Panasonic FZ 50 is nice.

[srf4real]

Needed to replace my Kodak 5mp 10x p+s camera. I thought I would go dslr until finding out haw many lenses I would need to lug to the beach and leave in the sandy backpack while surfing... not really safe to leave $2500 worth of camera equip. alone while I'm 200 yards out anyways. So... I got the FZ 50 10mp 12x super zoom. Excellent so far in bright conditions, good macro mode, still working on noise free low light scenarios. Zoom is superb, also has up to 4x digital zoom for tripod use. So, for convenience and price, very satisfied so far. Quality is better than a high end p+s but, of course not like a real dslr can deliver.

I didn't find anything about one here in MR while doing research, so here is a FZ 50 post!

This was compressed by imageshack, but hopefully some of the original quality shines through.

 

[Over Achiever]

Very nice! I was looking at the FZ-50 (and the FZ-30) for quite some time, but I ended up going with the S6000fd because of price, sensor, and size. I really liked the two thumb/fingerwheel design of the FZ50, fast lens, and the image stabilization, but it was simply too close in price to entry dSLR + kit lens.

One thing I'd like to mention ... I don't recommend using the 4x digital zoom unless you're talking about the "extended" zoom where they use a lower MP image by "cropping" the full MP image. I'd rather shoot at 12x and if I desire, crop the image afterwards. Less degradation in image quality.

Cheers!
-OA

 

[Sinsinnati]

Well I just moved up from a Panasonic FZ-20 to a Nikon D80 and have taken over 15,000 photos with the Panasonic FZ-20. It has been a great camera but I have reached my limit with it. You can find 3,000 plus photos taken with the FZ-20 here: http://www.pbase.com/cincyimages/cincinnati

Enjoy, it served me well and you have the 4th generation of my camera.

 

[srf4real]

Still loving it, but I'm finding that a tripod is neccessary for long distance subject clarity , and the image stabilizer is useless in zooms as well.
but with tripod at 10mp or raw mode, I'm getting astonishing detail with well lit subjects. Any body else using a fz!