Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 Digital Camera Review

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18

Digital Camera Review

2.4 The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 aims to be the camera that has it all: a wide 28mm angle for photographing group portraits and architecture as well as the power of a long 18x optical zoom lens. With a lens like that, this 8.1-megapixel Lumix stands at the top of the ultra-zoom market alongside the 18x Olympus SP-560UZ and Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd. The Panasonic FZ18 boasts full manual control and a host of automated modes, RAW and JPEG image capture, and a $399 price tag.
Advertisement
Latest Camera Reviews
DSLR Point & Shoot
Samsung
NX10
Panasonic
DMC-TS2
Olympus
E-P1
Casio
EX-G1
Nikon
D300S
Panasonic
Lumix DMC-FZ35
Pentax
K-X
Sony
Cyber-shot DSC-TX5
Nikon
D3000
Samsung
TL500
Recently Viewed Products
$350
$499
$31
$201
Top Point & Shoot Cameras
Max Price: $2100
$0 $525 $1050 $1575 $2100
Filters
All
Canon
Casio
Fuji
Kodak
Nikon
Olympus
Panasonic
Pentax
Samsung
Sony
All
Compact
High-End
Pocket
Ultra-Zoom
1.Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
Ultra-Zoom
$420
2.Canon SX1 IS
Ultra-Zoom
$520
3.Panasonic DMC-ZS3
Compact
$280
4.Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35
Ultra-Zoom
$400
5.Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX7
Compact
$350
Lumix DMC-FZ18 Prices
External Reviews
Popular Photography
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1


Picture Quality / Size Options (9.0)
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 has 8 megapixels on a standard 1/2.5-inch CCD image sensor. It has a plethora of image size options, mainly because it can record pictures in three different formats – the standard 4:3, the 4 x 6-inch print-optimized 3:2, and the widescreen television-friendly 16:9. The 4:3-formatted image sensor can record RAW 3264 x 2448-pixel files and can record them simultaneously with JPEGs if desired.

JPEG images can be shot in fine or standard compression in the following resolutions.

 4:3 - 3264 x 2448, 2560 x 1920, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480
 3:2 - 3264 x 2176, 2560 x 1712, 2048 x 1360
 16:9 - 3264 x 1840, 2560 x 1440, 1920 x 1080

Images can be resized and trimmed in the Playback menu to any resolution smaller than the current image size. The file can be saved separately or simply replace the larger image.

   

Picture Effects Mode (7.0)
There are several picture effects available, but they are hard to find. They are buried in the Recording menu under the Color Effect and Picture Adjust titles. The color effect offers cool, warm, black & white, and sepia filters and shows a live view. The picture adjust does not have a live view but shows full-step +/- 2 scales for contrast, sharpness, saturation, and noise reduction. The picture effects aren’t very elaborate; the Canon S5 comes with about a dozen interesting Color modes and adjustments that are available in Recording and Playback. The Panasonic FZ18’s effects are only effective before pictures are taken.

Control Options Page 7 of 13 Connectivity / Extras Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 Digital Camera Review Navigation

   
Advertisement