Camera Labs

I would like to thank Gordon, the site, and all posters for lots of interesting reading !

I have just bought my first digital camera after many years (decades in fact ! shhh !!) of film, both 35mmSLRs and 2&1/4"sq.
I used to do my own B&W processing both film and print and then latterly colour printing but usually from commercially procesed colour film negative and reversal.
Wow! long time ago, almost prehistoric ! And eventually too time consuming

Anyway to cut a long story short :

I have tried to follow the discusions, on the interweb etc, of the digital scene through the 2, 3, 4 etc Mpixel era and thought that it (they) would not satisfy my needs.

And then came the era of the 10x to 18x bridge cameras at affordable prices !

Several candidates, from Fuji - (AAbatteries and recently SD support), Olympus, etc.
all very confusing,,
Panasonic seemed to get consistent good reviews especially on lens quality, but, to an uninitiate the need of a dedicated Lion battery with no spare in the standard box was a bit of a -ve
However, the good review by Gordon, and another good review in another place persuaded me to take the plunge (assisted by a price reduction by my retailer - I was always a sucker for a bargain ! )
and I am now having much fun, wildlife and astronomical, with an FZ18 !

Malcolm,
SW England.

Hello Malcom,

First of all, welcome of the forum. It sounds like you did your research and made an informed choice. I hear many good things about the FZ18.

There are some very knowledgeable astrophotographers here (Bob Andersson is one that comes to mind). Check out some of the threads in the Technical and Scientific Photography forums, I think you'll find a lot of good info and sample photos.

Post some pics when you get a chance, we'd like to see them.

-steve

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Leica M9, Nikon D300s, Leica X1, Canon S95, Zero Image 6x9

Hi Malcolm, congrats on your FZ18 - I think you'll be very happy - it really is the best overall superzoom around right now as far as I'm

Do let us know what you think of it when you've had a chance to play...

Gordon

Hi Malcolm,

May I add my warm welcome to the CameraLabs forums as well as congratulations on your new camera. I hope you'll manage to post a few of your astrophotography shots in the Technical and scientific photography forum. It would be great to see them and they would hopefully act as encouragement for others to have a go, especially if you can give some brief details about how you took them.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Thanks for the nice welcomes

Gordon > Yep, will do.
I am already well impressed with it !
Especially by its sensitivity to faint stars, more later about that. I was sorting through my pics of Comet Holmes from the last few nights preparing to post an example or two and I now see that Bob has beaten me to it !!

And also very impressed with the 18x zoom, it is going to be very usefull.

Steve & Bob >yes, I'll post some stuff in the T&S forum later when I have sorted out my pics and got them up on a website or other host

or not as the case may be, LOL! Mine are not as nice as Bob's !

Malcolm.

Hi Malcolm,

Fortunately the only competition here is in the On Assignment forum. Otherwise this is just a friendly place to meet and exchange tips. I think it would be really useful to see what the FZ18 can accomplish as for some work that slightly smaller sensor can be an advantage.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Hi Malcolm, I think we'd be very interested in seeing any astrophotography examples taken with a non-DSLR. This kind of thing often pushes them beyond their capabilities, so it would be great to see some good examples!