Product Reviews

If you're a photography enthusiast with a fair bit of cash to spend, a digital SLR camera is probably top of your wish list. Their through-the-lens (TTL) viewfinders and superior handling and image quality mean they're in a different league to fixed-lens digital cameras. However, in our Labs review of enthusiasts' cameras (Labs, Shopper June 2006), Panasonic's DMC-FZ30 was the one fixed-lens camera to challenge the superiority of the digital SLR. The camera reviewed here is its successor, offering a higher resolution, a new image-processing engine and the same 12x zoom optically stabilised lens that puts the 3x zoom range of entry-level digital SLRs to shame.

The charge-coupled device (CCD) has increased from eight to 10 megapixels, but continuous shooting has fallen from three to two frames per second. The standard shooting mode remains quick at around 1.4 seconds between shots, but browsing pictures stored on an SD card is slow. Other updates over the FZ30 include support for SDHC cards for capacities beyond 2GB, widescreen capture for its excellent movie mode, and 16:9 and 3:2 options for still images. The lens rings for zoom and focus remain, giving a satisfying SLR-like feel to the camera, but there's an additional button for quick access to white balance, ISO, metering, resolution and compression level settings. A pair of command dials either side of the shutter button make manual exposure adjustment easy and is more than any budget digital SLR offers. ISO speeds up to 1600 are available - a big increase on the FZ30's maximum of 400 - but noise performance

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hasn't improved to the same extent.

It's common for higher-resolution cameras to suffer worse image noise problems, which makes us question the benefit of 10-megapixel CCDs. With only our library of test shots rather than the two cameras to compare side by side, the FZ50 appears marginally sharper at ISO 100. At ISO 400, noise reduction impairs the detail of both cameras' output, but we were surprised to find the FZ50's pictures looked significantly cleaner, if not much more detailed. Noise levels are far worse than any digital SLR, and the ISO 800 and 1600 settings are pointless, but ISO 400 proved capable of turning in respectable photos, particularly when the noise reduction setting was reduced to low. However, for guaranteed sharp, noise-free detail, the FZ50 needs to be kept at ISO 100. On this setting, pictures were notably sharper than Sony's 10-megapixel digital SLR (opposite).

Otherwise, image quality was fantastic. Colours were impeccably balanced in sunlight, ambient, artificial and very low light and under the flash, with natural skin tones and rarely any loss of detail in shadows and highlights. The only area that failed to impress was close-proximity flash photography, which produced pasty skin tones, but this an intrusive way to photograph people so it's hardly a serious failing. Telephoto photography was predictably fantastic, thanks to the massive resolution and 12x zoom lens with Panasonic's excellent optical stabilisation counteracting camera shake.

The FZ50 is a worthy if not groundbreaking successor to the FZ30. Considering that the competition has yet to catch up with Panasonic's older model, this update comfortably takes the accolade of best super-zoom camera on the market. The only competition is Nikon's entry-level digital SLR, the D50, currently available for around £400. It's an excellent 6-megapixel camera with amazingly low noise at ISO 1600, so ultimately the decision hinges on whether you want the 12x zoom lens for shooting faraway subjects or the high ISO performance for shooting in low light. For nature and sports photographers who prefer the former, the FZ50 is a sure-fire winner.