The manual focusing joystick is too inconvenience. If Panasonic design the manual focus by means of focusing ring at the lens and improve the high ISO clarity will make this camera perfect. Overall, a very good cemera if you are looking at AF and bright (daylight) photography.

Easy to use, true value for money.

easy to use, great price, great camera

I bought this camera for a trip to Europe. A friend on the trip quickly regretted the size of his SLR, and the versatility of my camera quickly stole the show. You are able to get the good shots without changing lenses. Not quite the quality of an SLR, but pretty darn close! I have ordered some filters and can't wait to try them out. Love, love, love my camera!

While I have only had this camera 5 weeks I have given it a healthy workout most notably having my daughter-in-law use it to shoot 240 pictures at our youngest daughter's wedding. Some of the shots were up-close and some were long distance shots (more than 30 ft). The resulting pictures were outstanding in picture quality (image resolution)...stunning actually. The optical zoom was so smooth and accurate that distance and lighting from the target did not affect the picture quality. Even in low light conditions the picture quality was good. Had my daughter-in-law used the built-in flash to shoot the low-light pictures, the results would also have been excellent. My daughter-in-law had not used the camera before our wedding... which illustrates the ease of use and intuitive nature of the camera. At one of my grandson's baseball games I took an action shot of him as he swung at the baseball using the optical zoom. I was about 55 -60 feet away. I sent the image to Walmart using their online photo center and asked for an 8 X 10 image. The resulting image was of professional quality. The picture captured the baseball just inches from the bat in exacting detail and color. Even the digital movies I took with the camera turned-out highly acceptable. I can't imagine a better producing camera.

Fun-tastic time with this beauty....feels good just holding it....the zoom works wonderfully and the iA is great for quick shots....the best feature (for me) is the movie mode...wow....so much sharper and clearer than my JVC video cam...m still trying to discover the other functions of the cam....simply wow!!! Great buy, no regrets .....

I like this camera. I love to shoot raw pics, and so far this camera has done everything I needed it to do.

Got my FZ18 late last year. Was kinda disaappointed for a while with the pics that I got until I learned the necessary tweaks and
adjustments for best results. Now I'm enjoying the camera a lot and can see a whole lot of potential in it....what with it's numerous manual options and programmed scene modes. The iA works wonders as well specially for not so easy situations where time for adjustments may not be too short to get the shot at the right time. All that being said, if only it had a much larger sensor as the FZ50, super CCD's of Fuji, or the A640 and G9 by Canon, then t6his would have been a perfect PnS that is all around and very versatile. For now, as long as I keep within ISO200 and below, I should get great pictures. 400s and 800s may have to be very selective and can use a noise PP software (Noiseninja, Neatimage...). Tried neatimage and it sure gives me great looking pics at 400ISO.
Could have given it an excellent if not for that.

First off let me say that I am not a professional photographer but I do like photography as a hobby. I have had mostly small point and shoot Canon Power shot series cameras that have performed well, but this Panasonic FZ-18 is entirely in another league. I can now take shots that I could only dream of before and it has opened up a whole other world in photography to me. The zoom on this is really incredible.
Most of my photography is done outdoors and the zoom is great to capture birds or other forms of wildlife.
I think the battery life is very good. The image stabilization works great, and if you are the type that likes to change settings this camera makes it easy with the joystick they provide on the back of the camera. If you rather stay in auto mode the Intelligent Auto also takes some very good pictures as well.
If you are looking to move up in class from a smaller point and shoot and want a camera with a long reaching zoom, I really feel that you will not be disapointed with this one !

This camera went on a trip to Italy and Greece, and I got amazing pictures without the flash and the zoom is incredible. NO shake even at the longest zoom with no tripod, just hand held. I have 2 complaints however, the battery life is short, only 2 1/2 hours, you must carry an additional charged one if out for the day. I much prefer the AA lithium, they last forever! The other complaint is the LCD screen is very vulnerable, a frame around it would help to protect it from nicks. I recently took pictures at a concert, from the 6th row, no fllash and they are super!

I run an award winning hyperlocal web site and I use the Lumix FZ - series cameras exclusively to produce video. Yes I said video. I have a handful of FZ 7's and one FZ 18 and I loan out the FZ 7's to students and others... they are rugged.

These cameras are less 'intrusive' than other video cameras and their 848x480 progressive video has more resolution than the three chip $2,000 "DV" cameras I've retired.

My experience with them is they get the job done whether it is in the field in demanding (low) light or in the studio where I used them to capture video for green screen production.

I use the still image capability of this camera to supplement video by snapping shots for the 'b-roll' . Even as a drive-by shooting ... these camera get the shot.

Are they perfect? No.

Probably the most common thing you'll hear about these cameras is the graininess of the images when the chip is pushed to ISO 400 - 3200. First, it is not that much worse than other cameras (but not as good as a full DSLR which actually have a larger CMOS chip which means it is kind of like the difference between shooting a large format camera and a 35mm). Anyway, the graininess is not an issue for me. Heck in the heyday of news photography, the use of a 35mm Tri-X pushed to 3200 was sure to get you an even grainier print in black and white than these cameras give. As most of my content is for web-distribution (final image sizes are rarely larger than 848x480) the grain just gives the images a news-ambience. (I've taken photos that defy capture at all such as a car that ran into a house in a dark subdivision ... the image of the car resting against the gas-meter lighted only by a firefighter's flashlight.)

Next to the video capability, the best thing about this is the wide angle view available with the notoriously sharp Leica lens. (The lens is why I first bought these cameras ... cause in photography, it is all about the lens.)

I'm one of those folks who believes the cardinal rule of photography is to get close. With the 28mm (35mm eq.) wide angle setting, this camera obliges.

The things I don't come from a little confusion over placement of controls between the FZ7 and FZ18 ... I find myself setting the camera to manual focus too easily.

The history of the industry is that years is a good active life for a digital camera before obsolescence but what most folks have not realized is that the field is actually getting pretty mature. With 8 megapixels and the lens this baby has, it will be a workhorse for several years. These cameras are light but rugged and promise to be long-term, a good investment.

Indeed, it is going to take improved video in the next series to move me to the next level 'cause I'm quite happy with the FZ18 and even FZ7/FZ8 as they stand. How would one improve the video? Well it is going to take more than the base 720p HD at 15fps to move me ... the resolution is fine but come on, we want full 30fps HD video.

Oh an one more thing, give us a way to put a remote mic a person with this camera.

Color saturation very true-to-life w/o adjustment; OIS provides steady shots even at 18X zoom; "28mm" wide angle shots; high resolution LCD (bright) for focusing OR EVF w/diopter adjustment that really lets you view & adjust focus.
Has face technology & Li-ion battery. SD & SDHC. Great intelligent photo setup, but one which easily allows manual override

well i've only had the camera for about a week and I like the sharpness of the pictures. I still haven't read the manual because we got it one day before my husband went on a trip and even though he probably doesn't even know what megapixles mean he took some really nice shots on the inteligent auto mode. The only thing is that we probably got a camera with so many options we'll never use. I kind of regret not getting the fuji 700 or the kodak 712 since reviews say how easy they are to use. I would recomend this camera for someone who's knowlege is more advanced when it comes to cameras. But i do like the zoom and quality of pictures, even though I have the shakiest hands. I know eventually I'll get use to all the settings (so many) and i'll get the hang of it for now i'll stick to auto. I still have to see if it can take pictures of children and animals at the zoo that don't stay still I'll let you know