The DMC-FZ50 builds on the solid foundation of the FZ camera
series from Panasonic. These are cameras that use long Leica
DC zoom lenses (12X in this case) and which, in addition,
have an optical image stabilizer built-in.
The FZ50 is equipped with a 10.1 megapixel CCD with a 4:3
aspect ratio, but offers the possibility to capture 3:2 or
16:9 aspect ratio images as well, a process that has the camera
cut off horizontal bands at the top and bottom of the frame
to match the format's proportions.
Equipped with the same zoom lens
as its predecessor, the FZ30, the FZ50 offers similar results
optically.
Aperture: f5.6, shutter speed: 1/250 sec., 100 ISO
Distortions are minimal across
the breadth of the zoom's focal range, including at both ends,
which are equivalent to 35 mm and 420 mm respectively. And
it is only when using the macro mode, and when there happens
to be a vertical image element close to an edge of the frame
that a slight barrel distortion becomes detectable.
Moreover, no chromatic aberration is detectable in the images
the FZ50 captures, even on the borders of strong contrasts.
The FZ50 offers two recording formats
for still images, RAW or JPEG, the latter offering two levels
of JPEG compression.
In use, however, it becomes quickly apparent that the JPEG
format, even at the highest image quality (Fine), does not
do justice to the optical capabilities of the FZ50. The compression
process introduces artefacts, and too many subtle colour differences
are eliminated, which in turn cause a noticeable loss of detail
and definition.
As a result, although the JPEG format allows capturing images
quickly, when the images are printed, artefacts can become
visible at sizes that exceed 8 x 10 inches (20 x 25 cm).
Aperture: f2.8, shutter speed: 1/2 sec., 100 ISO.
The other factor that has an
impact when the JPEG mode is used is noise. As are a number
of other cameras that use small 10 megapixel CCDs, the FZ50's
images show some noise, even at 100 ISO. The noise appears
as random coloured specs in areas of similar colour or in
shadows, particularly if the light is not ideal, and the image
processing as well as the JPEG compression process tend to
combine to further impact the overall image quality.
Yet, with the FZ50, Panasonic introduces a new Auto ISO system
called Intelligent ISO, which aims at minimizing the
intrusion of noise into the images.
Aperture: f3.6, shutter speed: 1/2 sec., 100 ISO.
While all current Auto ISO systems work by
taking into account the shutter speed, increasing sensitivity
to allow for an increase in shutter speed which in turn lessens
the chances that the image will be blurred by camera shake;
the Intelligent ISO system adds other parameters to the equation.
Intelligent ISO takes into account the effectiveness of the
image stabilizer, and also detects subject movement, combining
all these parameters to determine the best sensitivity setting.
Generally, this results in a lower sensitivity increase than
would have been the case if the shutter speed had been used
exclusively.
The true potential of the FZ50 becomes
apparent when the RAW mode is used. Unencumbered by the lossy
compression of the JPEG process, the full gamut of colours the
camera captured is available, and although still containing
noise, the detail the camera can yield is noticeable.
Silkypix, the software supplied by Panasonic,
makes it possible to eliminate 99% of the noise that can be
seen at low ISO settings, and boost the sharpness sufficiently
to mask the effect of noise reduction. The resulting images,
which can be saved in TIFF format or in JPEG at a lower compression
level and yet a smaller file size than the camera can, are
sharp and in general free of noise.
Still, at 400 ISO and up, noise reduction starts to be less
effective as there is too much noise in the images.
Of course, the drawback to the
use of the RAW format is that it precludes the use of the
Burst mode, and that each image takes up a lot of memory space
(19.4 MB) and requires 6 seconds to save.
Flash photography with the FZ50 is likewise a bit limited
unless one of the external, and optional, flash units is used.
The built-in, pop-up flash of the FZ50 has a limited range
at 100 ISO, the least noise-sensitive level of the camera
and very homogenous coverage at all focal lengths, and is
therefore best suited xd5for fill light and opening up shadow
areas.
It seems the DMC-FZ50, although
slightly more prone to noise than its 8-megapixel predecessor,
should offer as good an image quality as the FZ30 had. Yet,
when set to capture JPEG images, artefacts are visible, and
the results are disappointing. In our opinion this is due to
the in-camera image processing, as when 100 ISO images are captured
in RAW format and processed using Silkypix, the results are
very good.
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