New Toy

Although I have only had my current camera for less than a year, I have put around 30,000 photos through it. That’s my justification for ordering a new camera – not that I need to justify it to anyone! It’s the latest version (Panasonic Lumix FZ38) of the same camera I have at present, and it’s not released until later this month. I shopped around for the best deal of course, and the company I ordered it from claims they will have their stock in on the 14th August. Everyone else reckons it won’t be out until the 23rd, so I am not holding my breath for the 14th. Being a real gadget freak, I am very excited about having another new toy to play with. It has a brighter lens at full zoom (f4.4 against f5.6 on my old one); a lower ISO (80 against 100); better image stabilisation (and I was extremely impressed with the old one!); superior HD video (not that I use the video function that much); and more mega-pixels (12 against 10 – although I find this a bit of mixed blessing; they do take up so much more room on the disk/memory card). All in all it is a better camera. The only function I am concerned about on the new camera is being able to set minimum shutter speed. I find that facility really useful on the FZ28, but the specification I have read about the FZ38 does not mention this. I hope that is just an oversight on the write-up. Watch this space.