« [ THE SUPER SLIDE SHOW ] | Main | [ HOW TO BE POPULAR AT PARTIES ] »
October 11, 2007
[ PANASONIC LUMIX FZ18 camera ]
Price: $880
What a lens!
The low-down: This is an 8 megapixel all-in-one camera with a Leica-branded zoom lens with a range of 28–504mm. The lens is image stabilised and is fast, f2.8–4.5. It works as a point and shoot, with face detection, but there is also a full range of user controls, including fine tuning of noise reduction and white balance. It saves in JPEG and RAW. Construction quality is good and the camera is small and light. There is an electronic viewfinder of low resolution and poor dynamic range.
Like: The lens is superb. It has true wide angle and a phenomenal telephoto reach of 504mm (film equivalent). The image stabilisation is effective and hand held photos at full extension are possible. Sharpness and contrast are exemplary and focus, even at full zoom, is quick.
Dislike: The Achilles’ heel of Panasonic cameras has been image noise and it still is. However, by reducing sharpness and contrast by one notch and dialling in one step of noise reduction we got clean images at ISO200. The company’s claim of usable ISO6400 is absurd – not even the best SLRs will do that convincingly. To get the best from the FZ18 be prepared to work at low ISO speeds and to experiment with the fine tuning controls. It is worth the effort. We were also disappointed with auto white balance which did a poor job of getting colour right in the shade.
Verdict: This is a good camera and shutter lag is almost a thing of the past. If the standard pre-focus procedure of half-depressing the shutter button is adhered to shutter lag is negligible. It is not as responsive as a DSLR, but fast enough to track moving subjects. The designers have assumed an intelligent customer who is prepared to come to grips with the full control set of a digicam. If you are in the market for this type of camera also look at the Canon and Sony offerings. All three have their strengths and weaknesses. The strength of this one is the lens.
*
Posted by terry at October 11, 2007 03:38 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://bleedingedge.com.au/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1373
Comments
I have a friend who is tossing up between this camera and the Leica V-LUX 1. I think he's leaning towards the Leica, and who can blame him, but I'm concerned because all the specs I've seen suggest it only has USB 1.1, which as far as I know is the slow variety. Not great for 10 megapixel images, I'd have thought. I know he can always transfer straight from the card rather than via the camera, but you sometimes lose functionality this way. If you've had any experience with the Leica, it would be great to hear definitively about the USB speed. Thanks.
Posted by: Rob at October 11, 2007 12:19 PM
Rob: The Leica V Lux is a re-badged Panasonic Lumix. I have never been able to pick any significant differences between the Panasonic/Leica siblings. If they are there they are subtle -- except for the badge, of course, for which your friend will be paying through the nose. And the V-Lux is a clone of an older Panasonic model -- the FZ18 is newer and better. I know that snobbery is worth something, but I'm not sure that I would buy an obsolete camera at an inflated price just to get a badge. Would you?
TL
Posted by: Terry at October 12, 2007 12:50 AM
The FZ18 is also effectively USB 1.1.
For some reason Panasonic (and therefore Leica) seem unable or unwilling to support Hi-Speed speed USB 2.0 (480Mb/s) in their cameras and only have USB2.0 "Full Speed" (12Mb/s)support which is effectively USB 1.1 data transfer rates.
Posted by: RichardR at October 19, 2007 04:58 AM
Hi Terry,
Im thinking about buying an ultra zoom, but im kinda stuck between three models, the one reviewed here, the olympus sp560 and the fujifilm finepix s8000fd. Ive already read quite a number of reviews, and, as always, they did not help very much, because of difference of oppinions. So, I've decided to simply ask the reviewer I trusted the most - You, what would be his choice... So, what whould it be???:)
thanks in advance,
Boris
Posted by: Boris at October 30, 2007 11:47 PM
Boris: I think that the best of the superzooms is the Canon Powershot S5IS. All of these superzooms involve some sort of compromise in their functions and the Canon seems to be the one that isleast handicapped by the competing design demands of a very long zoom, a small sensor and a compact body. TL
Posted by: Terry at November 6, 2007 07:26 AM
The Canon S5IS lacks in wide angle, even if not compared to the Panasonic. It also suffers from purple fringing at the extreme zoom range -- something that all the superzooms all suffer from, except for the Panasonic FZ18. ;)
Now if only it had the zoom on the barrel. :(
Posted by: Thorn at November 16, 2007 06:03 PM