Panasonic's FZ50 picked up a Best Buy award in our ultra-zoom lab test a year ago. Since then, nothing has come close to competing with it for ergonomics, and few have challenged its image quality. It has SLR-style lens rings and dual command dials for adjusting zoom, focus, shutter speed and aperture. The 2in screen is small by today's standards but it's just as detailed
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as the others and is hinged for shooting at tricky angles.
Performance is above average, with 1.4 seconds between shots and a continuous mode just shy of 2fps. The controls greatly speed up operation compared with the other ultra-zoom cameras, particularly for manual focus. Comfortable handling and excellent image stabilisation produced the most blur-free shots in our controlled test.
In bright light, the FZ50's output was largely indistinguishable from that of the 10-megapixel SLRs, but as with all the ultra-zoom cameras, shadows showed a small amount of noise. Indoors, this was impossible to ignore. Even at ISO 100, indoor shots looked grubby, and as we increased the ISO speed, noise levels rose and detail was discarded in a (largely unsuccessful) attempt to suppress it.
The FZ50 is still an excellent camera but its image quality gives away its age. The other cameras in this category offer better quality at lower prices.
