Product Reviews

The cameras in this month's group test are great if you want something compact and easy to use, but if you'd prefer to get arty with your photography, you can't beat a big zoom and proper manual controls. So-called super-zoom cameras are something of a speciality for Panasonic, with the DMC-FZ50 setting the standard, albeit for around £350. The more affordable FZ8 lacks the FZ50's lens rings for tactile control of zoom and focus, and uses a lower-resolution sensor, but it matches the FZ50's 12x zoom range and optical image stabilisation for reducing blur caused by camera shake. This is particularly important in a super- zoom camera, as magnifying the image also magnifies any shakes from an unsteady hand.

Pocket power

The FZ8 is quite compact for a super-zoom camera, but it still manages to be extremely comfortable to use. The 2.5in screen has a 207,000-pixel resolution and looks crisp and bright, and there's another LCD screen behind the viewfinder window.

Most of the buttons are fairly typical of a compact camera, but a small joystick provides quick access to the most important photographic settings, leaving the navigation pad free for other tasks. Adjusting the exposure manually is particularly satisfying, with the preview image's brightness giving an accurate prediction of the resulting image based on the shutter speed, aperture, ISO speed and flash settings. Manual focus works well too, thanks to a temporary digital zoom to help with fine adjustments, although cameras with lens rings make this task even easier. Performance is excellent, taking three seconds to switch on and capture

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a photo, and one second between subsequent shots - this increases to just 1.5 seconds when using the flash.

Images exhibited the qualities we have come to expect from recent Panasonic cameras - superbly balanced exposures with vivid, yet natural colours and flattering skin tones. Focus and detail are also exceptional in bright light, but there's a deterioration of detail in gloomier conditions. The latter is the inevitable side-effect of image noise and the processing used to try to hide it, but FZ8's noise reduction is less subtle than most, giving images a smeared appearance when viewed up close.

Even so, the Panasonic is no worse than average in low light - it merely loses its advantage displayed in bright conditions. Meanwhile, the inclusion of a RAW mode means you can bypass the camera's noise reduction and apply it with far greater control with the bundled Silkypix software.

Light fantastic

The ISO control lets you choose a trade-off between faster shutter speeds and lower noise, and getting it right is important for obtaining optimal images in low light. As such, we're pleased to see some sophisticated ISO options. There's a Max ISO mode, which can be set to 400, 800 or 1250. This means that once you've decided how much noise you're willing to put up with, you can make sure the camera never goes beyond this setting without having to adjust the ISO speed manually for each shot.

Meanwhile, an 'Intelligent ISO' feature raises the ISO (and hence shutter) speed when movement is detected in the subject, thereby minimising blur caused by fast-moving subjects. This feature behaved a little erratically in our tests, but it's a great idea that works well.

The FZ8's specifications and image quality put it in direct competition with Canon's PowerShot S3 IS and Sony's Cyber-Shot H2, but the FZ8's superior controls make it our favourite. Meanwhile, Fujifilm's FinePix S6500fd (reviewed April 2007) lacks image stabilisation, but includes lens rings for more tactile control, a wide-angle setting and superb low-light performance and costs around £200. Choosing between the two is tricky, but if you shoot outdoors more than in, the FZ8 just has the edge.