The Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ30 is the replacement for Panasonic's well liked DMC FZ20 which came out in late 2004. The FZ30 improves on that camera in almost every way, especially in build quality and ergonomics.

I'll mention the downside first. Despite an increase in resolution from 5 to 8 megapixels, the image quality has not improved all that much. Panasonic's new 8 megapixel chip is quite noisy (which equates to "grainy" in film cameras) and overall the images won't look much better at a given print size than the old, 5 megapixel camera. This is not to say the pictures are unacceptable they are good, in fact, except for pictures taken in low light but rather that if you have a 5 megapixel camera, you shouldn't rush to buy an 8 megapixel and expect great improvements. The detail in the shots, however, is very good.

With that out of the way, almost everything else about the camera has improved to a quite incredible degree. It really does feel like Panasonic listened to their customer response and fixed most everything they didn't like.

The camera is a little larger than the FZ20, making it quite hefty bigger than some SLR cameras, in fact, although a SLR with a comparable lens would be much larger. It's also not light, at about one and a half pounds. This does mean that it's easy to steady and hold, but it's far from a pocket camera.

The lens is totally new, and unlike that in the FZ20, does not retract or move during focussing or zooming all the movement is internal. This means that the unit is a lot more sealed and solid feeling, and contributes to making start up times commendably fast. Unlike the previous model, zooming is done with a ring around the lens like a traditional camera, rather than by a motor and rocker switch. This takes a little getting used to if you've been using most other digital cameras, but soon becomes second nature and much quicker than the motor. In manual focus mode, the lens can be focussed with another lens mounted ring. The display shows a zoomed in area to aid manual focussing, and I found this feature quite usable.

The zoom range is 35 420mm (35mm camera equivalent), which is pretty much identical to the previous camera and gives a 12x range. This gives as much telephoto reach as is practicable to hand hold and get a sharp picture, even with image stabilization. Should you desire more, Panasonic sells an add on lens giving even more reach, but I'd advise a tripod. You're more likely to desire more wide angle, in my opinion, and another conversion lens is available for that.

Unlike the previous camera, the lens does not have a constant F2.8 aperture, but rather gives F2.8 at the wide end and F3.7 at the long end. This is still very good; clearly, some compromise had to be made.

Overall, the construction feels much more solid and high quality than the FZ20. The hand grip is also improved, being much deeper and easier to hold, and the location of the shutter button is improved. The FZ20 always felt a little fragile, and this camera does not.

The LCD screen is much improved, and now is a flip down and twist model, meaning it can be folded inward to protect it, or folded down to view from above or (with a twist) below. This is a very useful feature, making it easy to shoot over crowds or get a more natural view of small children, pets etc. I think the sideways flipping style is slightly easier to use than this downward one, but this is still very good, and a solid upgrade.

Menus and operation seem little changed from the FZ20, and are good. The flash seems better than most, and doesn't wash things out with close subjects either.

While I don't use movie modes hardly at all, I believe from reading the manual that the movie mode on this one is much improved from the FZ20, and can produce full speed VGA quality movies of shortish duration. For more than short clips of your kids, I'd recommend a movie camera instead.

In conclusion, this is a high quality camera that right now is the king of the mega zoom, fixed lens camera market. The pictures are as good or better than the others in the market, and in ergonomics, usability and 'real camera' solidness, the FZ30 is right now unbeatable. It works and feels like a very high quality piece of equipment, and I don't think you can get a better "all in one" camera for any money at this moment.

One must understand, though, that compromises are made to get that huge 12x zoom range in a camera. If you don't need all that telephoto, you could buy an entry level dSLR for very little more money; although the kit lens it comes with will be much the inferior of the FZ30's Leica mega zoom, the dSLR's imaging chip will produce higher quality images, especially in low light.

If you have the FZ20, is it worth the upgrade? Not if you want to upgrade for image quality; yes, if you want a much more solidly built, ergonomically satisfying camera. Is that worth the money? In the end, it's up to you, but I'd advise going to a store and handling one; you may fall in love with it, it's that good.