After 2 months of waiting I finally bought my FZ20 during my trip to Singapore last week. I was in KL before that searching for the best price but all they got is silver unit. Bought my unit at Simlin:
FZ20 standard package including original hard case = S$880(including GST)
512 Kingmax Platinum 60x SD card = S$99(including GST)
62mm Hoya HMC UV filter = S$29
62mm Hoya PL Polariser filter = S$35
Additional third party battery = S$35
Lewepro Nova1 AW bag = S$36
Total S$1114
I was considering getting the FZ10 but the price differenceof is only S$30.
Here is my initial review base on 3 days of use.
The good:
1. I really like the build of the camera which is really solid. The grip is a liitle small but the overall feel of the cam is great.
2. The menu is very simple and nice and the button layout is very practical too.
3. What can I say about the Leica lens...its awesome and the image stabilisation really works.
4. The lens zoom in and out smoothly and very quietly.
5. I really like the manual focus ring. It has a very nice feel and works great.
The bad:
1. This camera is very noisy even at the lowest ISO 80. Image quality is good and sharp but it fall short of being great due to the noise which is very apparent in low light shots. Although it won't show in 4R prints, but you will eventually question yourself if the shots would have been better if the noise were not there.
2. The camera's metering is very poor as it has the tendency to over expose a lot of shots. This happens in most high contrast shots and i have a lot of great shots from singapore zoo that was spoilt because of this!!!
3. Focus at full tele is quite slow.
4. Purple fringing happens to quite a number of my full telephoto shots at high constrast although the color is not purple but red. Those purple fringing in one of the shots are so bad that it can even be seen on a 4R print. Obviously the Venus Engine much touted CA removal is only a hype and doesn't really work.
5. The lens hood is nice but the fit is not. If you screw it too tight, it might interfere with the manual focus ring.
FZ20 standard package including original hard case = S$880(including GST)
512 Kingmax Platinum 60x SD card = S$99(including GST)
62mm Hoya HMC UV filter = S$29
62mm Hoya PL Polariser filter = S$35
Additional third party battery = S$35
Lewepro Nova1 AW bag = S$36
Total S$1114
I was considering getting the FZ10 but the price differenceof is only S$30.
Here is my initial review base on 3 days of use.
The good:
1. I really like the build of the camera which is really solid. The grip is a liitle small but the overall feel of the cam is great.
2. The menu is very simple and nice and the button layout is very practical too.
3. What can I say about the Leica lens...its awesome and the image stabilisation really works.
4. The lens zoom in and out smoothly and very quietly.
5. I really like the manual focus ring. It has a very nice feel and works great.
The bad:
1. This camera is very noisy even at the lowest ISO 80. Image quality is good and sharp but it fall short of being great due to the noise which is very apparent in low light shots. Although it won't show in 4R prints, but you will eventually question yourself if the shots would have been better if the noise were not there.
2. The camera's metering is very poor as it has the tendency to over expose a lot of shots. This happens in most high contrast shots and i have a lot of great shots from singapore zoo that was spoilt because of this!!!
3. Focus at full tele is quite slow.
4. Purple fringing happens to quite a number of my full telephoto shots at high constrast although the color is not purple but red. Those purple fringing in one of the shots are so bad that it can even be seen on a 4R print. Obviously the Venus Engine much touted CA removal is only a hype and doesn't really work.
5. The lens hood is nice but the fit is not. If you screw it too tight, it might interfere with the manual focus ring.
