New camera

I ordered a new camera last weekend, and it just arrived today. This makes it my fourth digital camera.

I've wanted a new camera for a while, ever since I've had need to have better optical zoom from my ultracompact Minolta. The Minolta was a big compromise for me, since I really liked having a powerful telephoto lens like the 12x (35-420mm equivalent) I got from my Panasonic DMC-FZ1.

I originally got the Minolta (DiMage X50) for two reasons:

1. The FZ1 was too big to carry around, and I wanted a camera I can take with me everywhere.
2. The FZ1 was only 2 megapixels (compared to the X50's 5mp)
   

I figured that since I rarely had the opportunity to make use the ultra-zoom I got from the FZ1, I wouldn't miss it all that much. Well, I kinda did. Plus despite its lower resolution, the pictures I got from it typically looked better than the X50's (when sized-down).

So I began looking for a middle ground--something that was more compact, but provided a higher zoom than the 3x optical found on most digital cameras. Eventually, I decided on the Panasonic DMC-TZ3, a compact (though not ultracompact) 7.2 mp, 10x optical zoom camera (28-280mm equivalent).

Here we have a size comparison with my very old, regular-sized Olympus camera, and my ultracompact X50. As you can see, it's a good size bigger than the X50, but still much smaller than the average point-and-shoot camera. The FZ1 was much larger than the Olympus, so lugging it around was no picnic, although there are plenty of larger cameras out there.

This should help put it into better perspective--compare the sizes with a "credit card."
(It's actually a refrigerator magnet that looks like a credit card, courtesy of American Express.)

Obviously, it's also not as slim as the ultracompact cameras. Still, it's not bad, especially considering that it has 10x optical zoom. The lens does extend out once you turn it on, and will extend even more when you push it to the full 10x, but the point of a compact camera is so that you can carry it around with you with more ease, which means the "off" position is what you'll have it on while you're going from place to place... so the extended lens size wouldn't be a factor.

Now, compared to the FZ1, it may not be as noticeable from the front how much larger the old Panasonic is...

...but if you look from the different angle (or see them in person), you can immediately tell the difference. Even when turned off, the FZ1 has quite a long barrel (compared to traditional telephoto cameras with the same amount of zoom, however, it was quite small).

Even when fully extended, the TZ3 is still slimmer than the FZ1 when off. With both fully extended...


Along with the camera, I also ordered an additional battery (from the same site), a 4 gigabyte, Extreme III SDHC card (from Dell), and a carrying case (directly from Panasonic). The camera is the first to arrive, the carrying case is on its way, and the memory card has not shipped yet. Normally, this is the part of the blog where I start bitching about the online store's service, but not this time. See, this time, Dell was very prompt in informing of the shipment delay, so I know exactly what to expect. The other stores I complained about never bothered to let me know of any shipping/stock issues, leaving me in the dark regarding the status of my order--that's what I was really complaining about.

So for now, I'll be using my older, 2GB Ultra II SD card in my new camera.