Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 review

What you need to know

Reviewed by: Philip Ryan

Reviewed on: 1 November 2006

Tags: Panasonic, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50, optical zoom, prints, manual focus

We like:

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

We don't like:

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

CNET UK judgement:

With a 12x optical zoom lens and a 10.1-megapixel CCD sensor, the Lumix DMC-FZ50 is an attractive option for photographers who crave artistic control but don't want to bother with interchangeable lenses. If you can get past its large size, this is a decent choice for a superzoom

Full review:

Superzooms are nothing new, but somewhere along the line, a portion of them have evolved into catch-all SLR substitutes, with long, fast zoom lenses, high megapixel counts, manual exposure controls, and in some cases, even hotshoes and raw image capture. They also record video. For now, that's something you can't get from an SLR. Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FZ50 sports a 35mm-to-420mm, f/2.8-to-f/3.7, 12x optical zoom lens, a 10.1-megapixel CCD sensor, and it has a body that's as big and heavy as an SLR. For a really advanced user, the blazing speed, better noise performance, and lens selection of an SLR will still trump these high-end superzooms. But for photographers who crave the artistic control that these cameras offer, don't want to mess with interchangeable lenses, and occasionally want to shoot video clips, a camera such as the DMC-FZ50 might make sense. Continue Reading...