My Panasonic Lumix FZ28 is 15 months old and I’m still using it over my D60!

The title may sound ridiculous. Yes. In terms of overall image quality, my Nikon D60 still has the edge. However, in certain aspect and under certain circumstances, my 15 month old Panasonic Lumix FZ28 is no doubt better than my DSLR, or even most of the DSLR in the market. “Are you sure?”

I’ve been using both compact camera (FZ28) and DSLR (D60) for more than a year now. None of the reviewer will review the same camera again after owning them for 1 year. Most of them don’t even own them in the first place. So, they can’t tell you the actual experience of 1 year usage. Not even 3 months (that was why I did also a confrontation test over these 2 cameras before). Nobody can tell you the actual advantages of using them after that long (or maybe there are?). Since I own these 2 gadgets, and I don’t have plan for upgrade yet, I might as well note them down here.

Since there are still people searching through the web (also this blog) for FZ28 and D60 reviews, I decided to disclose these advantages of an ultra-zoom compact camera (FZ28) over the DSLR (D60) here.

1. Live Histogram. Lumix FZ28 (or most of the compact’s) has it and D60 (or most of the DSLRs) hasn’t got it. Histogram is a very important and useful feature of digital cameras. It tells you the actual key tomes and exposure of your photo. Don’t rely only on your camera LCD.  It’s not accurate. It shows the JPEG image processed by your camera to suit the LCD viewing. Slight under or over exposed shot could not be seen from the tiny LCD until you download it to your computer. The only way to know from your camera whether the photo you just taken has the optimum or desired exposure is from the histogram feature (if you haven’t seen the histogram, check it out by pressing the joystick of FZ28 or the navigating down button of D60. You will see a histogram to show you the amount of lights captured by the sensor. Towards the right are highlight and towards the left are shadows). Both FZ28 and D60 has this feature. The difference between them which is important for fast action shot or ‘one chance only’ shot is the Panasonic has it LIVE on LCD when you compose shot. The Nikon can only check the histogram after the shot. If you shoot under complex lighting and your camera’s metering couldn’t get it right on spot, and you found it to be much under or over exposed, you have to compensate your exposure and shoot again. Off course, this doesn’t cause any hassle if you are shooting landscape or buildings. Imagine this, if Beyonce or Barack Obama is posing for you once for only 10 seconds or so, can you shoot, check histogram and tell her to pose for you again?
   
2. Shooting Macro. Don’t bombard me first. Off course DSLR can shoot macro if you have a dedicated macro lens costing no less than USD500 like the Tamron SP60 or Nikkor Micro 85mm. But the flexibility and easiness to shoot macro with a compact camera is still better. Macro photography is all about sharpness and Depth Of Field. Image has to be sharp and DOF has to be adequate to reveal much details of the object. Thanks to its puny sized sensor, FZ28 can shoot macro anytime with ease. You don’t have to have plenty of lights to capture it but still able to get sufficient DOF. Even I use my D60 attached with Tamron SP60, I’ll need strong sunlight and small aperture up to F22 to capture the same object as with my Lumix FZ28 without exotic lens and sunlight and wide open aperture of F3! The end result of compact camera could be as sharp!
   
3. Ultra tele-zoom up to 18x or 486mm!! Do you know how much is a Nikkor 300mm F4 telephoto lens? USD1,400!! It weighs over 1.4kg and measures 222mm long!! Even if you use cheaper option of fixing a teleconvertor lens to extend your existing lens by 2, you still need to pay USD500! A brand new FZ28 (current model would be FZ35) camera cost me only USD420 a year ago!!

These are the critical reasons why I’m still using it alongside my Nikon D60 after 15 months. However, other than these 3 aspects (Yes. Only 3), I still love my DSLR. Under most circumstances, DSLR is still better in producing crisp, clean and nice images, as long as you spend enough money to invest some excellent lenses and accessories, and very importantly, spend enough time…  – Travel Feeder.