In 2001 I had a digital camera with 5MP and 3x zoom. Then I was thinking: "If I have a lot of pixels I can crop and get closer to the subject". This is true, and 5MP that era was a top value! But suddenly I noticed the Lumix FZ1 with 2MP 12x zoom ratio and F: 2.8 for all the focal range. My sons were learning to swim, and you know that in a gym, the light is most artificial and weak, you can´t get close without fall in the pool, far away the flash don´t reach, sports demand quick shutter (the same if you want to make movies) and most zooms get slower at full extension (usually -2 stops or f:5.6). So, the Lumix FZ1 with custom white balance (that era was not a comon feature),12x zoom, f: 2.8 all the way, and (then was very rare) OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) was very interesting. Yes, I know, it´s flash was very weak, but even if stronguer would be useless in that situation. As premium, it would be possible to get movies ! Movies were impossible without 2 stops of aperture, even at maximum iso (that was 400), the short reach of 3x zoom and horrible colors caused by preset inadequate W.Balance. Well, the FZ1 was a sucess! (it still is in my sons hands, seem a tank surviving so much falls) but then I want a review! I compared identical frames at 1X and 3X zoom on both cameras (there was small differences in focal length and I managed to get very close results. Tanks to God I choise a trees panorama from my office window! When I picked in the resulting images using similar ratios, the first thing that shocked me was the difference of colors, one was bluisher than the other... Quickly I starred out the window...The lumix was much closer to the real tree! Then come all surprises... The 2MP images were sharper than the 5MP, in 1x samples and even more in the 3x samples! But this was not all the story! In one the blacks where very dark greys and in the other seemed a bluish dark grey. The light between de leafs flooded much more in the 5 MP sensor. The chroma aberration in the corners... To be short I put the 5MP camera on EBAY (mercadolivre here in Brazil) and learned to be sure, by comparisons, to don´t zoom in the blur.... Actually I´m very happy with a FZ150, and I´m waiting for the reviews about the new FZ 200... probably my Christmas self gift. I own a Canon EOS 450, but I discovered that nigh photos without tripod were impossible compared to mirrorless due to the mirror bump (lights apears as small vertical lines). Even high iso is useles.... you must carry a heavy tripod and do prior lift of mirror when possible to get good results with DSLR... very boring...