Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18K Black Digital Camera

Canon and Nikon watch out!

Posted May 3, 2008 - After much research and time, I decided to pick the Panasonic lumix fz18. Among all the bridge cameras, fz18 fit the bill most for the features I was looking for in a camera. Pros - -Cost factor. -Image quality - If you take the shot in nice light, it gives excellent image quality. At its best, it is the best. I dont see much difference in image quality when compared to a canon eos 20D when shots were taken in good light.(Also depends on the lens used on the DSLR). Low light shots are a different story though. But I am comparing a full fledged DSLR here. Compared to cameras in its class, the low light shots are not any worse or better. NO purple fringing even in the corners in extreme zoom! No barrel distortion in wide angle shots. But I suspect that this attribute is more because of the in-camera jpeg processing than the leica lens quality. Taking RAW format will reveal the reason. I didnt try it. But whatever be it, I doubt if any camera in the same class or even in higher classes has this low purple fringing or barrel distortion. Accurate color reproduction. I have not tested it widely to see if it has good color reproduction in various light settings. But anyway, I have white balance control at my fingertips if in doubt. Metering has been pretty much accurate and it has exposure compensation of + or -2EV (1/3 steps) in case you think you need more light than the camera thinks is needed. -Big zoom - WIDE ANGLE to a very good telezoom. I dont think you will ever need an extra telephoto zoom unless you are into wildlife photography. If you want an equivalent zoom for a DSLR, dont even think about getting this much zoom in one piece. Also be ready to shell out a huge amount of money if you want that much zoom in a DSLR. And the amazing thing about this big zoom is that there is no discernible distortions in the wide and tele ends. -Nice bokeh (not as much as a dSLR). Even though, the sensor size is small(1/2.5"), it has a narrow enough depth of field if the relative size of the subject on the frame is big enough (even if it is wide macro or tele macro). Large depth of field for taking landscape photography at wide angles. -Presets - Though I have not used much of the ready made settings, there is a wide array of ready made settings that suits most of the common situations for those who need it. -Ergonomics-Very nice placement of buttons, EXCELLENT menu user interface, excellent placement of buttons. Joystick at the most convenient location, giving QUICK ACCESS to most used functions while taking shots. -Accepts the most common and cheapest memory card solution - SD card. Other camera manufacturers force you to buy their proprietory memory cards. -Better than average build quality. -Option to record in RAW mode. Cons - -No manual focus ring or zoom ring. You have to use the zoom lever and joystick(focussing). Though not quite difficult, I would have preferred a focus ring on the lens barrel. -Smearing, smudging, blotching... side effects of noise reduction algorithm used in low light situations. Even if you turn noise reduction by 2 notches, it is still there. I really hope that Panasonic releases a firmware later on that gives an option to completely turn it down in jpeg mode. You could potentially use RAW mode and do noise reduction with some other software ... who has the time. For an advanced P&S, it should have had a 1/1.8" image sensor instead of small 1/2.5" sensor. -Lens physically extends during zooming out. Therefore, if you want to attach a telephoto lens or wide angle lens, you have to use a special adapters which fits on the outer 55.8 thread ring. Even with panasonic la3 adaptor, it will vignette at the wide end. There is a 3rd party adaptor available which solves the problem, though not very satisfactorily. Lens retracts into the barrel when powered down, therefore if you fit a 46mm telephoto or wide angle lens on the inner ring, if you accidentally power it down before taking the extra lens or filter out (and if the diameter of the extra lens is more than 46mm in the main body), it will get stuck in the barrel potentially damaging the lens mechanism. You need atleast around 6 mm extension from the 46mm inner thread to be safe. -No tilting lcd display. There is an option for high angle viewing with lcd (for taking pics above head level). -No flash shoe. -No external trigger release options. -No zooming while shooting video - Is it possible with a firmware change? I hope so. -Non standard thread size on the outer barrel - 55.8mm! -No AC adaptor supplied with the package! -Weight is a little too low. Some prefer it that way, but I like it a little more heavier. In general, I am happy with the purchase. If they continue the trend in the quality and pricing and improve on the above mentioned areas, I think the panasonic lumix line P&S will seriously pose a challenge to the super expensive DSLR giants.

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Excellent Camera

Posted Feb 13, 2008 - I've had this camera about 2 months. I was looking for a camera with better quality than a compact, but less expensive than a DSLR. I am convinced that this was the right choice. The great feature for me is the 18X OPTICAL zoom - as I think that digital zooms are useless. Picture quality is excellent, noticeably better than my previous Olympus camera. Focusing is very accurate and also much faster than my Olympus, especially with low light conditions (in which my current Olympus camera is very slow). The image stabilization works well and is very important for high zoomed pictures. The face detection feature also works surprisingly well. The flash is just passable (up to about 15 ft) and the lack of a shoe for an external flash is the main drawback of this camera, in my opinion. In summary, this camera is simple enough to be used as a point-and-shoot, but also has the versatility to control speed, aperture, ISO, etc. Strongly recommended purchase!

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Fantastic 18X Optical Zoom Camera; 8.1MP, 2.5

Posted Sep 24, 2007 - Used this for garden shots and then at the San Diego Red Bull Air Races (on SD Bay); got excellent shots at 18X zoom w/auto settings. Can even easily read Honda name on outboard over 2100' away (~0.4 miles). Has face recognition and selective aspect ratio. Very impressed so far!

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Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FZ18

Posted Mar 7, 2008 - I bought this camera for the ultra zoom which is impressive. It has so many other features it will take me hours to learn them all but I can take pictures and just leave it on auto. Overall a great camera. This camera zoom is why I bought it and after having it for a couple weeks and playing with it I am even more impressed. The zoom, 18x, and the 8mp really makes my 10mp Exisllim camera look poor. If you are looking for a powerful zoom, plenty of pictures and a reasonable price this is the camera for you.

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Good Camera but I'm disappointed.

Posted Feb 12, 2008 - I picked this camera based on professional reviews of 4 similar long range zoom cameras. The deciding factor was many reviewers like the quality of the lens more then the competition. I am not interested in a camera if it has excess pin-cushion or barrel distortion. Most of the reviews also like the low chromatic distortion of the FZ-18 when compared to the competition. So the FZ-18 was for me. . A problem I found was that many pictures come out orange/red in incandescent light when the white balance is set to auto in low light. It acts like my old analog (film) cameras. I found the following in the manual which addresses this: . "The available white balance range is shown in the following illustration. When you take a picture beyond the available white balance range, the picture may appear reddish or bluish. Even within the confines of the range, the auto white balance may not operate properly if there are many light sources or there is no color close to white." . Well, the illustration shows that incandescent light at the bottom of the auto range and white walls were in the picture so the AWB should have worked. I never had problems with my older Olympics Styles digital cameras with the same scene and AWB. You can point the FZ-18 at a white card to set the white balance. This works pretty well but is something else you have to do to take good pictures with available light. . Speaking of white balance problems, search the web for "FZ18 Blue Band Phenomenon". My camera did not have this problem. . I'm a big fan of available light photography, especially of people. I know the qualify goes down and the noise go up, but I like being able to take pictures of people without disturbing them with a flash or bright lights. And besides, the FZ-18 can save the picture in raw mode so I can do some modification in the computer later, right? WRONG! Let me explain below. . The FZ-18 mode has a mode called "High Sensitivity.". It increases the ISO so you can take pictures in lower light at reasonable shutter speeds. It lowers the resolution to 3 meg. It sounded similar to my Olympics Styles lowing the resolution from 8 to 3 meg for available light photographs. I believe Olympics said the lower resolution allows it to use extra sensors on the CCD to gather light. . Well, a problem with the FZ-18 "High Sensitivity" mode is: It will not let you save the pictures in RAW mode so computer RAW editing is out. The modes where you can save RAW pictures are not very useful for hand hold low light without a flash. . A second problem with the FZ-18 "High Sensitivity" mode is the minimum ISO is 1600. It would be nice it the FZ-18 would not use ISO 1600 as the minimum. My Olympics Styles cameras "Available Light Mode", sets the max ISO to 3200 but will use lower ISO should the high ISO not be needed. I've got many great shots on the Olympics cameras in this mode. . After using the camera longer, I appreciated some of the other features. Features like face detection, stabilization, even the scene detection works great. The stabilization is really great. This is my first still camera with stabilization. . The 3 pictures below were taken at a Theater at MIT using the "High Sensitivity" setting. . The first picture is a wide angle shot so you can see about how far back I'm at. 28mm, f/2.8, 1/30 second, ISO 2000. . The second picture is zoomed in to near the max. It would be over 500 mm with a 35 mm film camera. The old rule of slowest shutter speed is 1/Focal length. This picture should be shot at 1/500 second, but it was shot much slower at 1/50 second. You can see the stabilization at work, you can also see blurry hands because of hand movement and the slower shutter speed. 504mm, f/4.2, 1/50 seconds, ISO 3200. . I just like the third picture because it look like she is smiling at me but I'm sure she did not see me and I know she does not know me. 504mm, f/4.2, 1/80 seconds, ISO 3200. . You can see noise at the high ISO, but I rather have noise then not be able to take the pictures. Too bad you can not save the picture in RAW mode when using high sensitivity. . Bottom line: A great camera but available light photography could be improved.

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Amazing Zoom

Posted 1 year ago - This is my 3rd digital camera and by far the best one I ever had. I am into taking lots of sports pictures of the kids and an 18X optical zoom is even a better zoom then most of the SLR's out there. Most SLR's have an equivalent 300mm lens, but the 18X optical on this is more like a 500mm lens. The optical image stabilization is amazing too, no blurred pictures at full zoom!!

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Good camera

Posted Apr 26, 2008 - I bought this camera as a gift, and tried it out for a few days. It takes very nice, sharp pictures, and the 18x zoom is great for everyday photos. Of course, it is not a compact camera, so I couldn't just stick it in my pocket wherever I go, but if you want great pictures, you have to compromise on size.

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Big zoom

Posted Apr 16, 2008 - I bought this FZ18 because of 18x optical big zoom for baseball game of my son. I used a 5x zoom camera Panasonic FX01 but it was not enough. This camera is not compact but the weight is light for this kind of big zoom camera. And AF is accurate and fast. There are a lot of scene mode: Intelligent AUTO, P(Program) Mode, A(Aperture Priority) Mode, S(Shutter Priority) Mode, M(Manual) Mode, Custom, Portrait Mode, Scenery Mode, Sports Mode, Night Portrait Mode, SCN (Panning, Food, Party, Candle Light, Baby1, Baby2, Pet, Sunset, High Sensitivity, Starry Sky, Fireworks, Beach, Snow, Aerial Photo) I sometimes take a flower by Macro mode and the picture is nice. I used this camera for a week and I love this camera.

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The one bad item negates all the good

Posted Feb 5, 2008 - I regrettably sold my Konica-Minolta Z3 before I bought this camera. Actually my only problem with this camera is that there is NO ZOOM IN MOVIE MODE!!!! That is unheard of in today's high tech cameras. I had read on a forum that the zoom could actually be activated in the movie mode by changing some settings, so I bought the camera. That turned out to be false information; there's nothing you can do to get it to zoom while recording. It's fine for still pictures, and you can take still pictures with audio, but if you want a useful video/movie feature, get a different camera.

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total awsomeness

Posted 1 year ago - totally rox best ever and it lasts for ever i would recomend it to beginers . it totally rox.alot of cool little things on there.

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Joy Stick Problem

Posted Apr 14, 2008 - Made 3 phone calls to Panasonic, after the second call had it in my mind to send it to Panasonic. which I did by Priority Mail, Panasonic said it took a week to arrive? Two to three weeks to repair.......Repair center only open from 10 am to 3:30 pm daily? Strange hours. If I had pruchased the camera locally I would have just taken it back to them. Since I purchased it from Colorado via internet, thought to send it to Panasonic. They refused to replace the defective camera with a new FZ18......said thats their policy...............In Conclusion...if you want full control of your camera think twice about this model!

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Great for zoomed and wide good light pictures

Posted 1 year ago - The camera does a remarkable job for the market it was designed for. Not high level DSLR or low level point and shoot only, and pictures not movies. I like the calendar mode during playback which shows a monthly calendar and highlights the days with a tiny picture thumbnail that pictures were taken. Very cool. Also has dual timezones for when your traveling to keep date/time stamps accurate. Nice finshing details like this round out the camera very nicely. For a small camera bag I'm trying M-Rocks Niagara bag. Just barely fits in sidewise (verticle oriented bag) with the grip up. Plenty of room above the camera in the bag for a strap or equivalent that won't scratch the camera. Has plenty of small pockets for extras like spare batteries, memory cards, filters. A touch big to carry around all day but hey, this isn't a compact camera. That's the price for 18x zoom.

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