I have a new camera.
It’s a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS4 and baby, I think I’m in love. Up until now, almost all the photos on this blog have been taken with a Panasonic Lumix FZ20, which we bought for nearly $800 in 2004. Compared to today’s cameras, it’s almost archaic, offering only 5-megapixel resolution. But it has a magnificent Leica lens, takes wonderful photos and, after a short tutorial from über photo-whiz Chris D, I’ve been able to make it do everything I want it to. Except be small and compact, so that it could fit in my handbag.
Yesterday, I decided I needed a “pocket” camera (can you tell that I’m a child of the 70s?). Preferably a Panasonic one, so that I wouldn’t have to relearn menus and functions – I’m very hard-wired in that way. Today, I bought the base model of the Lumix range , and I’m completely astounded by how far the technology has come in just a few short years.
Firstly, this tiny camera – less than 10cm x 6cm x 2cm in size – takes 8MP photos. And this was the bottom of the range – everything else was 10 and 12 meg.
Secondly, it has a rechargeable battery (a Pete prerequisite – he refuses to pay for disposable batteries), an adjustable white balance (my prerequisite – I hate the blue and red cast from fluorescent lights) and best of all, an adjustable ISO, which means I was able to take all the photos below without a flash.
Thirdly, and this is the kicker, this highly featured, seriously cool little camera cost…$169. That’s less than a sack of Belgian chocolate or dinner for one at Tetsuyas and about 20% of what we paid for our original Lumix camera five years ago. We brought it home, charged up the battery and took it for a test run at the Canterbury Leagues Club.
The fact we were having dinner at the Leagues Club made Kara and Christina smile, so I’ve taken lots of photos to show them how interesting the place really is. It has some unusual features, starting with the large fountain you pass on the way in, which turns into a fire display at about 7pm (weather permitting).
Walking into the foyer always reminds me of large Asian hotels – complete with waterfall, tropical pond and recorded bird calls.
The club has an independently operated Chinese restaurant, which does a great Peking Duck. It’s always divided into two courses, beginning with the duck pancakes – a piece of crisp duck skin, dressed with shallot, cucumber and sweet sauce, then wrapped in a soft flatbread. This is followed by San Choy Bow, in which the leftover duck meat is fried with bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, Chinese mushrooms and sauce, then served in lettuce cups. These photos are for Chris’ son, the Finicky Eater, who is a mad keen foodie and will one day be a Masterchef judge – I’d almost bet money on it.
Can you believe all these photos were taken at night time, without a flash or tripod? Under fluorescent lights? On a camera that cost $169? And they are SOOC – straight out of the camera – which means I haven’t had to adjust or fix them up in any way.
I am completely smitten with this little gem. Watch out for more photos of the big wide world in days to come!
In case anyone’s interested, we bought our Lumix from Ted’s Cameras. Note that it didn’t come with a memory card. This is absolutely not a paid ad, and I suspect that if you hunt around, you might even find it a bit cheaper.
Edit: even cheaper at Bing Lee at the moment – $149!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Nice one Celia. We’re rather fond of the Lumix range too. We have an older FX07, our pocket camera, still going strong after a few years. And a newer FZ28 which is pretty awesome but not in the pocket category. 18xzoom though which makes up for everything else. This one’s still in the more expensive bracket but worth every cent. Good manual controls, awesome Leica lens and the zoom is incredible. Works out to essentially 27mm to 500mm. Great for travelling and I’ve used it to shoot at concerts in low light and the results are very good indeed.
It seems to be that Panasonic and Cannon really have the digital camera market sewn up.
It’s funny you should say that, Kris. I used to be a Olympus fan, back in the days of film, so I thought about getting an Olympus compact as well. But the guy in the shop said Olympus and Nikon really seem to have dropped the ball with the compact digitals, they just don’t seem to do as good a job on them as they do with their SLRs. Olympus in particular use proprietary cards, which means they’re massively more expensive in terms of on-costs.
I’m still shaking my head over how cheap the Lumix was. Great buys on it at the moment – it was $230, now down to as little as $150. Honestly, that’s cheaper than some of the toy cameras they make for kids. I think our original Lumix is the older version of your FZ28 – it has a 36 – 432 zoom. Can’t knock that. Only downside is you can’t push the ISO very much (only to 400), so it’s not great unsupported in low light. Having said that, the Leica lens is spectacular.
I can feel camera mania coming on. I told Pete today I feel like Mr Toad sitting on the road after he’d been knocked out of the caravan, looking at the speeding car and saying “beep beep” with a vacant stare in my eyes. Ok, maybe that’s an analogy only people with small children will get.. :)
Ah yes, it does look like your FZ20 is an earlier version of ours. After looking at that review, it makes me want to get the instruction book out for my camera now that I’m kinda used to it so I can use it to its full extent. I think the ISO on mine goes to 3200 so they’ve obviously upgraded a few things! Also, the video is HD and is amazing. Have you got that on your new one?
I used to be a minolta fan and have a couple of their SLRs but they seem to have gone by the wayside now. Still good cameras though but it’s hard to justify dusting them off when the digital compacts are so good and small.
Re the cards, the SD cards are SO cheap now, it’s almost not worth thinking abot. Even the post office sells 8GB cards for $40. My first memory stick was 1 GB and cost me $200! I’d better not start down that route though or I won’t shut up!
We picked up a 4GB card for $30 and a 2GB one for $15. Can’t believe there’s 8GB at the post office! And it’s just soooo much space – the 4GB can take heaps of video or over a thousand photos. The nice thing is the rechargeable battery – I remember feeding our first digital camera on a steady diet of Energizers. That was when a 3meg Kodak point and shoot cost over $500. I think it’s nice how quickly things are coming down in price – I feel like I’m perpetually getting a bargain! :)
Ha, our first digital was a Kodak DC215 1.3 meg back in 99. We were the first people we knew to have one for quite a long time. For a very long time people couldn’t believe the photo was right there on the back of the camera. And we could just delete at will. The fun of being an early adopter!
Hi Celia,
i love your site and all your stories and recipes. I’m a food tech teacher and i will be recomending my senior students peruse your site regularly next year. So many of your tips and bits of info are spot on and so clear. Well done!
I thought i’d mention that i too am a huge fan of the Lumix camera. I got mine for my birthday a few years ago and the key requirement was it’s ability to take good pictures of food. We are now onto our 2nd Lumix at school (there was a bit of an accident with the first) and my students love using it. They get such a thrill out of photographing their work; and i have to admit their food styling skills have definately improved.
I’m also in the midst of some Christmas baking so i’m sharing your enjoyment and enthusiasm for homemade edible gifts.
Thanks again for your hard work and willingness to share your thoughts and ideas with others.
Wow, thanks for the fantastic feedback, Jo! It’s been a few months now, but I still thrilled with my little Lumix – it really is fantastic, particularly in low light.
I’d love to know what you’re making for Christmas… :)
A couple of things – these Christmas gift tags might be useful, and secondly, I’m currently having a giveaway, which you might want to enter!
Cheers, Celia