Panasonic FZ50

O.K., so I succumbed and picked up a Panasonic FZ50 this afternoon. The lead image is the second shot I took with the camera, no adjustments, simply turned it on, put it in program mode and fired - don't even know if IS was turned on. Cropped the image, used highlight/shadow adjustment on the image, then converted to black and white (green filter) and opened the shadows further. Had not expected to be able to do that at all, never mind to the degree I did here - you can see the original image below - it feels like a real camera, unlike other 'ultrazoom' cameras I have tried - Canon S3IS and Sony H9.

Shot just before sunset, I crouched down to use the sky for a plain background and a fairly long focal length so I wasn't actually looking up Bill's nose. By the way, I beat Bill 7-3 in the tie breaker (tennis) after he walloped me last week 6-0.

The image isn't great art, but I'd like to think his family will be pleased to have it, I had fun doing it and more fun editing it.

Stay tuned for further developments but I think I'm going to have some fun with this camera!