Olympus C8080 or Panasonic DMC-FZ20?

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Well, I had my mind made up that I was going to get an Olympus C8080
but someone told me to look at the Panasonic DMC-FZ20 first. While
the OLY definitely seems more robust and has greater resolution, I am
intrigued by the large zoom range with image stabilization on the
Panasonic. I am not sure I would use the extra zoom range but it
would certainly be nice to have it available! Have any of you used
both cameras enough to offer an opinion as to which one takes better
pictures or is more forgiving? I will likely take more pictures of
grandchildren than anything else but the camera will travel on
vacations as well.

Richard

Richard,
I can tell you what I like and dislike about the Olympus 8080, but I have no
clue about the Panasonic DMC-FZ20.

I have owned the Olympus 8080 for 4 Months now, and have gone through it
pretty well. It was actually my 3rd choice, but after reading reviews and
going over the details, controls, I chose to purchase it. I take it you know
your digital cameras or else you wouldn't be looking at this model.

Some of the things I like about the Olympus 8080;
Of course you know the lens is non interchangeable, which I prefer, the
range coverage is adequate and dust free. Very fast start-up times. Well
designed easy to get to controls. Electronic view finder. Long battery
life. Fast zoom and focus. Resolution excellent! Color balance excellent,
but read below. These are some of the key things that I like about the
camera.

Now for some of the things I overlooked.
I wished the viewing in different light conditions were compensated in the
view finder or monitor as in the Canon digitals, where you could quickly see
the color balance at a glance. With the Olympus 8080, you don't get to see
the color balance until the shot is taken, but I'll have to say the
correction is done well. Scares me that I can't view it first.

As with most digital cameras, you can change ISO at will. This is very
important in low light situations. (Oh btw, a monopod is a must! The
Monfrotto 676B with the 3232 tilt head is a perfect choice). You have the
compensation dial to increase or decrease the stops which comes in handy.
However the max on the ISO is only at 400. I wished they could have pushed
it to 800 or 1600. But the resolution at 400 is excellent, so they must
have done this for that reason. For most stage lighting it's good enough.

Olympus software picture package; junk it!
The provided XC card; junk it! The camera accepts both XC and Compact Flash,
but defaults to the XC card unless you pull it out. Buy a compact flash card
and leave the XC slot empty.

The provided lens hood will cause vignetting at wide angle. They won't tell
you this, I found out the hard way.

The normal complaints, don't need all the bells and whistles like; portrait
mode, sports mode, night mode. I wish they would omit these nonsense
buttons. When you get to the high end of digital cameras, the photographer
should know how to use the camera to compensate for these situations.

Overall, it's a user's camera that will take a beating, takes excellent
quality photographs.
Controls you can learn in one evening. Electronic view finder is awesome,
and to toggle back and forth is a breeze and a must.

Any more questions about the Olympus 8080, feel free to email me.
-tom