Labs

The FZ18 is one of a few compacts with 18x zoom range. With focal lengths from 28 to 504mm, you can shoot a close-up of a face from 15 metres away, or a group of a dozen people from a couple of paces back. Yet this is only one of many features that make the FZ18 stand out. A mini joystick provides fast access to shutter speed, aperture

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and exposure compensation, plus a range of other key settings via a menu. It's not quite as efficient as the FZ50's command dials, but a significant improvement on the menu-delving required with other cameras.

The face detection proved extremely reliable at identifying faces in profile and at angles as well as head-on, and produced pleasing portrait shots without being fooled by very bright or dark backgrounds. Image stabilisation was equally impressive, keeping 90 per cent of our photos sharp at a 1/30 second shutter. Performance is well above average, at 1.7 seconds between shots, or 1.4fps continuous, although photos are slow to browse.

Image quality is exceptional, with sumptuous colour and the finest, sharpest detail we've seen from an 8 megapixel camera. Low-light results were impressive: there were smooth colours and few noise reduction artefacts at ISO 400, and respectable results at ISO 800 too.