I've looked at and read reviews of comparable fixed zoom cameras from Olympus, Cannon, Nikon, Fuji, Sony, etc. and this Panasonic has all of them beat. Now that I have actually bought the camera and had a chance to test it out myself I am extremely satisfied with it. Comparing it against a much more expensive digital slr is sort of silly in my opinion, you can also argue for benefits of having a more compact/lighter camera with one lens that goes from wide angle to super zoom and quickly and the high quality HD video is a huge bonus. The only gripe I have is with noise at higher ISO speeds, but this is about average for cameras in this class and is better then most of the others and the lens has good f stop opening for its long range. As long as you set the ISO to not shoot above 200 for shots that you want the lowest noise, it is excellent. If you are into night shots or action shots where you might need blowups for cropping it isn't a problem, even at ISO 400 for prints up to B... Read more

I've had the FZ47 for about a month and a half, and, so far, I am very satisfied with it. Here are my initial impressions:

Likes:

24x zoom range -- going down to a 35mm - equivalent of 25mm wide angle! Lots of times I've been in a situation where I can't back up far enough to capture the entire scene -- the 25mm wide angle position will really help in such situations.

Resolution and the image stabilizer

The electronic viewfinder (EVF): I wear bifocals, so in addition to LCD's sometimes being hard to see outdoors, I always have to crane my neck to have the LCD in focus -- the EVF eliminates that problem.

The AVC FSH movie resolution & the "zoom" mikes.

The "intelligent" dynamics option -- I have a shot I've tried to take with my 2 previous digital cameras (Nikon Coolpix 2500 & Canon A710is) -- because one side of the scene is brightly lit and the rest is in deep shadow. In the old days in a darkroom I would have dodged &... Read more

Now that I've had this camera for a couple of weeks, here are my thoughts.

The Good: Very nice lens that will really get out there, very low distortion even on maximum zoom. It's fast for a bridge camera, as fast as some DSLR cameras. It has a full manual mode and it's intuitive, so if you already know how to use a manual camera, it'll only take a few minutes to come up to speed; it also has full manual focus, a welcome addition. Takes HD video. Quality on photos and video is very good. This camera does better than some other bridge cameras at higher ISO settings, although its small sensor still can't compare with a DSLR or EVIL camera. Comes with lens hood, battery pack, charger, neck strap, and lens cap and strap. Accessories including filters, a lens protector, and an additional zoom lens (!) are available for purchase if you need them.

The Bad: not much to report here. The initial setup instructions are omitted from the printed manual, only... Read more