I've lost 2 camera's in the last few months. One duck diving a wave in Bali on June 27th & another one crash landing a parasail in Malaysia last week.

I'm keen on a Panasonic FZ200 to replace my FZ150, coz image quality, image stabilisation & battery life are important. I also like auto focussing while zooming in/out.

Most important Features needed~

Battery time = 2hrs plus
Image stabilization for walking video
Versatile lens (don't wanna carry diff lens)
Ability to autofocus while zooming in & out coz I like to zoom in/out while panning from close to far or vice/versa in vids

Predominately a camera for video, that takes nice pics as well for up to $500 bang for buckeroos

Anyone got any alternative ideas to the FZ200 reviews I'm reading say no, but they're not fresh.

Hey Mick you don't need waterproof

I do mate, but I can only afford one replacement atm. I'm thinking another Sanyo Xacti pistol grip type cam to take in the water or a Panasonic Lumix tough cam, but havn't really looked into it yet. First I need a good quality allrounder ASAP.....interested though, what waterproof cam would you recommend Dave

Go Pro pisses all over the Lumix tough and the Xacti for picture quality IMO.

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Buster fin said..
Go Pro pisses all over the Lumix tough and the Xacti for picture quality IMO.

I agree, but I like to have a lcd screen & zoom. I wouldn't of got footage of the G land boat bashing its way through a 12-15 foot face wave last June with a gopro.

Good points. I'm onto my second tough. The first one literally fell apart from not rinsong it after salt water use. My Bad, I know.
I wish I had the go pro charged up for a surf now...

^^^ wish I could go surfing now....
No idea on cameras though..

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Buster fin said..
Good points. I'm onto my second tough. The first one literally fell apart from not rinsong it after salt water use. My Bad, I know.
I wish I had the go pro charged up for a surf now...

How long did they last before they died

I've had a couple of xacti's, the second one lasted 4 or 5 years which is not bad for a camera & it was fair enough coz it exceeded its depth heaps.. Last one died when I got caught offguard sitting wide of airport rights & didn't have time to whack it back in the bum bag I had for it. Had to paddle with it in my hand still & it kept flipping open as I was paddling. Just scrambled under a bomb, but the camera was dead when I went to get back to filming.

Surf must have been cranking everywhere by mid day today. I would have liked to have had a camera to grab some pics too.

Olympus Sp 100 ee.....24-4800 zoom,,,,long end isn't bad either....add a diapac waterproof bag and ya got most bases covered.....24-1200 optical, then the digital kicks in....ive also got Olympus tough...an Xacti.....had go pro 2 and 3.....all good

the 100 ee(EAGLE EYE).....is the only cam with a red dot site built in....what happens when u r focused at the long end you can lose the subject easily...the site is a wide view and the dot finds the subject....reasonably price(245 delivered USED) but new ranging from mid 3s to 4.....depending on where u look

Thanks man, looks like good bang for buck. I wasn't going to go for a camera with interchangable lenses, but considering them now.

Having a look at the Nikon D3300 as well coz it has great battery life & gonna start learning about lenses. Coz I'm a total newb about them.

That diapac waterproof bag is very cool too. I've only seen people using them for mobile phones, didn't know you could get them for DSLR's

Hi Mick,...interchangeable lenses are the best way to capture top class images, however some can run to be outrageously expensive.IF, you want a DSLR, the best bang for buck at the moment(and I own one) is the Pentax k50.Around 450 aussie dollars with a kit lens on usa ebay(the Taiwanese seller) usually free delivery...ASP-c sensor,which means its crop factor is 1.5(a 200mm lens gives 300mm in 35mm terms)35mm being full frame and everything is relative.These are WR,weather resistant....so dust and rain don't get in....but not waterproof( use the dicapac)...CANIKON(canon and Nikon equivalents are double to triple the price)....telephoto zooms are 50-200 and 50-300 both are WR, but the 300 is 450bucks..... www.pentaxforums.com is a wealth of info from users right around the world.

A good way to have a lightweight compact surf photography set up is with the Pentax Q system, crop facors are 4.7 and 5.6 depending on sensor size...12 mp,which is more than enough....some great auto focus lenses, and coupled with cheap adapters all the old manual lenses will give loads of telephoto range....if you go to the forums and look at the images some people are getting using the Qs, its hard to pick any weaknesses and plenty of people assume a dslr was used to capture the images.I use a Q...Q10...Q7 great fun.

Another good way to go is a Samsung S4 zoom....its a phone and camera combined( 250ish)...24-240 zoom, shoots continuous at a good rate for surf shots....not a bad camera and not a bad phn....I take more photos with this than all my cameras combined(how many?...too many!)

I'm onto my 6th GoPro. They are crap.

For your price range, go Panasonic. Awesomely user friendly. Very robust.

Avoid Samsung. They are delicate flowers.

Will give you a bell on the week d Mick and give you some ideas.

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thedrip said...
I'm onto my 6th GoPro. They are crap.

For your price range, go Panasonic. Awesomely user friendly. Very robust.

Avoid Samsung. They are delicate flowers.

Drip, if they're crap then why did you buy 6 ?

Media teacher. The kids only want the cool gear. I had another brand - I forget now what it was - and it sat next to three GoPros. Until it got stolen it never missed a beat. But the kids never chose to use it.

The GoPros break in a variety of ways.

I put more pressure on equipment than probably anyone else - it gets used daily and, unlike professionals, the kids are a little laissez-faire about the gear. If it had a weakness I find it. If it's not user friendly it soon gets discarded.

Panasonic has proven to be superbly robust in cameras and VCRs. I have tried most brands at one time or another.

I currently run 14 video cameras, 4 DSLRs, and 3 GoPros, two drones and a computer lab.

Cheers guys

One over riding factor is battery life, coz I use a soloshot. The Nikon D3300 with 700 shots battery time has got me very interested. Seems I need a 200mm - 300mm lense & the kit lense 18 - 55. Thing is it would cost a lot more money & still not be as versatile as the Panasonic FZ200 (without more lenses). But the better quality & that awesome battery life still has me undecided. Looks like I'm not going to be buying anything as soon a I thought I would.

The Panasonic FZ150 with about 420 shots battery life served me very well travelling around & lasted 2hrs & 20 mins when the battery was new & just over 2hrs after a few years which was alright. Didn't mind popping in to change a battery after 2hrs, but not having to is heaps better. The Panasonic FZ200 now has 520 shots, so should be like 2hrs 45mins & up with a new battery. Plus I know it does a great job, so really comes down to finding a good deal on the Nikon to sway me that way.