Panasonic Lumix FZ200 Digital Camera Review

Noise Reduction

Image noise is certainly this camera's greatest disappointment. While Panasonic has certainly improved their lens since the FZ150, it seems likely that a cheaper sensor had to be swapped in to hit a certain price point. The FZ200's handling of noise is far worse than the FZ150.

At default noise reduction, all images are still made up of over 1.00% noise, a value we don't expect to see until at least ISO 400. By then, the FZ200 has already crossed 1.11%. Peak noise occurs at ISO 1600, 1.66%, and then the algorithm becomes more aggressive, knocking noise down to 1.42%. More on how we test noise.

ISO Options

The native ISO range extends from 100 to 3200, though this can be expanded up to 6400 without a resolution penalty. The camera also offers both automatic and "intelligent" ISO, the latter of which can apparently detect when your subject is moving and raise the ISO and shutter accordingly when appropriate.