Camera Labs

I am thinking about breaking out of my shell and buying a halfway descent camera. I have a Canon SD750 and am thinking of upgrading to a FZ50 or 28. My question besides which is better because I've read numerous reviews on both and it seems that whoever has the 50 loves it and the same for the 28, anyway, I was wondering if you could zoom in on the face and blur the background with the fz28. I've read that with the manual zoom and focus on the 50 that you can do that but I'm not sure about the 28. It seems the fz50 is at least $100 more than the fz28, is the 50 worth the price considering it's age? Another concern is that the software or "engine" on the 50 seems to be aging, any comments on that. Again, I am a newbie at photography, I've had several p&s digitals, the one I currently have is by far the best I've had but I've been interested in something more.

Hi jsmith, welcome on-board!

The FZ50 was a wonderful camera, but in digital terms, it's getting on now.

If blurring the background is important to you though, you'll really need a DSLR. See our best buys section and also the Should I buy a DSLR article...

Sorry, what do you mean it's getting on now? I read an article somewhere that said that it would blur the background, have you used one? What do you think of the fz28 as a comparrison, are there others I should consider that aren't panasonic? Any word of an new model replacing the fz50?

he has reviewed both...

newer cameras have crisper images by increasing MP and hence noise when viewed at 100% (all compacts are bad at 100% anyway)

when it boils down, the FZ50 is just the FZ18 with a fixed barrel and ring control, it mimics dSLR traits not reproduces them,

yes the Z50 has more control but ...there isn't a world of difference.

saying that...

olympus or nikon have announced a camera like the FZ50

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Sony W110 7MP, 4x
Fuji s5600. 5MP, 10x.