Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Initial impression: It's hard to believe what this camera's capabilities are until you've used one. I have bags full of camera equipment including a Mamiya RB-67, Pentax 6x7, Canon 5D Mk2, Canon T2i and a lot of glass so trust me when I say, this camera lives up to the pre-release hype. I originally had my sights set on the Canon SX50 which is a good camera, but falls short of its Lumix peer. My focus was to get an easy to use point-and-shoot camera for my wife since the SLRs were just too much for her to handle - but now she's going to have to fight me for it. I will update this review as I gain more experience with the video and special functions (which there are many) in the future. Until then, I recommend you get one while the price remains well below $400 because I don't think it will stay their long when the word gets out how great this camera performs. UPDATE: After using this camera for nearly 6-months, I am still VERY happy with it and the pictures it produces - and would be glad to share some of the shots. I find the extremes between other reviewers ratings interesting since I have not experienced many of the negatives mentioned and have experienced most of the positive remarks. This camera simply works for me. I've shot everything from sports car road races to retirements to scenery with great success and carrying this 1 lb 7.2 oz camera sure beats the heck out of hauling my 12 lbs of 5D Mk 2, with dual battery pack and 50-500mm Sigma lens around all day plus a couple extra lenses and batteries in a camera bag. I also have no trouble taking my shots to 13x19 inch prints from either RAW or JPEG format files. I've also read this camera is big and bulky. Well, if you wear XXL gloves like I do, it fits just right in my hands. It also works much better in my wife's hands than the DSLRs we have (T2i in addition to the 5D)so she is happy too! The weight is simply not a concern to us as we've both carried it around all day without any problems or side effects. In fact, now that the price has dropped to $249 I'm going to buy another one to keep peace in the family. Several reviewers mentioned soft pictures at the 1000 to 1200mm end of the zoom range. I'd bet your paycheck that most of the problem is camera movement since it is very difficult to hand hold any camera still enough at this extreme magnification to get a super sharp picture - regardless of image stabilization system employed. I've had much better luck using a monopod or even better, a solid tripod (as one reviewer suggested) to get those very sharp long range shots. I also discovered the automatic backlit scene sensing and exposure system when I moved to the fully automatic setting - very effective! But as I said, the proof is in the final product so if you would like to see a sample of images - reply to this review and include your email address and I'll share a few with you.