Review Date: September 24, 2012
Category: Beginner to Serious Amateur
Photoxels Gold Award – Superzoom
USER’s EXPERIENCE
Monday, September 10, 2012 – Here’s what I receive in the box:
- Panasonic FZ200
- No memory card
- Shoulder Strap
- Lens Cap and retainer string
- Lens Shade
- Rechargeable Li-ion Battery BMW-BLC12PP 7.2V 1200mAh 8.7Wh
- Battery Charger DE-A79
- Interface Cables: USB
- Manuals: Basic Owner’s Manual (printed), [Advanced] Owner’s Manual (CD)
- Software CD: PHOTOfunSTUDIO 8.3 PE (Win), SILKYPIX Developer Studio 3.1 SE (Win, Mac)
Best of its class. The Panasonic FZ200 is definitely one of the best super zoom with very good handling. It’s fast, responsive and you’ll be able to get great pictures at both the ultra wide-angle as well as the super tele focal lengths. In other words, the Panasonic FZ200 is a great camera for whatever you intend to use it for — and as such makes an ideal camera for a student of photography who will have all the DSLR features and controls at his or her fingertips. Image quality is very good for a small sensor and the FZ200 should make a perfect travel camera if you want to travel light and compact with an all-in-one camera.
The icing on the cake for this camera is of course its superb lens which maintains a bright F2.8 maximum aperture throughout the whole zoom range! It’s an amazing feat and this feature alone blows its competitors out of the water. This bright aperture has great practical advantages: using a larger aperture at long focal lengths means the camera can use a faster shutter speed, and that reduces the incidence of camera shake. A large aperture lets in more light so that the camera can maintain a low ISO, thus reducing noise and maximizing image quality. Also, using a large aperture helps with obtaining a nicely blurred background, especially in portrait photography where you want to isolate your subject from its background.
Other super zoom cameras have a descending maximum focal length as you zoom. As the aperture gets smaller, the camera is forced to use a faster shutter speed and, failing that, start to ramp up the ISO, which leads to higher noise and a reduction in image quality. So, kudos to Panasonic for avoiding the temptation to add more zoom and instead gives us a really useful feature.
I really like the fact that the FZ200 does not try to cram features in just for the sake of it. The 12MP is nore than sufficient. Restricting the zoom to a maximum 600mm [equiv.] tele is smart and still allows for hand held shooting. The end result is a camera that inspires confidence in its capability to consistently capture great images, no matter what focal length or feature you choose to use. And I prefer that to features that may look good on paper but are not practical in actual use. This sets the FZ200 as a camera for serious photography.
If you shoot lots of night photography, the FZ200 has a manual shutter speed that goes down to 60 seconds. There is a helpful countdown of the time right on screen.
The Rear Dial allows for quick camera settings choice and changes. Remember that it is clickable and a helpful hint appears on screen for a few seconds to remind you when you first select a different shooting mode. For example, in P, A and S mode, clicking the Rear Dial allows you to dial in an exposure compensation. In M mode, you click the Rear Dial to toggle between setting the shutter speed and the aperture. It’s all very intuitive. The clickability has just enough tension that you will not inadvertently click it.
You can zoom during movie recording and the zooming sound is barely heard above a whisper. With Continuous Focus set, the camera will refocus once you stop zooming.
Hint: When zooming during movie recording and using continuous focus: if you find that the FZ200 does not lock focus once you have stopped zooming, press and hold the Focus button on the side of the lens until focus is achieved. This is what I had to do in the video above.
You can also take a still picture [3.5M] (16:9) during movie recording but the camera uses the electronic shutter so you will disconcertingly not hear any shutter click. The still picture is however taken and the camera will continue recording (in a separate clip). You can also select shooting modes and creative modes for movie recording.
PHOTOfunSTUDIO is supplied on the CD. It is now at version 8.3 and still installs Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime on your PC, a process which takes a long time to download and install. PHOTOfunSTUDIO also remains rather amateurish in its presentation with scarily low resolution thumbnails, distractingly flashing graphics, and annoying repeated requests to confirm your choices. This is about the only thing that slightly mars what is otherwise an absolutely fantastic camera package. However, PHOTOfunSTUDIO does its job as a basic image viewing and editing software. If you shoot RAW, then install SILKYPIX Developer 3.1 SE. A third software is available on the CD: LoiLoScope is a 30-day trial of a movie editor and you can safely ignore it.
Here’s what I especially like about the FZ200:
- Bright F2.8 throughout the zoom range.
- Very fast AF, even in extreme low-light (with the help of AF assist lamp).
- Quick start-up of less than 1 sec.
- Optical Image Stabilization that works very well, allowing for hand held 600mm [equiv.] shots.
- 3 Customizable Function buttons.
- Availability of RAW format.
- Full manual controls.
- Swivel LCD.
No review is complete without a few improvement suggestions:
- Availability of full shutter speed range in P mode.
- Improve continuous focus in movie mode.
- Touch-screen AF would be great.
- Eye-sensor to automatically switch between LCD and EVF.
All in all, the Panasonic FZ200 is a fun, practical and powerful super zoom. Instant start-up, very fast AF, intuitive controls, ability to hand hold at 600mm, spot on exposures,… everything just works as it should, allowing you to concentrate on taking pictures. If you are looking for a travel camera that will give you the flexibility to capture all kinds of pictures while on the road — or want a full-featured camera that will allow you to learn and grow in digital photography — the Panasonic FZ200 may well be your ideal choice. Highly recommended.
Next: Panasonic FZ200 QuickFact Sheet / Buy
