Jack Neubart

When hiking or traveling with my SLR system, whether 35mm or digital, I prefer hand holding the camera to shoot nature and scenic views. Yet the value of a tripod is not lost on me, especially when confronted with the relatively long exposures required to capture a gracefully cascading waterfall or the warm glow of a sunset, or when employing a long lens with wildlife (especially...

Surprisingly, one or two companies I'd seen at PMA the previous year were noticeably absent this time around, but in their stead were several distributors and manufacturers displaying new studio products. Mobility stood at the forefront in some booths, economical studio flash alternatives in the form of the ever popular but more modestly priced (e.g., amateur friendly)...

While the latest generation of ink jet printers continue to astound us with their enhanced printing technologies, ink jet media--primarily papers--do not fail to grab our attention for one reason or another. While the industry still has not firmly established a uniform testing standard across international lines (British paper manufacturers, for instance, adhere to...

It's not often a camera like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ comes along.
But when it does, it thankfully arrives in several flavors to suit various tastes,
in 4-, and 5-Mp versions, priced at $499 (DMC-FZ15), and $599 (DMC-FZ20), respectively.




For starters, what makes the Lumix FZ stand out is the Leica DC Vario-Elmarit
6-72mm/12x optical zoom lens, which translates into 36-432mm, in 35mm parlance.
More astounding still is the maximum aperture: f/2.8, which defines a fast lens
for this zoom range, one eminently suited to low-light situations. As if that
weren't enough, optical image stabilization should help when shooting
in subdued light at relatively long shutter speeds, a key feature we'll
be testing.