Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ45 user reviews

Andrew_Field 23 April 2011

Good: Number of scene settings on the camera is quite amazing, Impressive battery left, Very good image quality, Zoom is very good

Bad: ISO performance is not great

Comment: Bought this instead of the FZ100 as I didn't need the full HD video or the burst shooting. The free-angle LCD with higher resolution would have been nice but not for an extra £100. First thing that struck me with the pictures taken was how true the colours were. My old compact camera often gave strange colour casts with shots. I find the optical stabilizer very effective even at full zoom.

The number of scene settings on the camera is quite amazing. There to help you get the correct settings for different shots. There is 5 advanced scene modes (portrait, scenery, sports, close-up and night portrait), each with sub settings giving 21 settings in total. Then there is the scene mode with a total of 17 settings with panorama assist, sunset, panning and starry sky for example. There is of course full manual control, shutter-priority, aperture-priority and program mode.

The battery is rated as being able to take 580 pictures (CIPA Standard) which is quite impressive but the downside is that the battery is chipped and as such you can't use third party batteries in the camera. The batteries are in short supply at the moment making them quite expensive.

On the image quality I have found it very good for both stills and video. The ISO performance is not great but I have found it perfectible acceptable at 400 or below. Intelligent ISO is an interesting feature I found useful to make sure you have clear pictures. As stated in the instructions "The camera automatically sets the optimum ISO sensitivity and shutter speed to suit the movement of the subject and brightness of the scene to minimise the jitter of the subject."

Overall I am very pleased with my purchase and glad I got it over the FZ38 which I was going to buy earlier in the year until the features on the FZ45 were announced and decided to wait.

*** P.S. If you will buy this Camera I suggest at: amazon.co.uk/dp/B003WOKU4W/?tag=reviews.cnet.co.uk-21

Robert Dewar 16 January 2011

Good: super pictures

Bad: No remote for shutter or zoom.

Comment: Apparently there is no possibility for remote control from laptop or remote shutter/zoom. I had that on a Powershot and am a bit disappointed its not on this. Obviously I didn't check before:(

gkat 17 December 2010

Good: the zoom

Bad: not enough usefull function

Comment: the camera is good and so is the zoom,but at that kind of zoom camera shakeup is enavitable.there is no remote click or facility to attach a remote zoom............so.....a big no no...

Carlos DelRey 4 December 2010

Good: Great quality leica optics, very decent results, useful wide angle zoom

Comment: Great to use and very portable

Philippa41 3 December 2010

Good: wonderful zoom lens

Comment: For me, it is the next best thing to a dSLR with no the lens changes