Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 review

Shooting performance in seconds
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Wake-up time

Shutter lag (bright)

Shutter lag (dim)

Fujifilm FinePix S9000

1.6

0.5

0.9

Olympus Camedia C-8080 Wide Zoom

5.1

0.6

1.6

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30

1.7

0.8

0.9

Konica Minolta Dimage A200

3.5

0.8

1.5

Canon PowerShot Pro1

4.1

1.1

1.9

Shooting performance in seconds
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Flash shot-to-shot time

Raw shot-to-shot time

Konica Minolta Dimage A200

2.1

2.4

4.7

Olympus Camedia C-8080 Wide Zoom

2.0

3.0

15.1

Canon PowerShot Pro1

2.0

2.0

3.0

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30

1.8

2.2

6.3

Fujifilm FinePix S9000

1.7

5.3

18.4

Image quality
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30's images looked good, and sometimes very good, with accurate colours and exposure. But more often than not, we ran into problems. For instance, when using the spot meter, we experienced erratic colour accuracy and exposure, with wide variations from shot to shot. A deep, almost cartoonish-blue rendering of water turned almost turquoise in another shot. Exposures varied as well. Centre-weighted and wide-area metering delivered more consistent and usable results.

We also expected more than we got from the lens and focusing options. Although most of our test shots came out sharp, they weren't as crisp as we had hoped. Fine details should have been sharper, too. The lens was also responsible for occasionally severe purple fringing along high-contrast edges, as well as some reddish and blue edging of tree limbs against the sky.

The camera did an especially good job with macro shots -- just be sure to turn down the flash, or you'll get blown-out photos. Beware of flash vignetting in the wide-angle macro mode, too: the lens barrel leaves a shadow at the bottom of the frame when shooting in landscape orientation.

Furthermore, while the FZ30 exhibited good dynamic range, it tended to blow out highlights in brighter scenes. Using the backlight feature in auto mode exacerbated clipped highlights because it brightened the overall image.

Finally, the FZ30 delivered far noisier shots at ISO 80 then it should. The manual noise-reduction adjustment helped at ISO 80 and 100, but at higher speeds, the problems were both more visible and less responsive to our attempts at reduction.

Edited by Lori Grunin
Additional editing by Nick Hide