PANASONIC LUMIX FZ48 BRIDGE CAMERA Jacks Review

PANASONIC LUMIX FZ48 BRIDGE CAMERA Jacks Review

The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ48 Digital Camera is the replacement for the popular FZ45 so for me it has some very big shoes to fill, I was a huge fan of the FZ45.

The first test for this camera was image quality and I have just finished putting it through my usual test and printed some test prints. First of all the widest setting of the lens which is the 35mm equivalent 25mm gave very crisp and sharp images with very good edge to edge detail. I took the test shots on very gloomy day with the cameras metering in full auto, which has coped very well with the lighting conditions, reproducing accurate colours and fine details. The IA (intelligent auto) performed extremely well, selecting the appropriate scene mode every time! Like the FZ45 Panasonic have again produced a camera that makes taking good quality pictures very straight forward, I have noticed that with some other bridge cameras you have to take more control of the camera to achieve the same quality. For those of you that want to experiment a bit more with your photography you do have lots of settings to choose from including the usual suspects like, aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, program and 18 scene modes to choose from. There is even a 3D photo mode. Back to the lens then, at full optical zoom 24x (equivalent to 600mm in 35mm terms) this camera really is hard to beat in its class, the print I am looking at really is stunning, lovely colours, correctly exposed and most importantly it’s sharp! The image stabilization works very well both to help you frame the picture and while taking it. I also take macro (close up) shots as part of my test, one of the images I took was of an old stone number on a wall, again the detail is staggering, perhaps not pin sharp edge to edge but very good all the same. I would say that approx. 70% of the image is bang on! I was shooting hand held while kneeling down, which with my knees is no mean feat!  Overall, the lens returned some very nice, crisp images, which for me is very important. Oh and I also have test prints using the cameras intelligent 32x digital zoom setting, which again are very good indeed, in fact they are the best I have seen to date!  I have just shown the prints to my wife Alison and she didn’t believe me! Lens details are, LEICA DC VARIO- ELMARIT / 14 elements in 10 groups / (2 Aspherical Lenses / 3 Aspherical Surfaces / 3 ED Lenses / 1 Nano Surface Coating Lens)

The DMC-FZ48 boasts a very fast AF and a quick start-up time, which helps, give the camera super high-speed response, which helps to catch even the most fleeting photo opportunities. The accuracy and the speed of AF Tracking are also dramatically improved. I found the auto focus was very accurate during my test and ‘snapped’ in very quickly on every subject I tried. It definitely seems to be faster than the FZ45, which was already very good.  I just might have to give up my very heavy SLR camera and all the lenses for one of these bridge cameras very soon!

So to the camera layout then, Panasonic have kept the layout as per the FZ45 which is great I love the design and location of all the buttons on this camera, it feels comfortable to hold and has nice grip pattern for your shooting hand. There is a nice grip pattern on the main control dial, which is positioned on the top of the camera. They have also kept the quick video start and stop button, which is positioned behind the shutter button, and zoom control. The camera records full HD 1920X1080 video with Dolby stereo sound. There is also a very neat quick focus/zoom button, which I think is a very handy ‘short cut’ when you are in a hurry. The main control dial has some useful and sensible short cut settings, including IA, program, portrait, landscape, sport, macro, night shot, scene selection and custom setting; you can use this to save your own favourite settings. On the back of the camera you have the built in flash button, EVF viewfinder or LCD selection button, auto focus and exposure lock button and a nicely position thumb dial for the shutter speed, aperture etc depending what mode you’re in. Also on the back you have quick buttons for selecting the focus mode, macro mode and manual focus, a display mode button, the image paly back button and ‘flat joystick’ which include the camera menu button and exposure bracketing. There is also a very useful quick menu button. All of these buttons are clearly labelled and have a nice feel to them. In fact, the whole camera feels well put together and looks stylish, it is not heavy either.

Conclusion, another great camera in the Panasonic Lumix range, which has some noticeable improvements incorporated in it. Of course ultimately for me it’s all about ease of use and image quality, both of which this camera definitely delivers very well. The quality of the zoom is amazing and does not disappoint. I still feel that Panasonic offer some of the best cameras, when it comes to letting the camera do all the work for you, particularly when the subject is reasonably lit, obviously as with any camera when shooting in unusual lighting conditions, you may have to experiment a bit. If you don’t want to carry a big SLR with lots of lenses in a heavy kit bag, then this is definitely a camera I would consider as an alternative.

Jack
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Features

·         Megapixels 12.1

·         Sensor type CCD sensor

·         Optical zoom (x) 24

·         Focal length (tele) 600

·         Focal length (wide) 25

·         Image stabilisation Yes

·         Exposure modes Program AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE, Manual

·         ISO min 100

·         ISO max 6400

·         Viewfinder type 0.20 Colour EVF

·         Screen size (inches) 3.0

·         Screen resolution (pixels) 460000

·         Flash type Auto, Auto/Red- eye Reduction, Forced On, Forced On/Red- eye Reduction, / Slow Sync./Red- eye Reduction, Forced Off / Flash Synchro; 1st / 2nd / 0.3 - 9.5m (Wide/ISO Auto), 1.0 - 5.1m (Tele/ISO Auto)

·         Movie mode 1920x1080 Full HD