Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 Digital Camera

I wanted a camera that would do more than a compact but didn't want the hassle and expense of a dSLR, but I did want to retain the flexibility of beng able to shoot in a completely manual mode. After months of looking at all the options I went for the FZ8.

I wasn't dissapointed. It takes great photos, it's really light and the menus are easy to use, making altering settings on the fly a breeze. The image stabilisation works a treat even at high zooms and the Leica lens really delivers in terms of image quality and a 12x optical zoom. The macro mode is a real treat too, taking super sharp images up to 5 cm. The flash is also great and you can adjust it's strength to suit the subject that you're dealing with.

Despite giving you a plethora of options, the FZ8 also performs really well in it's fully automated modes and has a whole host of settings for various situations, from landcapes to sporting events and parties.

Something that reviews don't always cover is the manuals. The ones that ship with the FZ8 are written with the assumption that you don't know anything about apertures, shutter speeds or any technical aspects. This means that you can really get the most out of this teriffic camera.

Also, the price that I ended up paying on eBay was so much cheaper than I could have bought it anywhere else and the service was great. I had a couple of questions on delivery and the seller even phoned me to answer them.

Overall it's a great camera that will give even experienced photographers plenty of options in a truly portable package and beginners an awesome point and shoot with options to learn more about photography. Buying on eBay made it cost effective and easy.

The Panasonic DMC-FZ8 is small and perfectly formed and is so small that you can easily put it in a reasonable sized pocket.

I have a full size digital SLR, with all the lenses, flash guns and accessories to go with it, but there are times when I want to have a decent camera with me but I don't want to be carrying several kilos over my shoulder, round my neck or in a backpack! This little Panasonic really fits the bill for what I wanted. Full manual control for when I want it when I am feeling creative. Plenty of auto modes for when I just want to point and shoot, enjoy the scene and the atmosphere and forget the techy bits. A fantastic zoom lens from Leica no less, which goes from the 35mm equivalent of 36mm-432mm and with image stabilisation thrown in too! What more could I ask for? Well, I guess there is only one thing that I would change, but it would make the camera bigger! I would have preferred and optical viewfinder rather than the electronic one, which looks a little grainy when held up to the eye. Other than that, this is the perfect "take it everywhere" camera in my opinion, so next time I go abroad on my hols, the full size digital SLR will be staying at home and I will have less to carry - MUCH less to carry! Plus I won't have to worry about dusty atmospheres and getting dirt on my DSLR's sensor.

Picture quality looks pretty damned good in my opinion and with 7.1Mp you will be able to blow up the prints to a very respectable size without losing detail.

The Panasonic lumix fz8 is, in my opinion, a seriously good investment for all photographers. I have taken pictures with this camera at nearly all different kinds of light settings, natural and inside lighting. On a tripod, the scope is endless. I've got pictures of the moon, stars, bees and plants and flowers come out great, which I have recently entered into competitions. I bought a 2GB SD card for it and I can store over 1200 pictures set at 7 mega pixels, the quality of the pictures is stunning. The camera itself can be used like a 35mm camera wtih a light meter for you to adjust the shutter speed and aperture to suit your preference. The shutter speed is amazing for moving objects. For value for money and picture quality along with the vast amount of features this camera has, I give this camera a big thumbs up 10 out of 10 for everything. I am really enjoying using this camera. I also purchased 2 extra re-chargeable batteries for this camera direct from Hong Kong on Ebay which are compatible with the DMC range of cameras for £2.50 (for both) the carriage was only £6, in the UK the one single battery was priced at £49.99 at one retailer, unbelievable. Great camera, delivers every time.
Mark Ibbertson.

I don't know about you, but these days I find it hard to find something that gives me a buzz. I buy things, they meet my expectations, maybe fall a liitle short but that's ok. I can't believe how happy I am with this camera.

I'm a qualified electrical engineer and an ex professional photographer. I've used large, medium and 35mm cameras, digital SLR's and compacts. If you want a good quality, easy to use digital camera without spending a fortune, this is probably it.

The only things to look at on a camera is the image quality and ease of use. Cameras get in the way of taking great pictures. If they are too complicated or slow forget it, the moments gone.

Did you snap it but it's too far away or blurred? This tiny, toy looking camera has a 12 times optical zoom and an incredible optical stabilising system that blows your socks off. The lens is excellent and the pictures sharp.

Ok. Maybe I'm over zealous. I've not found anything else that's made me so enthusiastic for a while. It's so close in quality to my digital SLR that it's embarrasing. The well reviewed, branded alternative was so-so. Nearly, but not quite.

I'm reviewing this as an amateur of course. Something for your holidays or for general day-to-day use. To me it surpasses my expectations. It is borderline professional if you can be bothered to get to know it, close if you can't.

If you want something light, with a good zoom range, that takes excellent pictures and decent video, then this is worth considering. If there's something better then let me know. :))

I can't praise this camera enough.
It is simple enough to use straight out of the box, or you could spend a short time reading the manual and, like me, be delighted with the wealth of features provided in this versatile camera.

Having stuck to the main camera brands over the years, I was unsure about buying Panasonic, but all the reviews were glowing and the feature list was impressive:Widescreen TV quality video with sound; shutter speeds as slow as 60 seconds for some great night time and flowing water shots; image stabilisation to get rid of camera shake, zoming up to 18 times to bring things really close; quick shutter action with sound, so you don't end up moving the camera before the picture has been taken; great battery life.

I particulary liked the joystick controller which allows to access all the main settings in seconds; focus areas, light meter areas, shutter speed, aperture, white balance, ISO, number of pixels and image quality.

The only negative point is that videos cannot be viewed or deleted in the quick review mode: dealing with a video that you have just taken means having to switch out of recording mode and back again. Considering all the positive points about this camera, though, this minor irritation pales into insignificance.

Well recommended.

This is the second Lumix DMC-FZ8 that I have bought over the last year. One for myself and one for a friend.

What's good about it?

1) Simplicity and Flexibility
Despite dressing itself up like an SLR this camera is really very easy to use. Simply switch to i mode and point and click and you will be guaranteed a really good photograph. My two year old quite frequently goes around at family get-togethers or parties taking photos with it and more often than not they turn out better than adults with lesser cameras.

It is flexible enough however to let you do all sorts of complicated things with manual exposure and "shutter" speeds. If your into that kind of thing you can play with you ISOs till the cows come home.

2) Really clear photos with beautifully rendered colours.
No need to elaborate on this too much, just great photos, this is something to do with how big the light sensor is and how good the Leica lens is.

3) A brilliant zoom (up to 18x)
We sat in our holiday apartment in France recently and took the most amazing up close zoom shots of all the rich folk sitting out on their yachts in Antibe at night. Once you had somewhere fairly steady to take the pictures from the night shots were just perfect and you could see really clearly how the other half lived!

4) Anti-shake.
I've got coffee drinker's hands and so need a camera that compensates for my wobbliness. Compared to others I have tried this one really does the job.

5) Crystal clear 720p video.

What's not so good?

Occasionally the picture quality in RAW mode is not quite as good as the JPEG version. (but seeing as you also get a JPEG at the same time this is nit picking.)

Whilst being a lot smaller than an SLR this is by no means a small camera and is not a fit in your pocket device.

The "simple mode" marked by a heart on the selection dial is pretty duff and takes blurry photos.

This camera was bought for my daughter (aged 11) last year as a Christmas present.

Since then she has taken it every where in all conditions and has taken some truly gorgeous shots. She has filled her 2GB SD card several times and only charged the camera 3 times!

The anti-shake works a treat 90% of the time even with a snap happy child - as does the auto-focus. Picture quality is 2nd to none - even the video function looks incredible when played straight onto a 32" TV! Even the flash works much better than expected.

I've been using a Canon EOS SLR for the last 17 years and since my daughter has had this camera, mine has hardly come out of the case - we just keep borrowing hers!!

Fantastic - would recommend to anyone - child or adult alike!

Having been a keen, and sometime police, photographer over many years my opportunities for photography are diminishing but I still like to have a good camera, my Leica Digilux 1 was becoming a tad under specified and I didn't want to go to the expense of a pricey SLR. When I saw the DMC FZ8 on e.bay for an almost silly price I thought that's for me, I was aware thast Panasonic were involved in the electronics for Leica cameras and was familiar with the Elmarit lens (I previously owned a Panasonic DMC LC10).
The major factors in buying the camera was the increased length of the lens, I needed a supplementary lens for my previous digitals and that only increased the built in length twice and was cumbersome and an extended ISO availability, which the camera has exactly as I would wish.
The DMC LZ8 has fulfilled my every need beautifully, the lens is as crisp as one would expect, the viewfinder gives a good SLR 'feel' (I hate using display screens), it has functions to satisfy the most demanding needs and yet could be used by a rank amateur, the image stabiliser is amazing. Perhaps my only criticism would be the size, I was brought up on big SLR's and a Kodak Specialist 3 monorail and modern cameras just don't seem to give me that full hand satisfaction.
Otherwise it is a cracker!!

This is a fantastic compromise between professional Digital SLRs and point and click, pocket-sized cameras like my now elderly Sony. The Lumix DMC-FZ8 is compact, ultra lightweight, and very easy to use - at least in auto mode and when shooting using scene modes - and yet it has a Leica lens, full manual over-ride and many other options for more serious photography.

I have only had the camera for a month or so, but am very pleased with the results so far. I still have a lot of things to try out, but I feel confident that I will enjoy experimenting and that the results will be good to very good.

I bought this camera over a DSLR or the option of a much more expensive Canon compact, which did not have nearly as high a technical spec. but did have of course, the Canon name.

I am glad about my decision so far, and feel that I would be happy to stick with the Lumix for a long time to come. It may however re-awaken my long dormant creative urges from my Nikkormat manual SLR days of old, and lead me to buying a shiny new DSLR and keeping the Lumix as a very upmarket point and shoot.

Needless to say, price, choice and user info. for buyers on EBay was second to none!

After much consideration and hours of looking at best buy options in numerous magazines I decided to purchase the Panasonic FZ8 camera, not only was this great value for money at the time (£175) but it's also a foolproof idiots camera, especially in point and shoot mode. Once you learn the menu settings you can progress on to all the other options to see if you can be the next best photographer, and with the beauty of this being digital you can delete the pictures that don't quite come out as you would have liked. Although this may only be a 7.2 mega pixel camera the quality of the pictures when blown up to A2 size is fantastic with the picture quality remaining present, the 12 times optical zoom is great for getting close up and with the option of taking this further to over 40 times zoom in digital mode it has the convenience of several lens all packed in to a very neat camera. In fact the built in zoom mode when reviewing your pictures can sometimes be very amusing after I discovered this when looking at a picture of a monument from a quater of a mile away and then realising that there was a young couple shall we just say getting friendly, but at the time I did not notice this (or else a few more photo's may have been taken, just to test out the optical zoom mode of course). Because of the pixel count, it's worth while getting a decent SD card I purchased a Sandisk extreme III 2.0 gb card (no card supplied with the camera so buy one at the time)and this works great, the speed on start up and in burst mode is excellent and very fast. The macro fuction on this camera is also excellent and you can get really close to the object you are photographing, one of the pictures of a spider turned out really great and the detail of the fine web provided a really great photo, lots of friends also commented on definition of the hairs on spiders legs looking to real for comfort. Well I've praised this camera up so now for the bad points, well I'm struggling a bit here, the only negative comments I can think of are that it may feel a bit too light but nowadays that seems to be the norm; although this may not be a bad thing to some people, especially if you are trying to steady the camera for some time; but I would have liked it to feel just a little bit more solid and robust.

this is an excellent point and shoot camera with high zoom and high megapixels.i bought this camera for its construction,leica lens,raw format,sd card slot and the rechargable cell which have a good lifetime just perfect for a day out taking pictures.it worked good for me when i was on holiday and didn't have to recharge the battery every evening.the only thing i dislike about this camera is that the camera has a digital view finder and one couldn't see the picture optically as in real life.

i would strongly recommend this product.

Summary:
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 camera is a great buy if, like me, you like to change your kit every couple of years but at the same time want to have excellent pictures. I would recommend this camera at current ebay prices. At around 7 mega pixels it is good for reasonable sized pictures.

The good bits:
The camera performs well in tricky conditions. The 12x optical zoom is very useful for bringing items close up, and using the intelligent ISO setting gives near perfect pictures at this price range.

It has all the usual electronic aids you would expect to help you take great pictures. The menu on the camera is easy to use even for a newcomer to digital cameras.

The camera comes with a Leica lens, which I believe is one of the best around. There are a number of settings to choose from, ranging from the simple point and shoot to manual selection of settings for each picture.

The not so good bits:
The camera I bought comes with a US plug charger. This means you have to buy a UK adaptor in order to charge the battery (but I suspect this is why the price was so good). The cost for the adaptor was modest and I do not consider this to be a big drawback.

Another shortfall is that you have to remove the battery and place it in the charger. This is not ideal as my old camera had the charger built in. However the battery lasts for around 200-300 pictures (depending on whether you use the screen and/or flash)so this is not a frequent task.

The shape of this camera is like a mini SLR. Whereas this is not a problem for me, if you want something that can fit in a small handbag to carry around with you, then go for something else.

Tips:
When bidding for this camera some shops offer camera and memory bundles. You will need a memory card with this camera so this combo should be cheaper for you. Go for at least a 2GB card.

The camera does not come with a bag. It makes sense to buy one. Protect your investment! There are loads on ebay, however you can also try the retail stores to get a perfect fit with your camera.

I BOUGHT THIS CAMERA FROM EMILYANDLILY AND I AM VERY PLEASED WITH IT.
FIRST THE PRICE WAS RIGHT AT £161.94 INC. P&P. AND IT CAME WITH A 2 GB SD CARD.
THE CAMERA IS A GOOD SIZE AND SITS IN MY HAND NICELY. SET ON PROGRAMME AE IT IS AN EXCELLENT POINT AND SHOOT CAMERA.
FOR MY PURPOSES THOUGH IT HAS SHUTTER PRIORITY, APERTURE PRIORITY AND FULL MANUAL EXPOSURE. THE LENS, BEING A LEICA, IS SPOT ON.
IT HAS A HOST OF FEATURES NOT FAR SHORT OF A DIGITAL SLR (ALTHOUGH IT HAS A FIXED LENS ADDITIONAL LENS EXTENSIONS SUCH AS MACRO AND TELEPHOTO ARE AVAILABLE).
IT HAS SHUTTER SPEEDS UP TO 1/2000 SEC AND APERTURES FROM F2.8 TO F8.
THE CAMERA TAKES EXCELLENT PHOTOS AND IS ALSO CAPABLE OF TAKING SHOTS IN RAW FORMAT (THE DIGITAL EQUIVALENT OF A NEGATIVE) FOR IMAGE ENHANCEMENT ON THE COMPUTER.
ALTHOUGH A 7 MEGAPIXEL CAMERA THIS IS MORE THAN ADEQUATE FOR PRINTS AT A4 WHICH IS WITHIN THE CABILITY OF MOST PRINTERS.
FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHER I HAVE RECENTLY ORDERED AN INFRA RED FILTER AS I THINK THE SENSOR DETECTS INFRA RED LIGHT (I CAN SEE THE I.R.DIODE LIGHT UP ON A TV REMOTE).THIS OF COURSE MEANS THE CAMERA IS CAPAPLE OF INFRA RED PHOTOGRAPHY.
AS TO FILTERS, 52mm SCREW IN FILTERS FIT INTO THE LENS HOOD ADAPTOR OR AS IN MY CASE THE A SERIES COKIN FILTER HOLDER ALSO FITS (YOU CANNOT USE THE FILTER HOOD BUT THAT IS A MINOR PROBLEM).
THE SCREEN IS NICE AND CLEAR WITH ADJUSTABLE BRIGHTNESS AND THE ELECTRONIC VIEWFINDER IS MORE THAN ADEQUATE(I PREFER TO USE THE VIEWFINDER FOR HAND HELD SHOTS AS THIS KEEPS THE CAMERA MORE STABLE). THE OPTICAL IMAGE STABILIZER WORKS WELL BUT A SOLID TRIPOD IS ALWAYS A BETTER BET.
THE ONLY DOWNSIDES ARE THAT YOU CANNOT ATTACH A REMOTE SHUTTER RELEASE BUT THE SELF TIMER WORKS AS WELL (2 SECONDS ON A TRIPOD IS FINE FOR MOST SHOTS). ALSO MANUAL FOCUSING IS DONE VIA A SMALL JOYSTICK AS OPPOSED TO A FOCUSING RING WHICH IS MORE ACCURATE. THAT SAID I CAN GET VERY GOOD FOCUSING IT JUST TAKES A LITTLE LONGER. THE AUTO FOCUS SYSTEM WORKS VREY WELL AND I TEND TO USE THAT A LOT OF THE TIME ANYWAY.
THE MENU IS EASY TO ACCESS AND USE.
OVERALL I LIKE THIS CAMERA AND I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.

We decided to upgrade our Digital camera after the birth of our baby girl 6 weeks ago. After some research I decide to go for the Panasonic Lumix Camera which turns out to be the right choice. I like all the features and settings and my wife likes the the fact that she only has to push the button to get a great piccie.

By buying the Camera on E-Bay we saved ourselves app. 150 Euro!! when compared with Irish High Street Prices,or even ARGOS.
After winning the bidding it took 4 days for the camera to arrive. It was as described, brand new in the box. I contacted the seller because it came with an American 2 pin plug and they send me out an adaptor FOC, brilliant!!

I am a gadget man and I like all the features that come with the camera's menu's. There is a setting for every occasion and after about 30 minutes of tinkering you'll get the hang of it.
Dont let this scare you however as it has a setting where it will do eveything for you. The 2GB memory card was a nice added bonus as I can take up to 1200 piccies at 5MP before I have to ofload. Very handy when you going on Holidays and you dont have a PC.

All in all we are delighted with our new purchase and I would recommend it to anybody.

The camera is light but feels very solid and comfortable to handle, the dials and menu buttons are easy to understand and use. I realy like the zoom it makes all the difference to your pictures, and the picture quality is outstanding.

Likes:Ease of use straight out of the box, functionality, easy menu, bright screen, dioptre correction on viewfinder, light weight, quality engineered feel, great resolution, pretty effective antishake mechanism, low-low cost of the media (SD Cards), easy availability and low cost of a second battery (typ £13.50) for a 200 plus shot back-up, auto bracketing facility, continous 2 to 3 fpsec shoot until card filled (not on RAW) and the extreme focal length achievable with the extended zoom format (effectively a digi zoom on top of the 12X optical. Finally, there are enough features to "play with" to interest an ex SLR film buff hobbyist into thinking he's got the "real-deal" wrt digital SLR's at a fraction of the price.

Dislikes- 1) No case - easy solution, and ability to get a case suited to whatever environment it is going to inhabit. 2) Errrrrrrrrrr........
Yes, it's that good!

Superzoom cameras all seem to suffer from problems as they try and cram so much into a small package. All the reviews detail how noise and purple fringing can be a problem.
I previously used an Olympus 720 which has a 10x lens and produced some pretty good results. The Lumix has a 12x which is much better for capturing things the sort of things you want a big zoom lens for.
The camera has plenty of features and enough manual settings to get it to do what you want when it can't do it right on it's own. I've come across a few problems. Zooming in on distant misty hills proved too much. It couldn't focus on such a scene. Manual focus allowed me to get the shot and the image stabilizer certainly helps.
You can't zoom in on things that are too close or it goes out of the cameras focal range and just blurs. You have to zoom out and get nearer using the macro setting if necessary. That's a little problem I didn't have with the Olympus.

When you look at pictures on the computer at 100% they don't appear too good. You can see the picture how the picture is made up of areas of colour which means the final result isn't as sharp as you might have expected. Results are pretty similar to a Fuji s5700 (a similar 10x superzoom) and tend not to be as high quality as pictures produced by cameras with a 3x.
Most of the time you aren't going to be looking at a picture that closely, so the image quality is good enough for general useage.

Where this camera scores highly is the versatility. You can get good results from wildlife photography, portraits, landscapes etc. The zoom is really useful for picking out a subject. I got a shot of our cat peering down from a tree it had just run up. With a 3x zoom you'd struggle to see the cat at all!
With the addition of the digital zoom you can get even closer though there is a loss of resolution.

Superzoom cameras are a bit of a compromise. You don't get the best quality pictures but you do get something capable of taking shots other cameras can't manage. For the price these are well worth a look.

Really good camera runs on long lasting Li-ion batteries came with charger and Lots of bonus peices like a mini flexi legged tripod. amazingly high zoom at 36-432mm equivilent and the 52mm lens! The Macro is incredible it can shoot a good photo from half a cm away! The only thing bad is that the veiw finder is a little fuzzy and the settings are a bit confusing at times but once you get the hang of it , it becomes very simple and a fantastic camera. It came with a as I have metioned a mini tripod,two battery packs,4GB memory stick,American to English adapter for charging,camera case,deluxe cleaning kit....etc etc I had lots of other bonus items 7.2 megapixals and it is an excellent camera totally worth buying!

Most digital cameras have tiny fiddly controls, tiny screens, and poor quality miniature lenses. The price you pay for miniturisation is difficulty in use and poor quality pictures. The mid-size Panasonic DMC fZ8 has a quality chunky size which "feels right" in the hand, the buttons are all quite manageable, and the Leica lens is of superb optical quality. Ok, it isn't pocket size, but the cameras on phones nowadays are ok for snaps, whilst the FZ8 is a proper camera. As this is my first digital camera, I was very pleasantly surprised with the intuitive easy to use controls, and on-screen instructions. A lovely, high quality, easy to use unit which has already produced some stunning photos, I am delighted in every way with this amazing camera. highly reccomended, James

This is the 4th digital camera I've bought.My wife reckons I collect them ! Not any longer ,bought this one on Ebay (new) for £60 less than my local 'discount' shop.
It is definitely the best camera I have had.I don't want anything complicated,just something that takes good photos.This does, the images are sharp,the colour is excellent and all you have to do is point and shoot .. brilliant.Its lightweight and easy to handle. The zoom is fantastic;I'm off to Aintree in April and can't wait to zoom in on the horses as they jump the fences!
I read reviews on many cameras and decided on this one , very happy that I did.

Not being able to afford an SLR camera, I looked at a host of alternatives, many of which I liked,but the one that stood out from the rest was this one.It has all the settings and more than I can handle, everything is so easy to use.The one thing I would have liked on it would be the option for remote use,I will have to visit a photo shop and see if it's possible to have one fitted. I bought a set of UV filters for it on e-bay for £9 and the difference in photo quality is amazing.The battery lasts for ages, the book says almost 380 pictures and I won't argue with that. For the money,I don't think you could do better, It will take a few months or maybe years to know this camera inside out but I'm going to enjoy doing it. There are cameras out there which look almost identical to this one but I thought with the name Panasonic behind it this was the one for me. Good Luck with you're purchase, you won't be disappointed.

This camera has more features than you can shake a stick at! Great optical zoom (12X), RAW file capability, Anti-shake that works brilliantly, and intuitive handling to name but a few. I already had an FZ7, but a guy offered me too good a price to pass it up, so I just had to go for the next version. I have to say I was not disappointed. Most other reviewers will mention the noise at the higher ISO numbers being a bit of a nuisance, and there is a fair bit of truth in this, so I generally stick to ISO 100 and just leave it there. I guess I'm only a small step or two up from a 'happy snapper', but this camera allows loads of creativity to be exercised if you wish. I would say it's an excellent choice for anyone wishing to take a step up the ladder from a simple 'point & shoot', but at the same time it has simple modes on the menu that allow you to start at the bottom and still get great results.
The manual is comprehensive and well written, and there is loads of info within. It really is worthwhile reading it through a number of times, as there are really useful tips and tricks in there. Inevitably there will be people that will never get the best from this camera. I guess it is the nature of technology generally these days, in that there are so many bells and whistles that it is unlikely that we'll ever discover them all. Fortunately this camera does not bog itself down with unnecessary features. It had all you need in a compact (that's what it is marketed as), and a whole lot more too. It feels, performs and looks more like an SLR, but with nowhere near the price tag.
I LOVE IT !

I have always owned point and push cameras, and decided that I really wanted something that could do a little more. I was not interested in DSLR's due to technical difficulty and cost.

After reading many reviews, I decided on the Lumix FZ8, and I am pleased to announce that I am not diss-appointed.

The camera feels solid in the hand, but not to heavy. The lcd is large and very clear. The controls are very easy to use and the picture quality is very good in ISO 100. Anything from ISO 200 is not so great, and you find that the image has quite a lot of noise. Infact, ISO 400 and above is a waste of time, as the image is very poor. (my only criticism at the moment)

I have been playing now for a week, and I have managed to take some fantastic pictures. I am glad that I made this purchase, and I would highly recommend this camera to the amateur photographer. The cost including a 4GB SD card was only £170 and worth every penny.