Digital Camera Review

Digital Camera Review

Making its debut at the 2005 Photo Marketing Association trade show in Orlando, the Panasonic FZ5 joined an expanding list of SLR-shaped digital cameras with long zoom lenses. The FZ5 distinguishes itself with one of the strongest fixed zooms out there: a Leica DC Vario-Elmarit 12x optical zoom lens with a popular image stabilization system, originally introduced on the earlier FZ3. With 5 megapixels on a 1/2.5-inch CCD, the FZ5 greatly improves on its 3-megapixel predecessor in terms of image quality and flexibility, though it takes only a baby step forward in visibility and LCD screen size with a moderately expanded 1.8 inch screen, up from 1.5. Slightly larger then the typical point-and-shoot camera, though significantly more condensed than most SLR-shaped models, the compact FZ5 will be available in April and retail for $499.99 (USD).
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Picture Quality / Size Options (8.0)
The Panasonic FZ5 offers plenty of image size options within its menu. The following options are available: 2560 x 1920, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 640 x 480, and HDTV 1920 x 1080. There are also three picture quality and compression options: TIFF, JPEG Fine and JPEG Standard. The two JPEG modes are represented by obscure icons, a downside of the menus.

Picture Effects Options (7.5)
The FZ5 offers three picture adjustments and several color modes. The color effects mode lets users see a live view of the following options: Cool, Warm, Black & White, Sepia, and Off. The Black & White mode looks good – not gray like on some compact cameras – but the Sepia looks a little too bright. Perhaps I like my Sepia a bit more rust-colored. Unfortunately, the live views are not available in the picture adjustment mode. The following options are available: Natural, Standard, and Vivid. The Natural mode is supposed to look softer and the Vivid more sharp, but they look very much the same to me.

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