Any Panasonic Lumix FZ20 users out there?

[macmassey]

I'm relatively new to the whole digital photography thing. I researched cameras pretty extensively and found alot of good reviews on the Lumix series. I ended up with the Lumix FZ20 because its had features I was looking for, was in my budget and was in the top 3 from Consumer Reports. It's a 5 megapixel camera with a Leica lense and 12x optical zoom. So far it's a love-hate relationship. I realize a horse is only as good as it's rider but I get frustrated with what seems to be a focusing issue. Seems regardless of me having the jitter function engaged and pressing the shutter half-way until the little green dot holds steady, some pictures are just not very clear. This occurs sometimes when I'm just shooting a person or object in the immediate foreground but it happens alot when I shoot a landscape. In fact landscape shots often do not look very clear. Any thoughts from anyone on what I'm doing wrong or do I need a different lense than what came with it for landscapes?

I'd love to hear from other Lumix FZ20 owners who are having great success with their camera so I can get some guidance! Thanks!

[mrmatt]

My gal has a 1 year old Lumix but not sure which model. It's also a long 10x or 12x zoom so they must similar.

The only problem we've had is that it's pretty slow to focus and that it's really difficult to take pictures of people at night. Other than that I think it's been working fine.

Do you have a sample to share showing what you consider to be the main problem?

[macmassey]

How do I load up a sample photo? Do I link directly to my smugmug page and if so do you know how to do that?

My gal has a 1 year old Lumix but not sure which model. It's also a long 10x or 12x zoom so they must similar.

The only problem we've had is that it's pretty slow to focus and that it's really difficult to take pictures of people at night. Other than that I think it's been working fine.

Do you have a sample to share showing what you consider to be the main problem?