Digital Home Thoughts: Dpreview Reviews Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50

"Announced bang on schedule exactly a year after the camera it replaces, the FZ50 is the new flagship in Panasonic's big-zoom Lumix range, upping the image size to a class-leading 10.2 megapixels and adding a couple of welcome new features. Unlike the FZ30, which represented a leap forward in design and features over the FZ20 (and closed the gap between fixed lens and SLR cameras further than ever before), the new camera is a fairly minor upgrade. Then again, the FZ30 was hardly crying out for a massive overhaul; despite a wealth of 'super zoom' competitors it really does sit in a class of its own, offering true SLR-like handling and operation and an amazingly versatile 35-420mm equivalent 12x optical zoom (with fluid-damped mechanical zoom mechanism). So let's find out if the FZ50 is a worthy successor, and if it can overcome the few complaints we had, starting as usual with the headline features."



The biggest changes that I am seeing are the upgrade to 10.1MP and the support for 1600 ISO (8MP and 400 ISO respectively in the FZ30). In general though there are a lot of small updates that have made this camera a much better value than the FZ30. Overall, according to dpreview, it looks like FZ50 is the best equipped, best specified and best handling 'bridge camera' on the market today, and under the right conditions it produces superb output.