--- In Photosmart_850@yahoogroups.com, "Jens L. Blegvad"
<jblegvad@...> wrote:
.......
> And now I need a camera???
> I really liked the HP850, I will definately look at the HP945, is
> there another higher end HP camera on the way????
> I would like to stay with the same media and battery setup as on the
> 850. Then at least all of that investment would not be lost.
> I would like something that has a nice lens, 10X or more optical
zoom
> as well as better/faster auto focus with manual over ride.
>


Well, last year I have decided to get a new camera although I was
very happy with HP850 except some largely discussed issues that moved
me to this decision as speed, reliability, bugs, abilities, manual
controls etc.

I didn't have the guts to go to SLR so I kept with prosumer big zoom
camera. I got a Panasonic Lumix FZ-50 and I am very sattisfied. 10MP,
12x, HC-SD, manual zoom and focus, lots of controls, Leica optics,
card capacity limited HD 16:9 video, RAW and much more. But I miss
the automatic eye-piece starter of HP850 )-:

I've got it for 450 euros one year ago. Now and in USA maybe it can
be found much cheeper.

So, I could use the old SD cards from the HP. Battery is LiIon and is
MUCH lighter, smaller and durable than the NiMH. Practically no need
to charge during the day (over 400 shots). But I bought a new SD of
SanDisk - the Ultra model which has a USB plug. Astonishing 10 MB/s
speed to the computer combined with the versatility to use it for
anything and to anything. Now I put some music on it and plug it to
my FM transmitting MP3 player in the car and there is still enough
space to shoot with the camera. It is a little bit more expensive but
it is worthy.

I bought also a Ultraviolet filter. I am not sure about the effect of
it, but as a lense protector it is perfect. As you can not change the
lense that's a good decision. If something happen - just change the
filter for less then 10 euros. I bought as well a circular
polarization filter and was amazed of the effect it produced when
eliminating glare from water, skin etc., making the colors intensed
and discovering the sky and clouds. I have Hama relatively cheap (40
euro) one which I screw on the Ulraviolet one.

I gave my old HP850 to a friend and he is still using it. The camera
made so far over 10 000 photos with very good quality. I guess that
12bit D/A and fine optics combined with relative small resolution
made it so successfull although faulty and without support. At its
time it supered some of "real" photo brands. A full nice 850 review
you can find at:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/hp850/

The site is very good and I have lerned a lot about digital
photografy although I got a lot just from experience.

Two years ago I had to repaired my 850 by "disasemble-
touchpushcleaneverithing-assemble" method as it was making very
strange flame-like pictures. I guess I have to post some pictures for
you guys to enjoy them ;-)

I have to admit that I have received it as a present from a HP
dealer. I guess it was returned camera as one pixel of the LCD was
burned out and was always green, but it served me extensevely for 4
years all around the world. I had the kit as well and was travelling
with 3 sets of batteries, small tripod and several SD cards - all in
the original HP bag.

So that's all...

I am curious which is going to be the successor of FZ50 as Panasonic
started updating their products. FZ50 model is quite good and maybe
they don't see a reason (and there is not) just to increase the
resolution.

BTW there is a new one FZ18 with 18x zoom!!!

Greetings to all,
Bo