I’ll say no more……

Review by K. Balo for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ40 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 24x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)
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I got this camera a week ago. After seeing some reviews and samples from FZ100 and FZ40, I had low expectations. The first night I took pictures under random settings. Surprisingly I got acceptable results. I have 6 MP Canon rebel and 10 MP Nikon Coolpix. This camera surpasses both in term of resolution and sharpness. I have a Sonny CVX500 HD video camera. FZ40 takes very good video footages, however in terms of image stabilization for the videos the Sony CVX500 does much better job.

Pros:

Raw image

very fast start up

fast focusing

a lot of different settings

Good image quality in low ISO

good zoom 24X

very realistic image colors

Long battery life

Flash quality is very good

Cons:

Price dropped from $400 to $350 in 10 days.

Relative blurry and noisy images in ISO 1600 and above

No raw setting with IA setting

Can not take picture while shooting videos

I found a software bug in this camera, under specific settings the face recognition utility freezes the camera most of the times.

Review by JamesC for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ40 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 24x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)
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I’ve owned the FZ-40 for 6 days.

As an active traveler, I have used several different cameras. You really can’t go wrong with any of the mega-zoom point and shoots – they all have their pros and cons.

However, the Panasonic FZ-40 is probably as good as P&S’s will get with the current technology. Some day someone will figure out how to get a bigger and better sensor to work with a mega-zoom lens, but until then, the FZ-40 is my choice.

This camera is easy to use, quick focusing, and has all the manual adjustments and flexibility you will ever need. It’s well-designed and built for the active photographer. It also has a long battery life, but finding replacement batteries is a problem that Panasonic needs to clear up fast! Image quality is excellent compared to its competitors. Image stabilization is outstanding, even at full 24X zoom I don’t need a monopod or tripod (I need one with my Olympus SP-800). The zoom is also quiet and smooth. ISO looks good up through 800. I’m still experimenting with macro shots – I’m not real happy yet, but it’s probably me. I can’t tell a lot of difference between normal and fine JPEG’s, except for the file size. The EVF is very good – I can’t live without a good view finder. I’ve tried zooming in the wilds with an LCD screen, and it just doesn’t cut it!

All in all, I rate this camera as excellent. I considered the FZ-100, but decided I did not need, nor want, the extra features. Besides, I’ve always had good results with the small CCD sensors.

I’ve posted some sample pictures here in the customer images section.

Review by J. Zeiser for Canon PowerShot SD940IS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-inch LCD (Silver)
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I just received my Powershot SD940. Originally I had purchased the Powershot SD780, but when this one came out two days later I returned it. I liked the bigger LCD on the 940 rather than the 780′s smaller LCD with an optical viewfinder. The 940 also has a 4x optical zoom compared to the 780′s 3x optical zoom. Something else I had not noticed until I received the product is that the 940 has an updated menu system. The menus are laid out more logically and can display help menus to inform the user of the cameras functions and options. This feature is not offered on the 780. After owning both cameras, I would recommend upgrading to the Powershot SD940 unless you need an optical viewfinder. The 940 offers better zoom, bigger LCD, updated menus, and stronger performance (I found that the menus operate more smoothly and with much less lag than the 780). These are both great cameras, and I should note that the 780 is a bit smaller and lighter. Unfortunately they both have rather flat buttons that are not raised above the surface which made it a bit hard to operate at first, but I quickly got used to it. I still STRONGLY recommended!

Review by Fleur for Canon PowerShot SD940IS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-inch LCD (Silver)
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Having finally decided that it was time to replace my reliable old Canon Powershot A95, I went ahead and bought this brand-new model, based on the fact that I’m already familiar with Canon products and I’ve liked what I’ve seen. The new camera definitely delivers, and I’m happy I chose this over a super-zoom model that wasn’t anywhere near as compact.

Pros: Much, much less shutter lag than my five-year old model (not surprisingly!), very quick start-up and equally quick focus, sharp and clear photos, accurate color, and remarkably compact considering all the features — fits easily into a pocket. The wide-angle is a bonus, although I haven’t had a chance to play with it much yet. The software that comes with the camera is the updated version of the older software I had, and is easy to learn and use.

Cons: yes, the battery has to be removed to be charged, but this is a very minor inconvenience and is no different than previous models. However, scrolling through the menus to get to the various settings is a bit of a time-consuming drawback, mostly because I was used to being able to select modes directly from a scroll wheel on the older model.