Meet the little camera with a big zoom. We’ve had the chance to play with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 this month and had fun putting it to the test around town (photo slideshow below).
With 12x optical zoom, this 7.2 megapixel camera is still compact enough to tuck neatly into your bag and hit the road, and the preset shooting modes are so easy your grandmother could figure it out without losing the curl in her hair. The intelligent ISO control automatically raises the ISO and shutter settings with moving subjects for clearer motion shots, and the thumb-controlled joystick on the face panel lets you adjust the exposure and focus (with clear icons on the 2.5″ 207,000 pixel LCD display) when you’re using the manual setting mode.
The Whole Package
Out of the box, you’ll find:
- The Lumix DMC-F28 camera (0.68lbs, 4.43” x 2.84” x 3.11”)
- CGR-S006 lithium-ion rechargeable battery
- Battery charger (no cords or power blocks, the battery connects directly and wall mounts)
- Lens cap with retaining strap
- Lens hood with adapter for help with bright outdoor shots
- Panasonic shoulder strap
- USB cable for your computer
- A/V cable to connect directly to media devices
- CD-ROM featuring Lumix Simple Viewer, PhotoFunStudio, SilkyPix Developer Studio, ArcSoft Photo Suite, and drivers
- 145 page camera manual
Does It Deliver?
For the price, you bet. You’d be playing apples to oranges by comparing this camera to high end SLRs, but for $350 — with clear, iconic LCD settings and high-color photos — it holds its own next to other mid-level quick-click digital cameras. If you’re used to SLRs or tend to use manual settings more than presets, this probably isn’t the right camera for you, but may be better suited for the family’s casual shutterbug this next holiday season. Here’s the plus/minus rundown on our experience:
Pros
- Even without reading the manual, the controls are so simple to use and apply that you can happily start shooting right out of the box — and get great daytime returns with several image sizes (4:3, 3:2, and 16:9)
- Color settings and saturation options deliver rich images with smart focus controls that quickly balance the subject in frame
- Quick focus timing and the impressive zoom managed to capture clear photos from clear across a baseball field (the other cameras hung their heads in shame)
- When using the built in scene modes (20 total), the camera still allows you to adjust the exposure settings to compensate for any lighting issues
- The Lumix recovers quickly from photos for quick back-to-back image capture, even in RAW mode
Cons
- Color settings tend to to prefer reds, so be ready to compensate by choosing off-topic settings or color correction in imaging software
- Nighttime shots in lowlight settings and indoor photos without a flash created noisy, blurry returns, even with the use of a tripod and the correct “nighttime” setting on the camera
- While the image stabilizer did help with a lot of shots, it still took several tries with other settings to get clear images on high-zoom photos
- The macro setting didn’t play along as nicely as we’d hoped with some frustration enabling the feature and getting the camera to isolate the correct objects
- Even though the built in memory may be considered generous at 27MB, using the 1280x960px resolution setting you’ll only be able to hold a few dozen photos, so save yourself some “should I delete this one?” problems and invest in a memory card (the camera supports SD, MMC, and the new high capacity SDHC memory card formats.)
View our Flickr slideshow of unaltered images taken with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 to judge for yourself:
