Panasonic LUMIX FZ80D Compact Camera with 20-1200mm Zoom Lens, Point and Shoot Digital Camera with 4K Video/Photo Recording and Power Optical Image Stabilizer - DC-FZ80D

My first digital camera was a Sony Mavica that had 640x480 resolution and saved photos on floppy disks. That will give you some indication of how long I've been playing around with digital photography. For the past several years I had a Canon EOS Rebel T3 with multiple lenses. When I began to travel internationally for work, I wanted something smaller that I could take with me without having to carry both laptop and camera bags. I purchased a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS20 and absolutely loved it. It did everything I needed it to do in truly compact and low-stress "point and shoot."Recently, I've been debating whether to upgrade my Canon and investing in additional lenses or purchasing something new. After much research and soul-searching I opted for what many are calling a "bridge" camera. Although it felt a bit like a step down from a DSLR, I had to recognize that I simply don't shoot the same way that I used to. I no longer photograph weddings or senior portraits and really just needed a good, reliable camera that was compact enough that I would be more likely to take it with me when traveling. More often than not, I find myself using my iPhone because I didn't want to have to haul my camera bag around. There were three main reasons why I chose the FZ80 model. 1. Ease-of-use. I already knew from my previous experience with my point and shoot Lumix that this would be fairly easy to use. 2. Affordability. I couldn't justify the expense of the FZ2500, but felt the features and functions of the FZ80 would meet my needs. 3. Leica lens. Perhaps this is a hold over from my film shooting days, but Leica lenses have a reputation of being extremely high quality. If I was going to be giving up lens interchangeability, I wanted crisp, beautiful photos.I've only had this camera for a week and haven't had much of an opportunity to give it a good trial run, but so far, it's proven extremely easy to use and has resulted in some decent back yard photos. I only gave it 4 stars though due to the low F-stop range. I know it has a post-image editing tool to customize depth of field, but that seems like too much hassle right now for something that is a step above point and shoot. I haven't figured out the WiFi link, yet, but am looking forward to playing with that. I'm also looking forward to trying out the video function.The photos below show the "pink" moon on April 10th, a series of shots at different zoom lengths outside of my front door, and some flowers where I played with the various shooting modes.All-in-all, I'm very happy with this purchase. And the best part is that I was able to offset the cost a bit by selling my Canon EOS on eBay.

I needed a reasonably priced camera that can take 4K videos with optical zoom capabilities. 4K cameras these days are so expensive and if you want it cheap, you would go with unknown brands. This camera is from Panasonic, is well reviewed in Amazon and in YouTube, records in 4k, and does 60x Optical Zoom. The Zoom on this camera is more than I expected. You can zoom in on objects that look like ants with your naked eye and it will reveal what you're looking at. The 4K videos are sharp and the colors are fantastic. It's not heavy at all, just a bit bulky because of it's zoom lens, but it is very comfortable to hold. It is a good camera to take on travels -- to capture images that your phone's camera can't zoom in.

In regards to the camera, I got exactly what I set out to get. A cheap bridge camera to help introduce me to serious camera work. The camera quality can get really sketchy when you crank the I.S.O up, so the camera isn't so good for large dark outdoor environments, the flash is pretty good though for close-ups. The camera has a really great zoom feature and holds fairly well. I like how the camera looks and feels in my hands, it's got a pretty intuitive setup and feel though you can tell it isn't a top end camera. It has a ton of automatic feature to cover a variety of photo taking occasions (like people running around or landscape shots , you know, the usual) As far as beginner camera guy can boast, the camera is really nice. The picture quality isn't anything super amazing so you'll need to get those creative juices flowing to make up for that (it's pretty much that way with all cameras right?), though it does have 4k video capability (haven't fully tried it out yet) which is supposed to be a bargain considering other more expensive cameras don't have that.I also really admired Amazon's delivery service. I live in a country which is a little off the beaten track so to speak, so to see a service be so transparent and consistent with the monitoring of delivery was awesome and really gave me peace of mind.I got exactly what I came to get, can't really complain about anything to be honest.Would highly suggest checking out second-hand/out of the box, but back into the box kind of deals, really saved me a lot of money. Can't remember what exactly Amazon calls this feature where they re-sell a pretty much brand new product (and how to find the feature), but it can really help you save a buck or two if you're mindful of that kind of thing.I should have added some photos showing what the camera can do, but I haven't taken any great award winning photos yet (and no one's paying me to duhh)Vinaka vaka levu (Thank you)