Panasonic Lumix FZ200 Bridge Camera - Black (12MP, 24x Optical Zoom) 3.0 inch LCD

There are plenty of very detailed, technical reviews already, so here is a different one, which I hope is useful..... Back in the late 1980's I was a semi-pro photographer and manager of a film processing lab, so I had a bag full of cameras, lenses and all the extras! Then as family life became busy my gear gathered dust and I found compact, "tough" cameras perfect for family life, and even my first Canon DSLR with lenses was just too heavy to carry about! Earlier this year I bought my first Panasonic DMC FT3 waterproof and shock proof, compact camera for a skiing trip. It is a cracking little camera, which fits in your pocket. I used to always have Olympus, Canon or Nikon, so this tiny camera has really impressed me. Starting a facebook group called Cloud Watching & Beautiful Sky-scapes has really rekindled my interest in photography again, so I decided to check out an upgrade...

A friend on the Cloud Watching group asked me why I chose the Panasonic FZ200 bridge camera, so I thought I'd share my reasons as a review for Amazon... after loads of research and really getting clear about my needs, I decided to get a bridge camera rather than a DSLR as I wanted it to be light in weight, very versatile and produce high quality pics! And oh my goodness, the 25-600 zoom at 2.8 aperture through the whole focal length really delivers!!! And, it only costs £389 from Jessops (including their £50 cashback offer) The Which Camera? reviews and customer reviews are giving it top marks. It's been out a couple of months, so there is plenty of feedback. It's HD video has exposure, colour and depth of field control, AND it has an jack point for an external microphone, as well as a built in STERO mic!!! For photos it has intelligent auto which gives perfect exposure 95% of the time, plus aperture priority, shutter priority, or full manual. It also has 18 pre set scene modes (SCN) including Sunset option! Plus it has 14 built in filter options called Creative Control modes including star-burst, and High Dynamic which will be excellent for some sky photos! Plus LOADS of additional features which I'm only just finding out about!! What's not to love!!!! To summarize; to have this lens for a DSLR would apparently cost thousands and you'd need the arms of a olympic shot putter!!!!

The FZ200 can be used as a point and shoot camera, or with the controls of a DSLR, without the hassle and expense of carrying lots of lenses! Obviously it doesn't have the full quality of a DSLR, but I never print my pics bigger than 11 x14, and it has a 16.9 picture option so the photos can be viewed full screen on a modern TV! As digital technology is changing so fast I figure I can upgrade in a few years if I need to! And finally.... there are brilliant online tutorials for this camera on youtube, so no worries about learning all the array of excellent features this camera has, as there is soooo much online support these days! With this camera you will get stunning photos straight out of the box and can explore the features at your own pace.

I tried out the camera in low light conditions, at an Argentine Tango social event, both with and without the flash and was very pleased with the initial results.

Though using the FZ200 I am really enjoying re-visiting all my old photographic knowledge and adding to it with the wonderful and ever expanding world of digital photography.

Initially, I wasn't going to do a review of this camera, deciding instead to leave what I thought would be some useful, but specific, comments appended to another review.

However, the camera has been "growing" on me, so I've decided to expand on my initial observations and to avoid re-inventing the wheel I have imported those comments into a fuller review.

Since 2005 I've always had a super zoom bridge camera to supplement my APS-C sensor cameras, firstly the FZ7, then FZ8, FZ38 and now the FZ200, which is by far the best overall. I've had the 200 for nearly a week now and have put it through its paces and especially to see how the lens performs throughout its zoom range and towards maximum zoom where with earlier models I've experienced image degradation due to chromatic aberration. I set the zoom to 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x and 24x and examined the images at 100% on my monitor where I found virtually no visible difference in image quality at any of the zoom positions. The lens performed very well indeed with colour and contrast being maintained right out to maximum and with little discernible chromatic aberration. I'm sure it will be there in some image situations, but one will have to go specifically looking for it. Impressive stuff, especially for my non-scientific testing procedure.

The price of this camera puts it into entry-level dslr territory and if one's primary concern is image quality, then there's no competition, the dslr wins hands down. With acceptable image quality at base ISO, the tiny sensor in the FZ200 is fine, but image degradation as the ISO is increased above 400 ISO is very noticeable. Where it scores, though, is that lens. No dslr can cover the 25mm to 600mm range with one lens and being able to maintain f2.8 throughout its range is a magnificent feat on the part of the lens designers, especially offering the equivalent of f2.8 at 600mm. In dslr terms read f5.6 or f6.3 unless one has many thousands to spend on one lens and which doesn't even cover the wide angle settings.

There are a number of aspects relating to its handling that I find make this a very pleasant camera to use. Overall the body has increased slightly in size and weight, but not too much here, and I find it fits comfortably in my hands with the main controls falling easily to hand. The zoom lever sits around the shutter release and which is quite often a layout used on many digital cameras. However, in the FZ200 the zoom can also be operated via a second sliding button which is located on the left hand side of the lens and which falls naturally to hand for the left thumb which rests on it and a simple push/pull action is all that is needed. Then, zooming and taking pictures becomes a natural procedure. Zoom with the thumb and take a picture just when you want. In the more traditional arrangement, the forefinger first sets the zoom position and then has to be moved to the shutter release to take the picture, and inevitably leads to a delay. The difference in operation may not appear to be that great, but believe me, once one has tried the alternative arrangement on the FZ200 one wonders why no one has thought of it before with power zooms. (It may have been, but I can only review cameras I'v owned.)

Whilst on the subject of the shutter release, the video record button has been conveniently placed adjacent to the main shutter release and this ensures steady start/stop of video with zooming controlled by the lens sliding switch. Again, it all seems so natural in use. Video is at full HD, but I'm not a video photographer and so this feature is very unlikely to get much use by me. Unfortunately, it also means I'm not competent to comment on the quality of the video it produces, save to say on the built-in screen it looks very impressive.

The next improvement is the 1.3 million dot EVF with dioptre adjustment. This is still quite physically small compared to a dslr but it is a huge advance on the earlier models which sported only around 207,000. In daylight use it is bright and almost crystal clear. The large 3" LCD which can be swivelled to many viewing positions, has had a resolution increase from 230,000 to 460,000 and this is very welcome, albeit not to the higher resolutions of some other screens. It is more than adequate for its intended purpose, though.

Having such a large zoom range, although there are competing cameras with even longer zoom lenses, this would be negated if the image stabilisation wasn't up to scratch to prevent image blur. I can happily report that Panasonic's latest version of its Power Optical image stabilisation is the best to date. It really is possible to hand hold at 24x and 1/125 sec for most of the time. Others with steadier hands may even manage 1/60 sec.

It is quite clear that a lot of thought has been given to the handling, design and control layout of this latest FZ making it, for me, a more pleasant camera to use. Obviously, it won't suit everyone whose priorities will vary and won't necessarily appreciate the user features/interface I find most useful.

Image quality has to be rated very good for such a small sensor with Panasonic getting a lot from it. Any deficiencies will, for the most part, be suffered by its peers using the same sized tiny 1/2.33 sensor, so I suspect the FZ200 will acquit itself very well indeed in such company.

To summarise, as an all-purpose extremely versatile piece of kit that doesn't break the bank, or your back on a day out shooting if you carry around additional lenses for an slr, then at the present time, it is difficult to see what can beat it. However, for higher image quality, but not with the FZ200's superb 24x zoom lens or versatility, you will need to look elsewhere. For those who understand the image limitations of such tiny sensors and are prepared to accept this compromise, then this camera should give a lot of pleasure and will enable you to get images impossible from most other cameras.

The FZ series of bridge cameras is 10 years old this year. In 2002, the original FZ1 was a revolutionary 2MP camera with a Leica-developed zoom lens that was f2.8 across the zoom range. The 2012 FZ200 is a 12MP camera with a Leica-developed zoom lens that is f2.8 across the zoom range. Plus ca change...

It would seem that whilst other camera manufacturers are still engaged in mega-pixel and focal length machismo, Panasonic have simply continued to polish and perfect the FZ series. So although the FZ200 features a new lens to replace the highly respected 25-600mm f2.8 - f5.2 zoom used on the FZ100 and FZ150, Panasonic have not given it a longer reach, they've made it optically faster.

It's difficult to overstate the impact this lens will have. Certainly it's difficult to find a lens to compare it with. To put the FZ200's lens into context, Sigma make a 200 - 500mm f2.8 SLR lens for a little over £12,000, and whilst there are affordable f2.8 SLR lenses in the 70 - 200mm range (the Sigma one is £775 on Amazon), if you want a wide-angle to long telephoto f2.8, this is it. Fortunately it's a great lens, and has the bonus of excellent optical image stabilisation which means your pictures at full stretch will have the very best chance of being pin-sharp. (Stop it down to F/4 for sharpest results, though). Focussing is fast and reliable and there are plenty of focussing options to ensure that the camera meets your needs.

Additionally, the new viewfinder is now equally pin-sharp, having been upgraded from the old 0.2MP peephole to a 1.3+MP peephole. In my opinion it's like Kylie Minogue: gorgeous but a little too small to be perfect. It needs to be more like the fabulous ones from the G-series cameras. UPDATE: Having used the FZ on a bright sunny day, I found I spent most of the time with my eye glued to the EVF rather than looking at the rear screen. I still want a bigger EVF, but the new FZ200 one is pretty sweet.

Anyway, beyond the headlines, what else is new? Well the old 1/2000th second top shutter speed is now 1/4000th second, and the long 60 second exposure returns too. The rather pointless 320x240 high speed film mode has been upped to 640x480 which now makes high speed filming useful. Not to mention the ability to film HD movies (720) at 100FPS. Woo hoo!

As for other changes, well as an FZ150 owner (and FZ100 before that), exploring my FZ200 feels a little like when I go to my local supermarket find that many things are not where I expect to find them. Until I have a good look around, I'm not sure if anything's missing or has just been moved elsewhere.

So where the FZ150 top dial has 14 positions, the FZ200 dial has 9. Panasonic have ditched the advanced scene modes of the FZ150, so gone are the dial settings for portrait, scenery, sports, close-up and night-portrait mode. These (and others) are now menu options from within the Scene (SCN) setting.

I don't mean to get upset because someone's moved my cheese, but I quite liked having all the advanced modes on the top dial. Being able to set "Sports" or "Landscape" with a single dial twist and then grab the picture was very quick and convenient. That said, it did mean I got a little lazy and seldom delved into the menus to tweak my FZ150's settings as I had on my previous FZ100, so maybe this change is a good thing. After more use with the camera, I can confirm that for me at least, it is. FZ's really do benefit from being set up just as you like them, excellent iA mode notwithstanding. Personally I like to dial down the noise reduction and up the sharpness a little. Similarly, the option for on-screen grid has been removed as a toggle mode of the DISP button, and I had a moment of disappointment before I found it buried away in the menus. It's there, but it's not a change I would have chosen to make. That said, as there are now three user-definable function buttons, I've set the top one as my screen grid toggle.

The three "Fn" buttons deserve more of a mention as they are actually VERY useful, and once you get comfortable with chopping and changing them, they add greatly to the user-friendliness of the camera. For example, the top Fn1 button I have set to toggle the lens barrel slider between "zoom" and "focus", which has made manual focus much more convenient. I've replaced the AF/AE lock function with a selection of the autofocus style (Single, Flexible and Continuous). The focus "styles" are worth explaining: "Single" means the focus is set when you press the shutter halfway and it is thereafter fixed for the shutter cycle. "Flexible" is a very neat feature that means focus is set when the shutter is pressed halfway, but if the subject moves whilst the shutter button is held, the focus corrects for the movement automatically. "Continuous" focusses on a moving subject, and applies predictive focussing to the focussed subject based on it's existing movement. This is a VERY useful feature, but it's one of those things that you'll have to winkle out of the manual. (Or ask me on here, if you're lazy.).

The manual focus works well, with my preference being the zoom control on the lens to control focus, but the rear wheel or D-pad buttons also do the job and give finer control in discrete steps. Fortunately, the phase of finding myself pressing buttons almost at random, trying to get the feature I want, is now over and the camera has become more intuitive to use. My early experience has shown me it's not intuitive, I've just put the requisite time and effort into getting the basics clear in my head. To get the most out of the FZ200, you will need to put some practice in.

HDR makes a formal appearance on the FZ200 and works well, pulling out detail from shadows in high contrast pictures. There's also a nifty panorama mode that produces a large image as you sweep the camera along, rather like taking an old school photo, as well as a 3D mode that requires you to move the camera so it captures the right and left eye images. As I haven't got a 3D TV, I'll have to take their word for it.

As with the FZ100 and FZ150, there are loads of little tweaks that the FZ200 allows. Doubtless the ability to precisely set the white balance can be very useful in the right hands. Me? I just set it to match the sunny, cloudy, incandescent etc. conditions and just fire away, knowing the camera will give me great results. In truth, most people seem to leave their FZs on intelligent auto and get great results.

The FZ200 has gained a little size and weight, but that's a good thing in my opinion. The increased size and deeper grip are a definite plus for me and my large hands. As for weight, the FZ's have always been a bit like Oprah, swinging between light and heavy. At 588 grams including battery and card, the FZ200 is pretty much at its median weight. Yes it's bigger and heavier than the FZ150's 528g, but certainly a lot lighter than the earlier FZ30's 740g. However if it gets any heavier it will start to be a less welcome travelling companion.

Most FZ accessories will work on the FZ200, but you'll need to swap your DMW-LA5E for a DMW-LA7 to fit the tele-converter. The front of the lens is still 52mm, so filters, close-up lenses and wide-angle adaptors all fit just fine, as do remote shutters and flashguns. The FZ200 has dropped the 895mah DMW-BMB9E of the FZ100 and FZ150, and shares the 1200mah battery of the GH2, so battery life is greatly improved. UPDATE: That statement is a gross understatement. I bought a second battery based on previous experience with an FZ. On just one battery, I shot 3362 frames (many in 12FPS as I was shooting moving wildlife, see otter pic I've uploaded) and it was still going at the end of the day. Admittedly no flash was used, I used the EVF most of the time rather than the rear screen and focus was set to AF-flexible rather than continuous, but all they same, that's pretty impressive IMO. Certainly a spare battery is no longer a necessary precaution on a day out.

For your convenience, here are a few of the better value accessories for the FZ200.
Polaroid PL144AZ Power-Zoom Shoe Mount Flashgun for Olympus and Panasonic
Pixel Pro Digital Camera 100M Wireless Shutter Remote Control Release for Panasonic DMC-FZ50 DMC-FZ100 50K 50S 30 30K 30S 20 20K 20S LC-1 L1 Leica Digilux 2 3, Lumix G1, GH1, GF1, G2, G3
Digital King DSW Pro 0.7x Wide Angle Lens Nikon/Pentax 52mm
52mm 4pc Close-Up Kit Macro Lenses For Nikon D60 & All Other 52mm Lenses

The downside? Well, despite being an unashamed FZ fanboy, I have to point out that the FZ200 is expensive for a small sensor camera. £400+ buys a lot of camera these days. Remember the FZ200 crams an AWFUL lot of pixels into every square millimetre of its sensor. In a pixel-peeping showdown with a budget SLR, like all bridge cameras, the FZ200 will be comprehensively trounced. A micro four-thirds camera will also comfortably out perform the FZ200, as will some other large sensor compacts. Even more so in low light when noise is more of an issue. My Nikon D5100 DSLR was cheaper and produces better results, but I rarely use it as it's such a pain to carry around and it doesn't give me anything like the flexibility of my FZ. And make no mistake about it, the FZ200 can have a steep learning curve if you intend to get the most out of it. In some ways, the FZ200 demands more input from the user than many SLR, it really IS very richly specified. Read more ›