Quote:
Did you check Abe's? I wouldn't hesitate to buy another camera from Abe's. They're a good store.

Abe's appears to be selling it for $464. Did they strike you as sleazy when you talked to them?


Abe's is not one of the stores I talked to.

The $560 price I am working from is a package deal -- $520 for the FZ50 with the standard equipment: 32 MB card, 710 MAH lithium ion battery, USB cable, A/V cable, lens cap, software CDs, and lens hood. Then, they throw in an accessory kit at no additional charge: Wide angle lens attachment, 2 GB high speed card, a card reader, camera carrying case, 60" tripod, lens cleaning kit. Finally, $40 shipping to make the $560 total.

Possibly I could do better by shopping for all the various bits and pieces at various different places, but I am so tired of this whole rat race that I have reached the point where I just don't care any more. Just gimme the damn camera and if I spend $50 more than the best deal I could have gotten, so be it. (If I bought the camera at Abe's and then purchased the accessories listed above from Abe's, it would actually cost me more than $560.)

The camera itself seems pretty impressive. Read the review at dpreview. Of course maybe I don't know as much about photography (particularly digital photography) as I like to think I do and there may be bad things I didn't see through my rose-colored classes. I haven't ordered the camera yet, so if anybody knows some reason(s) I shouldn't, this would be a good time to let me know!

tanstaafl.
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"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"