www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

With my birthday money this year I decided to buy myself a decent camera. Funds are quite limited so a dslr is out of the question, think that will happen once the children have grown up and left home!
After checking this forum and searching the internet I decided that I wanted a panasonic FZ35. I finally found a site that sold reconditioned ones as they are not sold new any more. I placed my order 3 weeks ago and finally today they tell me that actually there are none in stock and they are refunding my card.
Now do I keep hunting for a FZ35 or go for something else? Has anyone had experience of the FZ45? I would really like a camera that takes pictures of the quality that the FZ35 does.

Hi Rebecca

I believe FZ35 is the American designation and in the UK the FZ38 is the same camera.
I picked one of these up second hand off e-bay last winter and so far am very pleased with it.
The FZ45 is the replacement model but I am not sure what the differences / improvements are.

Cheers,

Neil.

I'm currently using an FZ45 and find it more than satisfactory. It's basically the same as the popular FZ38 with a few improvements, the most notable being x24 zoom from x18.

Thank you very much for your replies. I did mean the FZ38 not 35, I think browsing the internet confused me!

I have decided to still go for the 38, it seems that the general view is that whilst good the FZ45 and 100 are not as good as the FZ38. So I'm watching about 10 different ones on ebay. Hopefully I will get one before the sun comes out and the wind dies down.

Thanks again.

I bought a secondhand FZ38 this year and am very happy with it.

I also recently bought the close-up lens as well (Panasonic DMW-LC55E Close Up Lens + Panasonic DMW-LA3E Lens Adapter). I would say that's a bit of a mixed blessing - on the plus side, the butterfly looks bigger (i.e. occupies more of the frame) but on the negative side, it seems that the maximum distance you can focus on the butterfly from is about a foot - which is ok with docile butterflies but some butterflies are difficult to approach that closely! But maybe I haven't figured out how to use the close up lens properly.

My FZ38 arrived at 8.30am and I'm chuffed to bits So far I've worked out how to turn it on and how to zoom Think I might have to sit down after work and read the instructions.
You wouldn't believe I have a GCSE in photography, although things have changed since the slrs we used over 20 years ago!

Glad your pleased with your camera Rebecca. I'm still finding my way around the settings on mine too.
I must admit that so far most of the photos I have taken have been using the IA setting.
I have found that I am most comfortable taking shots from 3 or 4 feet away from the butterfly and have found that the zoom on this camera allows me to do this and get results that I am happy with.

Cheers,

Neil.