What is the recovery time? My wife always complains she misses the “Kodak” moment when photographing the grandkids because the delay between picture is so long.
I got this when it was here last time. It has a panoramic mode and “kid” mode that are awesome. It detects moving kids (I have a toddler) and waits for non movement. Incredible price and incredible deal. I highly recommend to anyone looking for a great deal.
Great reviews. I hope my lady likes it for her trip up North for 14 days. 7 days on land then 7 more at sea.
Can anyone tell me if the battery charger can be used in Europe (with the proper adapter)? I guess I should really ask if it supports 110 & 240?
Absolutely! I have a friend who’s daughter is doing hockey AND ballet! A formidable young woman!
how does this camera make out in low-light conditions?
One comment I found on the web about one of my concerns with these cameras…
One comment you my want to add is that the compression ratio of the Pentax RZ18 is so severe that the 16M pixel images end up looking less defined than my old 5M pixel camera. I bought the camera for its zoom capability but there’s no point in using the 18X zoom because the image quality is so poor after it has been compressed. I’ve given the camera to a friend, (I didn’t even sell it) and have gone back to my 10X zoom 10M pixel Fujifilm which produces far superior zoomed images despite the lower zoom capability.
Also, found another review - http://www.ephotozine.com/article/pentax-optio-rz18-digital-camera-review-17902
Back in June I almost got the Panasonic that is currently up on Moofi for $138. (It’s $2 cheaper today than it was in June.) I was going to buy it, but wonder if I should just get this one instead.
Here’s the discussion from when the Panasonic was on Sellout, back in June. I do like the idea of a Leica lens, but as I said, I don’t have a good grasp on a useful way to compare them.
Edit: Thank you, dear Mod, for highlighting my dilemma!
The Panasonic is no comparison spec wise. 12MP vs 16mp and 5x zoom vs 18x zoom. I had a Pentax Optio before the Panasonic I have now and it took great photos. I would pick Pentax out of the two cameras here especially with the lower price point of the Pentax- it seems like a steal.
It depends on what you want to use the camera for. This camera can zoom in almost 4 times further than the Panasonic, so it would be your best bet for photographing your kid playing soccer outside on a sunny day. (Not that any pocket camera is ideal for action photography, but with luck and practice you’ll at least get some good shots. No amount of skill can overcome having all the players look like tiny little ants because you couldn’t zoom in far enough.)
On the other hand, the Panasonic has a lens that’s a full stop brighter and has fewer megapixels on the same size sensor, both of which will make it work better in low light. So it would be the choice to shoot the after-game party at the local Chuck-E-Cheese’s™.
You pays your money and you takes your choice…
I bought one of these the last time they were up here.
It has some nice features, but overall it’s a very poor substitute for my old 8MP Canon Digital Elph SD850is.
The long zoom is a nice feature, and the Auto mode works very well at selecting the correct mode for the current shot.
However, the actual photo quality is quite bad. At the full 16MP, I get terrible noise and jpeg blocking when viewing the images at 100% zoom.
Also, the camera’s UI is rather cartoonish, and the camera itself feels cheaply made and plasticy.
I’m actively hunting for a new camera, even though this one is only a few months old. 
Thanks, that’s helpful. I guess part of my confusion is that it seems that numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. For example, how to evaluate the comment, quoted higher up in this thread, about the 18x zoom of this Pentax:
OTOH, several people here report that the Pentax has done well for them. Though obviously not everybody:
Edit:
I just had the chance to take a look at one of the reviews linked higher up: Pentax Optio RZ18 Review | Photography Blog , and compared it to the review from the same source for the Panny: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX90 Review | Photography Blog
The Pentax suffers in the comparison.
I appreciate the responses to my question, having a couple of points of view really helped. All things considered, I think I’ll get the Panasonic.
Final edit, I promise!
And so I did:
Last Wooter to Woot:
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