Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 - Expert Reviews

Review summary: The FZ50 definitely has professional aspirations, with its tough, grippy, black plastic body, fronted by a hefty 12x zoom lens

Pros: Stunning lens, Good range of creative features, Gorgeous movie mode

Cons: Image quality not on SLR levels

Verdict: Another area where the FZ50 feels more like an SLR than a compact is in its displays. Two inches is positively Lilliputian for an LCD these days, although its fold-out action does at least give you the chance to frame candid shots - or even shoot ...

Pros: Great features, Speedy operation, Big zoom

Cons: Soft pictures, Noise canceling algorithm leads to loss of clarity, Big, Price

Verdict: While the FZ50 is a reasonably strong advanced camera, a combination of its size, price tag and issues at high sensitivities mean it is only suited to certain buyers.

Review summary: The Lumix FZ50 is Panasonic's latest top-of-the-line fixed lens camera. It still has the 12X stabilized lens from the FZ30 but now it adds 10 megapixels of resolution and all these:

Pros: SLR-like feel with optimal amount of external controls ; Nice 12x zoom lens with optical image stabilization ; Good battery life ; Rotating LCD with good visibility ; Powerful flash; there's a hotshoe too ; Full manual controls with an array of ...

Cons: Expensive (versus entry-level digital SLRs) ; Faster shutter speeds available only at smaller apertures ; Performance reduced thanks to higher resolution; no improvements using lower settings ; Smeary details at ISO 400 and above; ISO 3200 unusable ; ...

Verdict: The Panasonic FZ50 is a high-end camera with a large stabilized zoom lens. It handles and feels like a digital SLR. To complement that experience, there's a powerful flash with a hotshoe, full manual controls and shooting modes, accessories, good ...

Review summary: If you can get past its large size, Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FZ50 is a decent choice for a superzoom.

Pros: Fast, 12x optical, image-stabilized zoom lens ; raw capture ; sensitivity to as high as ISO 1,600

Cons: Big camera body ; auto white balance is bad with tungsten lighting ; relatively expensive

Review summary: Out of specifications alone, the FZ50 has just about everything a high-end digital camera can offer. Given a 10 megapixels sensor, a 12X stabilized optical zoom, full manual controls, manual focus, manual white-balance and ISO sensitivities up to 1600 ...

Pros: Nicely saturated colors, Stabilization works well, Mechanically linked zoom, Excellent focusing speed, Fast and responsive, Powerful flash

Cons: Noise reduction artifacts at all ISO, Settings above ISO 400 nearly useless, Significant softness above ISO 200, Color bleeding artifacts at high ISO, Narrow dynamic range, Some metering errors