Camera Labs

Firstly thanks for a great site, certainly one of the best I have come across. I have been visiting regularly for the past year.

My dilemma is that for some time I have been considering replacing my camera (Olympus C750UZ). I don't really want to go down the DLSR route as like a lot of people I have a lot of redundant SLR kit and have found it far more convenient to carry just a camera with a nice long zoom.

I am very taken by the Panasonic FZ18, but would like the benefit of a flash hot shoe. This leads me naturally to the FZ50, this would accept my Olympus FL-36 and sounds almost ideal for my requirements. However having researched this I am worried by the level of noise. As the FZ50 has been out for over a year it occurs to me that it is probably due for an upgrade, which in the light of the universal criticism of the noise problem and the baby brother's 18X zoom, I would have thought that there must be something in the pipeline (bigger sensor and lens?). However will they do this having just launcher the L10 and risk taking potential customers away from that product?

Any rumours on that front? I am happy to wait a little longer for the right camera.

Hi Pete,

A warm welcome to the CameraLabs forums. It's nice to see a long-time lurker come in from the cold!

You have obviously seen Gordon's reviews so I won't try and duplicate that effort. It sounds like you have also done some searching on the Net to see if there is any news about a successor to the FZ50. It doesn't look as though anything is likely before February/March next year but who knows? I am not sure how relevant the L10 is in this equation, though, as it addresses a totally different market.

Have you considered the Fujifilm FinePix S9600? Gordon reviewed its predecessor here. There are a number of reviews of the S9600 on the web but, to get you started, have a look at this one from Trusted Reviews. I'll quote their verdict:

The S9600 offers only a few minor improvements to what was already an outstanding enthusiast’s camera. If you’ve already got an S9500 it’s probably not worth upgrading, but if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative to a digital SLR, or a second camera for when you don’t want to cart your whole kit around, the S9600 is the best choice on the market.

There are a few forum members who own the S9600 so have a look through the various posts and, maybe, also add a post to the Fujifilm forum asking for feedback. At first glance it seems as though this might be a good contender in your search.

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 Bob for a quick response. The Fuji 9600 is one that I have also looked into. Although it has a hot shoe , this would not be compatible with the Olympus flash that I already have (although I could always sell this and buy another). The other downside is the lack of image stabilisation and also the slightly shorter zoom. However this is high on my list of possibles. I guess that at the moment there is no perfect solution, but a few which come fairly close. Maybe it is a case of wait and see, with the digital camera world nothing seems to stand still for long, does it?

Pete

...until you buy something and then three better models all come along together!

Good luck with your search.

Bob.

_________________
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 Pete, I'm also interested to see if Panasonic updates the FZ50, as it's now the oldest in their range. I'd love to see a version with 28mm wide angle, a bigger screen and the modern trappings of face detection, but if you also wanted to tick the box for lower noise, I think the result would be the L10 DSLR. We can only wait and see, but the next big trade show is at the end of January...

I shoot RAW with the FZ50, then I just flop the pics over to JPG's using the included software. The results are pretty good.