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My advise is if you are going the DSLR route (which I recommend) don't focus too much on the body at this point, in fact get a cheap used body, I would spend my money on good lenses, if you look after them they will last many many years and will hold their value well, bodies on the other hand get old and loose value fast, if you go DSLR your first choice would be (IMHO) to go with Canon or Nikon because like me 10, 20 years from now when you have a ton of money invested in lenses its just too expensive to switch. I am a Canon man but these companies go in cycles as to who has the nicest bodies and right now I think that Nikon is in the lead, a year from now it could swing back to Canon.
Having said all that, if you are not looking to get into photography as a hobby then I would say the DSLR route is probably not the way to go, for example I have just bought a little point and shoot for my wife that has a lens that can reach further than my 1D & 100-400 (thats $7000 woth) and thats optically not digitally and takes some great photos.
http://pages.samsung.com/ca/galaxycamera/English/

I am seriously considering a Nikon Coolpix p510. Its a bridge camera but has 42x zoom (which translates to almost 60 - 1000mm!) and retails for only R4K. The reviews on this camera are generally very positive.

Arks, I've just bought a Panasonic FZ200 and so far I'm having great fun with it. The 24 x optical zoom is great with f2.8 all the way to full zoom. Pic quality is good enough for me as my reason for getting it is really as a video cam fill in until I can find find the right replacement for my dedicated video camera.

It shoots good quality HD video at 100 fps which gives great slow motion for wild life. Having a 600mm lens in a small camera like that is unbeleivably convenient

Only thing i dont like so far is the manual focus, but that may just require a little more practice. Of course the write time between shots takes a bit of getting used to after an SLR, but we cant have everything for R6000.

Thanks, Hawk! It's very helpful to have feedback from someone who's actually using this camera. It sounds great on paper, but I know that there will also be 'adjustments' -- like the write time -- to those differences from the DSLR. However, the older I get, the less happy I am with lugging around my heavy collection of bodies and lenses. This FZ200 sounds like a reasonable alternative if I can get used to the limitations.

Massimo, who can you recommend in or around the 'Vale? I know Kameraz in Rosebank, but I would prefer someone closer. (A camera specialist, of course)

Arks, i have the FZ200 already for over a year and used it twice in Kruger
Easy to use, great optics and a very good images
But dont go above ISO 400
Does get a bit grainy.

And one of the best features is filming
Quality if great

Bert, how have you found the manual focus? Is the little slider on the left of the lens the only control for man focus? I found it very sensitive and very dificult to control, but I must admit that I havn't spent too much time on the camera yet, having only had it for a week.

Also wondering if the expanded view for focus assist can be reduced in size to just a centre portion of the evf. I find it confusing when the whole screen zooms suddenly.

Hi Hawk
You have to slide the control a few times and then it will focus.
Its the only manual focus but it doesnt perform all to great in moving grasses and branches.

Never use the expanded view for focus assistent

Thanks Bert, will have to practice it a bit.

Still need to upload some images

Always shoot in RAW and lightroom is essential for me here
Use the function noise reduction for ISO 250 and higher. work very well
Have lightroom 3.0

Thanks bert
And further thanks to you and Hawk for the continued discussion of features of this camera. My problem now is that I haven't yet found one locally that I can take a look at. My usual camera store doesn't yet stock it

very good test review

Arks , you cant go wrong with this one
My SO has the very older one (without movie features) Z30 and still works like a charm

A alternative might be the Fujifilm HS50EXR
http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/conten ... Review.htm
A friend of mine has one and very happy with it.
Mind you, with the lens fully extended its bigger and less easy to handle then the Panasonic

Here you have a video review of the Panasonic
http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/conten ... Review.htm

Good luck Arks

Thanks, bert I'd seen the dpreview review but not the others. And I've also seen some excellent pix shot with the Canon SX50 HS. But I really like the idea of the Panasonic's 2.8f lens, which must counterblance (at least to some extent) the need for higher ISO?

You are correct Arks.
And its very good good optics (Leica)

I have a consumer body (Canon 550D) with some nice glass (Canon 100-400 L IS USM). The body if you can find it will cost around 5 grand new and the lens is up around the 17k mark right now.

I would go DSLR if you thinking of expanding in the feature. By the kits, they offer lenses which arent to bad, in fact the 55-250mm lens i got with the 550D kit took this image.


Found Here

But then the good glass with a decentish body with 18 megapixels gave me this

Found here