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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8

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List price as of Apr 27, 2007:
S$749

Product Summary


Very good

7.2

out of 10

View score

The good: Fast 12x optical zoom lens; convenient joystick control; manual exposure controls; optical image stabilization; raw image capture.

The bad: Noisy images; so-so image quality; ISO 3200 hidden away in a scene mode.

The bottom line: A fast, long 12x optical zoom lens and easy-to-use controls help make up a little for the DMC-FZ8's image-quality issues.

Read full review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 »

 

Average User Rating

from 2 users


Spectacular

8.5

out of 10
 

How would you rate this product?

 
 

CNET Asia Review

By Philip Ryan, CNET.com
Apr 27, 2007
Almost identical in body design to last year's DMC-FZ7, Panasonic's new Lumix DMC-FZ8 carries the torch as the smaller of the company's superzooms, not counting the even smaller DMC-TZ3, which doesn't include manual exposure controls and is targeted at a different audience.

The FZ8 brings with it a handful of updates over the FZ7. Among these are an increased pixel count of 7.1 megapixels (up from 6 megapixels), the number of autofocus points has been bumped up to 11 (instead of nine), and TIFF capture has been replaced with RAW capture, which should please advanced shooters by providing more flexibility when tweaking exposure and white balance.

Design
Like the FZ7, the FZ8's body design is just what you'd want in a superzoom. Surprisingly compact but still big enough to shoot comfortably with two hands, the FZ8 has all the controls on the right hand side, so one-handed operation is possible if needed.

       
For more details on the Lumix DMC-FZ8's design and image quality, click on the image.

Overall, Panasonic did a good job of the control system. The tiny yet responsive joystick lets you quickly select AF points or set exposure compensation. White balance, ISO, AF mode, and image size and quality find their home in the main menu.

Other functions, such as bracketing, flash compensation, timer, and flash mode are accessed through the five-way touch pad. We found these buttons a bit small, and there is definitely room for larger ones, but we didn't have much trouble using them in our field tests.

 
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8
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User Reviews

Worth the money

Aug 14, 2008

Rating: 8 out of 10 (Excellent)
Pros: 12x zoom - 18x at 5mp, good picture quality, sdhc support, good build, light, manual feature, RAW support, manual focus
Cons: low light, noisy images even at low ISO, battery(prefer AA), no hot shoe, only 35mm
Opinion:
Its a good buy, lots of manual feature, great lens. Fun to shoot with, new models have come out panasonic that have 28mm lens, but the FZ8 as conversion lens to compensate for that. In-spite of only 7.2 megapixel, its still a good super zoom camera for its price than its competitors. Great camera as a learning curve b4 advancing to DSLR's.

 

I was taking pictures in no time

Aug 13, 2007

Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: The zoom rocks; full-featured; lightweight (perfect for travelling); great user interface
Cons: Battery could last a little longer, but I took about 100 pictures a day
Opinion:


 

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