Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35

Video Mode (17.25)

The FZ35 delivers a feature-packed movie mode (Panasonic consistently calls this ‘motion picture’ recording, which seems a bit grandiose). The camera’s Intelligent Auto mode evaluates the scene and attempts to categorize it as a portrait, scenery, low-light or macro situation, adjusting camera settings accordingly, If you prefer more control, you can chose to shoot in program, aperture-priority, shutter-priority or full manual mode. If you want to split the automation/manual control difference, there are five preset scene modes available for video shooting (portrait, scenery, sports, close-up and night portrait). And finally, if you want hands-on control of color reproduction, My Color mode lets you adjust color, brightness and saturation, each in 11 steps. Face recognition is available as a movie mode option. So is continuous autofocus.

One helpful touch worth mentioning is the dedicated movie record button on the back of the camera. If you’re shooting stlills and a videogenic moment suddenly materializes, there’s no need to reach for the mode dial. Just pressing the shiny red button will start video recording directly. If you want to take advantage of all the video control options, though, you’ll want to switch over to Creative Movie mode, which is a dial-twisting operation.

Stereo audio is captured by a pair of side-by-side microphones mounted on the pop-up flash. A wind cut filter can be turned on if needed. There’s no input for an external mic.

High-def video is recorded in AVCHD Lite format, at widescreen 1280×720-pixel resolution, in 60p mode (sensor output is 30fps). There are three quality settings, 17, 13 and 9 megabits per second (Mbps). AVCHD has the advantage of higher compression when compared to Motion JPEG, and the disadvantage of being difficult to view or edit on most computers.

Standard-def video shooting uses Motion JPEG format. There are four video size options, 1280×720, 848×480, 640×480 and 320×240.

Video Color (7.41)

Shooting in the high-def AVCHD Lite mode, we found color accuracy was mediocre for the FZ35 (this was also a problem area when shooting stills). Panasonic does produce an enhanced level of visual oomph by pumping up the video saturation to 133%, which we suspect many users will find more pleasing than dull old reality.

The Canon and Sony models, with CMOS sensors, captured colors far more accurately than the CCD-equipped Panasonic and Nikon. More on how we test video color.

Video Sharpness (0.71)

The FZ35 shines in still image resolution testing, but the same can’t be said for video sharpness. The results here, shooting under bright studio lighting, are very disappointing for a camera with a 720p video mode.

The Canon SX1 and Sony HX1, equipped with CMOS sensors that shoot at 1920×1080 and 1440×1280 resolution respectively, run rings around the Panasonic, with its CCD sensor at its maximum 1280×720 video resolution. The Nikon P90, which is limited to standard definition video recording, scored even lower, but that’s cold comfort if you’re considering the FZ35 and video is important to you. More on how we test video sharpness.