|
This review will cover the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 super zoom, and I'll be comparing it to the
Olympus SP-550 UZ super zoom, which I have on hand also. I'll be doing the review over a period of a couple of weeks,
adding new information as I learn more about it, so check back every few days. I've had some time to play with the
Panasonic, and this is what I've come up with so far.
Build quality. Fit and finish
are good, the lens extends out quietly and the buttons click positively and are placed in well thought out positions.
The difference in the FZ18 and Olympus SP-550 is weight, the Olympus is noticeably heavier, the FZ18 has a small proprietary
battery, the Olympus has 4 AAs. This seems to be most of the weight gain for the Olympus. Size is not much different.
Build-wise both are about the same.
Lens. The lens doesn't extend out as far as the
Olympus SP-550 does, but the FZ18 is a bit deeper in the retracted mode. Overall, I'd say the FZ18 is about 3/4"
shorter at full lens extension. The lens itself seems pretty sharp, very similar to the Olympus, though the FZ18
has sharper corners for the most part. CA seems a little strong at wide open and towards the long end, but
better than the Olympus.
Memory card door. The card door and battery compartment
on the FZ18 are one. When on a tripod, you have to take the camera off to change the card, not so with the
Olympus, where the card slot is located on the side, and the battery compartment on the bottom. The Olympus is better
here.
ISO. Low ISO performance is not as good as the Olympus, but as you reach 400, it's
about the same, then higher than that, the FZ18 pulls ahead. Check the comps out below.
Photo quality.
Good quality, especially if you boost the saturation up a bit like I did. Noise reduction blotching is
evident on the FZ18, even at ISO 100, but only at larger sizes. I think the Olympus images are more appealing, being
warmer and smoother, but here I think it's just a matter of opinion.
Vignetting. Basically
none, not even worth posting a picture. About the same as the Olympus.
Focusing. Very
good, much better than the Olympus at locking focus and focus accuracy at the long end. Manually focusing is better
than the Olympus too, though it's still not very usable in my opinion.
Macro. This paragraph
updated 10/18/07. The maximum macro is pretty good, with a little smaller reproduction size compared
to the Olympus. The macro comes at the wide end, 28mm equiv. so there's some distortion visible, more
so than the Olympus macro. The FZ18 corners appear sharper than the Olympus macro. Look for lots of
Blue CA on the black letters and numbers, just like the Olympus.
LCD monitor. 2.5"
207,00 pixels. Nice and bright with good adjustments. The refresh rate seems a little bit less than the Olympus.
Also, not quite as much "smear" as the Olympus LCD. Overall, brighter and more colorful than the Olympus.
CA. Definitely better than the Olympus SP-550, though there's still enough to show
up.
Flare. OK here, about the same as the Olympus, check photos below.
Distortion. Very good here. A little better than the Olympus, check photos below.
File sizes. About 3.6MB average, at high quality (8M) setting. Uncompressed, 22.9MB.
Shot to shot speeds. You can take 4 high quality pictures (max) in just over 1 second, or 2fps unlimited,
this works as advertised. It doesn't have the super burst mode like Olympus.
Image stabilization.
Works good, about the same as the Olympus, using mode 1, mode 2 doesn't work very well, or maybe I'm too dumb
to use it correctly.
White balance. Good. Panasonic seems to do a good job here, the
halogen setting for my indoor studio shots seems almost perfect.
Battery life. Very good.
I managed over 700 shots on a charge, with roughly 10% flash fired. I used the LCD extensively, so I'm impressed
with the battery longevity. I used the camera about every day, taking between 30-50 shots per day. I also
like the fact that I took almost 100 shots after the red battery indicator (meaning nearly dead) came on, unlike the
Olympus SP-550, which froze up and left me with the lens sticking out just after the low battery indicator came on.
I think the FZ18 has better battery life, but not by much, and the meter is much more accurate than on the
Olympus.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Here's the wrap-up. Both cameras have their strengths, and weaknesses. The
Olympus has more weaknesses than the Panasonic. Here are some random observations about each one.
The Panasonic
FZ18 is a better working camera, better at focusing, especially at telephoto; it has a nicer LCD; it's smaller
and lighter and has a better lens.
Both menu systems are about equally usable, meaning very intuitive.
The Olympus SP-550 UZ has ultimately better picture quality at low ISO settings.
The Panasonic has a proprietary
battery, meaning if you run out of juice, you're screwed. You can either buy another battery ($45) or
find an electrical outlet and wait 2 hours to recharge--assuming you have the charger. With the Olympus, just pop in
some fresh AAs or buy some at about any store and keep going. I prefer the Olympus in this department.
Manual focusing is better on the Panasonic than the Olympus, though it's still not too good.
The cameras
meter very differently. The Panasonic will keep the aperture around F/5.6-8.0 range, that's not the best area of
sharpness for the camera, I had to use manual to get the best sharpness comparisons. The Olympus on the other hand,
keeps the aperture pretty much as wide open as possible, say F/2.8-5.6. This results in maximum sharpness for this camera.
Sometimes the two cameras will meter over a stop different from each other for the same shot, I don't know why.
They both come out exposed properly though.
The Olympus will over-expose sometimes, so you might keep it
at -1/3 or -2/3 EV.
The Panasonic will blow highlights more often than the Olympus, but it rarely over-exposed.
Printed pictures at 8"x10" or above look very good from each camera, but large areas of uniform background,
like the blue sky, will look a little blotchy on the Panasonic due to the smearing effect of the noise reduction--even
at ISO 100; the Olympus is much better in this area, at ISO 50 expect nice smooth prints, even 12"x18", ISO
100 is almost the same. The printed-out difference in busy subject areas seems to be about the same for
both.
There's little to no gain from 7MP to 8MP. The corners seem a little sharper for the Panasonic,
but the centers show about equal. High ISO (400 and up) is more detailed on the Panasonic.
The Panasonic
is a more refined camera than the Olympus. This should be obvious by now.
The Olympus SP-550 UZ is about
$339 Internet pricing, the Panasonic about $399. Don't confuse the new Olympus SP-560 UZ with an 8MP sensor,
which is new at the time of this review, to the SP-550 UZ, which is cheaper. The prices for both are a deal.
In a nut-shell. If you just like to go out and take pictures, get the Panasonic, it's
a better camera. If you like smooth, even, good-looking photos, especially enlarged, and want the best print quality,
(at low ISO settings) and don't mind messing around with focusing issues, go ahead and get the Olympus. I like
the warmer colors of the Olympus out of the camera, though you can get this on the Panasonic with a little photoshop action.
I like the Olympus from 28-300mm, where it works about as good as the Panasonic. I like Olympus' use of
AA batteries over the proprietary batteries on the Panasonic. If I could only choose one camera, I'm not
sure which one it would be, in fact, it's really a toss-up.
|
| Box and contents in the US. |
|
| Front view |
Macro.
Below, check out the sample, I cropped the bare areas to reduce the file size.
The sample shot was taken with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 8.1mp camera.
The subject is a standard US stamp, 1"x 3/4" or 25.4mm x 19mm. Also, note the macro shot was taken
as close to the subject as focusing allowed; In this case a very short 3/8" or 1 cm, measured from the front of
the lens barrel to the subject.
The macro on the FZ18 is so close to the subject, it's almost unusable.
In most cases, you'll never be able to pull off a maximum macro in the field. Unfortunately, the same goes for the
Olympus. The shot is nice and sharp, and a little better in the corners than the Olympus.
|
| Closest macro. |
ISO crops. Look below at the 100% crops of my studio still life scene. The Olympus
SP-550 is on the left, the Panasonic FZ18 on the right. Keep in mind the FZ18 has 8.1mp, the Olympus 7.1mp, that's
why the FZ18 crops are closer. Default noise reduction.
Go below to see my comments.
|
|
| Olympus SP550 lowest ISO 50 |
|
|
| FZ18 at lowest ISO 100 |
|
|
|
| Olympus SP550 ISO 100 |
|
|
| FZ18 at ISO 100 again to compare to Olympus |
|
|
|
| Olympus SP550 ISO 200 |
|
|
| FZ18 ISO 200 |
|
|
|
| Olympus SP550 ISO 400 |
|
|
| FZ18 at ISO 400 |
|
|
|
| Olympus SP550 ISO 800 |
|
|
| FZ18 at ISO 800 |
|
|
|
| Olympus SP550 ISO 1600 |
|
|
| FZ18 at ISO 1600 |
|
ISO crop results.
The Olympus is much smoother than the Panasonic below ISO 400, at
400, they're about even, and at ISO 800 and above, the Panasonic has more detail, that should be obvious by looking
at the writting on the bottle on the left side of the ISO 1600 shot.
FZ18 distortion shots below.
The Panasonic lens is a little better in this department than the Olympus.
|
| FZ18 barrel distortion at 28mm wide (equivalent) |
|
| FZ18 pincushion at 504mm (equivalent) |
Olympus SP-550UZ distortion comparisons below.
|
| Olympus barrel distortion at 28mm equivalent. |
|
| Olympus pincushion at 504mm equivalent. |
Flare and ghosting are about the same between the two cameras, the difference coming in the
colors. Both taken at wide angle 28mm equivalent.
|
| FZ18. Avoid this by not taking pictures of tree leaves in front of the sun. |
|
| Olympus SP-550. Same thing, different colors. |
Below is an illustration of something I love about this camera, a one-handed quick shot of a screaming A10 overhead
at the full 504mm. Not so nice is the heavy smeared noise reduction, which is at ISO 100. The camera chose F/8
with the shutter at 1/1300. The Olympus would've been much cleaner, unfortunately it most likely wouldn't have been
able to focus quickly and accurately enough, thus leaving me with nothing instead of a decent smeared up shot.
|
| 100% crop of A10 warthog. |
|
