Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18

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Features

The best feature on the camera is by far it's LEICA wide-angle lens (28-504mm). Its 18x optical zoom is also another handy feature since no other camera in the same class offers that. Panasonic claims the lens has minimal distortion with corner-to-corner clarity.

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One of the FZ18's new features is its Intelligent Auto mode--a meta feature that combines and automates previously separate features like MEGA O.I.S (optical image stabilizer), Intelligent ISO control, Face Detection and Intelligent Scene Selector. Simply, it means the FZ18 has the simplicity of a point-and-shoot with the speed and accuracy of a prosumer camera.

In practice, it's really as good as it claims. Just point the camera at a subject and it'll flash up an icon informing you which mode it's going to shoot the picture in. It's also pretty accurate. This can be a time-saver since you can choose not to fiddle around with the dial setting.

For potential buyers, do note that the Intelligent Auto Mode allows you to tweak only the aspect ratio, picture size, image stabilizer, burst and color mode. For stuff like white balance, ISO, image quality and autofocus area, you will have to switch back to the normal camera settings.

Aside from its Intelligent Auto mode which covers basic shooting needs, you can also get fancy with the scene selection mode which offers 14 preset scene settings. On top of that, there's an advanced scene mode for more frequently used ones-- portrait, scenery, sports and night portrait.

The camera also has an HD photo mode which means you can insert your SD/SDHC memory card into an HD-ready TV to playback your HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixel) photos.

Performance

In our Lab tests, the FZ18's time-to-first shot (2.9 seconds) compared disfavorably with other prosumer shooters like the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9 (2.1 seconds) and the Canon PowerShot S5 IS (1.3 seconds). However, its shot-to-shot times (0.9 second without flash, 1.08 seconds with flash) was one of the speediest. Its burst mode speed of 2.1 frames per second puts it slightly ahead of the Sony Cyber-shot H9 (2 frames per second).

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