Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 Digital Camera

Newest FZ "double digit" series from Panasonic

By michal  Nov 29, 2006 | 38 out of 40 found this Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 review helpful

Pros: Easy to use, rich features, very good picture quality

Cons: Not that much improvement over the previous FZx0 series

Let's start with my previous experience with Panasonic still cameras. I believe it's fair to add such disclaimer so i won't be suspected of being biased later. I was an user of FZ10 camera which even though being 3 generations back shares... surprisingly much with the newest FZ50. It is worth to mention that in the meantime there was the FZ20 and FZ30 out. The camera features the Leica DC 14-element lens with impressive range of 35-420mm (35mm equivalent). This translates to optical zoom around 12x, which places this camera in the so called "Ultrazoom" category. When it comes to lens, they are essentially unchanged since the first model, with exception that minimum aperture has been reduced from F2.8 to F3.7 in some modes. The camera has the familiar zoom ring and focus ring, which makes operation similar to classic SLR. The camera is bulky and quite heavy; especially in black finish it could be easily mistaken for professional mirror reflex. Camera has large and convenient grip, which is also important in achieving steady, non blurred shots. But here, most is left to Panasonic-proprietary OIS, the lens stabilizer. Of course it is not a miracle and it cannot overcome physics so don't expect night hand shots with no blur, but it's very useful for extending the range of conditions where pictures will be still crisp and no tripod is necessary. Manufacturer claims that the battery life is extended by nearly 30% over the FZ30 model; comparing to my FZ10 with quite old batteries i found the battery life really outstanding. The electronic viewfinder is easy to use and has excellent quality (actually it has more pixels than the foldable LCD which has less resolution than FZ30 for some reason). Taking pictures in low light condition is also not a problem, thanks to built in assist lamp. The software is somehow upgraded over the previous models; TIFF format has been dropped but there is still possibility to save RAW files (a minor complaint here; along with RAWs there is always JPG saved which takes up the card space). Built in flash is, well, just average and perfoms as You could expect from this kind of device. Lens hood has to be taken off when using built-in flash. Last but not least, 10.1 Megapixel sensor does not offer much over the 8MP camera models; i consider it mostly marketing feature. However, mated with Leica lens it allows achieving optical zoom even up to 21x when used in reduced resolution modes and this is really nice. Of course forget about taking such pictures without tripod or at least good support for the camera body. I believe that for the price it offers excellent value of very universal camera with good lens (base model DSLR with equivalent set of lens will be easily twice as much as Panasonic FZ50). I would recommend the Panasonic to any compact camera user which demands more features, quality and lens parameters and still did not decided about entering the DSLR realm. Read more Less