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October 27, 2006
[ REVIEW—PANASONIC DMC–FZ50 camera ]
Price: $1000
Recommended
The low-down: The Panasonic DMC-FZ50 is a 10 megapixel super-zoom camera with a 35–420mm (film equivalent) Leica lens.
The camera looks best in its black finish – the grey body looks plasticky. Construction quality is good and controls are intuitive. The camera is bulkier than the Canon S3IS and the Sony H2/5. The extra body volume is the price paid for the Leica zoom.
The lens is outstanding, not just for its optical qualities but also for its mechanics. The zoom is manually controlled from a ring around the lens, exactly as the god of cameras intended. It is smooth, fast and infinitely progressive, unlike the electro-mechanical zooms on most cameras of this type. The zoom/focus mechanism works entirely inside the lens barrel so the lens does not extend or retract. Superb!
Panasonic cameras have had a poor reputation for controlling picture noise but the FZ50 breaks the curse. There is no noise apparent up to ISO400, acceptable noise at 800 and remarkably useable images at 1600. Combined with good exposure, dynamic range, white balance and excellent detail this makes for good output.
Like: The external flash shoe is a useful feature and the swing-out rotating LCD screen is excellent. And that is just as well.
Dislike: The electronic viewfinder is pretty dire. Fortunately the LCD viewer is manoeuvrable and of high enough resolution and brightness to serve as a viewfinder most of the time. It doesn’t have as many swings and tilts as the Canon S3IS but it is still useful.
Verdict: The Panasonic is a difficult camera to rate. The lens and image processing are so good and the image stabilisation so effective that you want to love it. And for static images it is hard to beat. For a tourist this could be the ideal camera. But for taking pictures of moving subjects it is simply too slow in its responses. You are almost always a beat behind the action. The FZ50 is perfect for Venice but a letdown at the school sports day.
Posted by terry at October 27, 2006 07:21 AM
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