Panasonic's DMC-FZ18 packs about as much functionality and as many features as you'll find in a point-and-shoot. Did all the bells and whistles add up to great photos and videos?
Review summary of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18:
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 Both point-and-shooters and low-end prosumers have far better choices on the market than the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18, given how oversized its body is and how badly it handles noise. However, considering its impressive zoom-range, optical image-stabilization, manual controls, and support for RAW, beginners or passive amateurs without much pocket change to spare could find it a good match. Release: October 2007. Price: $320.
Pros: 18x optical zoom, optical image-stabilization, full manual-mode, RAW support
Cons: terrible noise distortion, middling image-quality for its price, narrow aperture range
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Full Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 Review:
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Design – Good
Much like its competitor, the Olympus SP-560UZ, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 may look a lot like a D-SLR, but there really is no comparison. The FZ18's 2.5-inch display is par for the course. It's 207,000 pixels are good for quick perusal of recently taken photos, but we still prefer the electronic viewfinder found directly above it. Our favorite thing about the LCD had to be the mode selector, which allows the user to select between normal, high power (for glare-inducing conditions) and high angle, for shooting at an angle that distorts the view of the LCD (perfect for concerts). We're sure high power drains the battery, but we love the fact that we have the option, and wonder why we don't see this on every camera. Not to mention, the FZ18's battery is pretty sizeable, and we were pretty impressed with the battery life we got from a full charge. But most everything about the camera is sizeable; it seems Panasonic's priorities when building this model were centered around taking quality pictures, eschewing any size-reducing corners to be cut. The size and weight make the included neckstrap greatly appreciated, and while it is quite bulky, it is not uncomfortable to hold and use. Rubber grips along the right side and at the top right of the back of the camera are perfectly located to provide a one-handed grip, although we certainly recommend using two hands.
We had mixed feelings about the buttons. We liked that the mode selector wheel was along the top of the camera and could be flipped with our thumb when shooting with one hand. We liked the location of the zoom (a spring-loaded circle surrounding the shutter) and the multi-direction mini joystick on the back panel used for navigation of the menus. The mini joystick was especially helpful when shooting one-handed; not having to pick up our thumb and move to another button helped us keep a strong grip on the camera. We didn't like the miniscule size of buttons located on the top and back, each as small as hanging chads and just as annoying to depress properly. With all the empty space, we wonder why they chose to make the buttons so small. We also weren't huge fans of the circular 5-button array on the back, again, the size of the buttons being our main gripe.
Externally, the FZ18 isn't pretty, but it isn't ugly either. It looks like what it is: functional. The 28mm wide-angle 18x zoom lens dominates the form and body, which is generally the case with quality cameras. We would have liked to see better placement of the tripod mount, something Panasonic seems to fail at pretty consistently. Even so, it was ergonomically sound, and the zoom lens is certainly impressive. It certainly has room for improvement, but for what it is, the FZ18 is designed relatively well.
Shooting Features – Very good
We loved the video options we had with the FZ18; we're a sucker for widescreen video, and we were not disappointed. Shooting in 848x480 resolution (16:9), the 30fps videos looked great on our iMac (although they were a bit sluggish on our Dell Latitude d420) but sounded pretty terrible. We suspect this could be from our fingers muffling the microphone, which was inexplicably right under our left-hand grip.
Panasonic's support for 16:9 shooting is pretty decent, offering shots in 3,264 x 1,840 and 2,560 x 1,440 resolutions as well as 1920x1080. The FZ18 is one of the more versatile point-and-shoots we've used, offering varying levels of customization. For example, the "Intelligent Auto" setting pretty much made all adjustments and focal decisions for us.
There were also manual, shutter-priority, aperture-priority and programmable auto-exposure modes, which allowed manual control over the exposure settings, or a little assistance if so desired. There may have only been 14 different modes under the "SCN" wheel setting, but the four settings under the night portrait, sports and scenery menus and the five under the portrait menu make for an impressive 31 total scene settings. Lastly, for those looking for as much control over settings as possible, the Custom menu has three slots to save your fully customized settings for white balance, ISO settings, image aspect ratio and autofocus, among others.
We liked that the DMC-FZ18 had a Pictbridge mode for computer-less printing, and we thought the battery life was decent, especially considering all the video-shooting we did. Panasonic also included the ability to create still photos from movies recorded on the camera. Usually requiring some video software (or at the very least a solid knowledge of print screen options), we liked how easy it was to grab stills from our movies.
Image Quality - Very good
With an 8.1 megapixels, the sensor on the FZ18 is a little better than some in its class, but with these kinds of cameras, it's all about the lens. The wide-angle 28mm, 18x zoom lens was overall pretty fantastic, and while we wish it would have focused just a little faster, it was pretty consistent in focusing our subject. Luckily, we had weather similar to when we tested the SP-560UZ; cloudy, humid and without a lot of sunlight...perfect conditions to test the limitations of a camera.
Samples:
Outdoor shot taken in “Intelligent Auto” mode
This shot was taken with about 16x zoom in "Intelligent Auto" mode. A relatively easy task for the camera, the FZ18 easily captured the detail of the building despite a lack of natural sunlight. We were also pleased with the speed of the autofocus.
Indoor shot taken in “Intelligent Auto” mode
This shot was considerably tougher for the camera, with zero natural light, odd light sources and moving subjects. The FZ18 did an admirable job, keeping our main subject (in blue) in focus and keeping the noise to a minimum. This shot was aided by the fact that we were close enough for the attached flash to have an effect.
Outdoor shot taken in “Night Scenery” mode
This image, outdoors at night with no natural light, depends on the available lighting to illuminate the frame. With the flash off and our zoom around 8x, the camera was able to capture the non-moving target of the marquee but using the light from the streetlamps, spotlights and the marquee itself to give us a stable image. We would have liked more clarity, especially with this lens.
Outdoor shot taken in “Portrait” mode
Taken from across the an intersection with around 10x zoom, the camera was able to autofocus on the subject (the blonde woman) despite the passing cars, and remain focused on said subject. The resulting effect is a blurred taxi but a clear face.
We were disappointed that the camera isn't capable of zooming while recording, but we were impressed with the highest video quality settings, as well as the many different quality options. Videos shot on the FZ18 look very nice, and shooting from odd angles is made even easier by the aforementioned LCD view options. We would have liked to see HD video, but its not ubiquitous just yet, so we won't fault Panasonic.
Surprisingly enough, the in-camera editing options were pretty sparse; they were limited to resizing, cropping and aspect ratio conversion. We normally don't like or use in-camera editing features, so this didn't terribly bother us, but for those who do, it could be a disappointment. Needless to say, it is something that cameras in its class offer, so the FZ18 should as well.
Image transfer - Good
The FZ18 also works as a removable drive, so users simply need to plug their camera into their computer to access the pictures using Explorer on Windows or Finder on a Macintosh.
But for those looking for a more automated photo transfer experience, the included software CD-ROM contains a bevy of options for transferring media. It has QuickTime player to play its movies, SILKYPIX to read the RAW image files it is capable of taking and two different photo viewers (one billed as 'simple' and the other as 'high-functional') in addition to the ArcSoft Software Suite. It's for this very reason that we prefer Photoshop. Why have four different programs to perform various tasks when you can just have one? Rather than compile a bunch of programs to get the full functionality of their camera, we wish Panasonic had spent the time to build a piece of software that could handle all of those tasks.
The included ArcSoft MediaImpression program works well enough for those who don't already have their own photo-editing software. The software lets you crop, rotate, mirror your image, and has rectangular, circular, polygonal and magic wand selection tools. It also has red eye removal, brightness/contrast adjustment, color adjustment and blur/sharpening tools. On the PhotoImpression software bundled with other Panasonic cameras, we liked that when a tool was selected, rather than giving us a bunch of numbers or a graph, it showed us 9 examples of the same photo with different levels of enhancement, and were disappointed to see this functionality missing. The option to make movies from the still photographs was only mildly interesting, but the fact that the software had a photo viewer rendered the two photoviewing options unnecessary for anyone but the user who wants to do absolutely zero editing of their photos.
All in all, we can think of quite a few better options than what Panasonic offers us, even with free software. Aesthetically their offering isn't too pleasing to the eye, but we suppose it does the trick. Transfers with the USB 2.0 cable were fast, although a more common USB connector would certainly have been appreciated. We liked that it was compatible with SD and SDHC cards; MMC cards are supported but not for video.
Accessories – Very good
Accessories bundled with the FZ18 were pretty standard, including a USB 2.0 cable, an A/V cable, a neck strap, battery, battery charger and a software CD-ROM. We liked that they also included a plastic glare shield. Quite possibly the most annoying and inconvenient way to charge a battery, the external battery charger bothers us. We prefer a dock that charges as well as syncs our camera, but at the very least we'll settle for a charging USB cable. The optional accessories were sparse, however, with Panasonic offering no cases, leather, marine or otherwise. An AC adaptor (something we would have appreciated had it been included) was available, though we would have liked to see it included. We are fans of Panasonic's user manuals; they tend to group content based on practical usage as opposed to simply listing every feature, something we found extremely helpful.
Price and availability
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 will start selling for $320 () in October 2007.
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