Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I love this camera. For an idea of where I'm coming from, I'm a very amateur photographer. I almost always shoot in Auto, and I almost never do any processing, apart from some cropping. I've owned a few cameras prior to this one; I had the Canon G 15, which was excellent, but I wanted more zoom. I then got the SX50 HS, which was fantastic. I loved the zoom. But I decided I wanted to do better than the small sensor of the SX50, so I bought the D3300 bundle from Best Buy over Christmas. It's a nice camera, but I hate having to switch lenses, and carry all that stuff around. Also (this might not be a big deal for a lot of people), there's no electronic level/digital horizon on the D3300, which is really frustrating for me personally. I like to go hiking, and when I had the SX50, it was very reassuring seeing that level and knowing my shots wouldn't be crooked. So I did some more research, and settled on the FZ1000. I went to the zoo, and got a lot of great, tack sharp pictures. I'm very impressed with it, to the extent that I'm thinking about selling the D3300. It's got pretty much everything I could want in a camera. Good sensor size, plenty of zoom, lots of controls and options, HDR, a panorama mode, a great electronic level, fast autofocus, a fully rotating LCD screen, and a nice viewfinder. The manual focus is a touch clunky, but I do appreciate the focus peaking. As an aside, I also tested the Canon G3 X briefly, and the greater zoom range was basically the only thing I liked about it. It felt crappy in the hand, didn't have a fully rotating LCD screen, etc. I didn't like it at all, especially for the money. I think the only thing I would want the FZ1000 to have is a touch more reach, for wildlife and moon shots. If they could extend it to 600 or 700mm, it'd be perfect for me. But I'm giving it five stars anyway because it's an awesome camera for the money, and an awesome camera in general. Update, 5/16/2016: I mentioned in my original review that if the FZ1000 had a bit more reach, it'd be perfect for me. Enter the Sony RX10 Mark III, which has a 24-600mm equivalent range lens. I bought it on upon its release and I took it to the Jacksonville Zoo to try it out, taking more than 500 pictures. At the end, I concluded that while it has fantastic range, the FZ1000 is superior to it in some ways. I think the autofocus of the Panasonic is faster, and I think its low light performance is superior; I had some issues in the darker reptile house, something which never was an issue with the FZ1000. I also prefer the fully articulating screen of the Panasonic, and of course it's less than half the price. The range is great, but if it's not absolutely critical, I still strongly recommend the FZ1000. It's a heck of a deal and I have no problems retaining the five-star rating I gave it originally.