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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ15 By: Dave Etchells Panasonic introduces a four-megapixel digicam with the high quality optics of a 12x Leica lens. Select a topic Reference: Datasheet FZ15 Sample Images FZ15 Imatest Results FZ15 Photo Gallery! --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Camera Modes & Menus :(Previous) | (Next): Video, Power, Software>> Page 10:Image Storage & Interface Review First Posted: 10/30/2004

Image Storage and Interface

The DMC-FZ15 uses SD/MMC memory cards for image storage. An 8MB SD memory card is supplied with the camera (a total joke, the smallest I've seen shipped with a digicam in the last 3-4 years), so you'll want to immediately purchase a larger capacity card to accommodate the large four-megapixel maximum resolution. Entire SD/MMC cards cannot be write-protected, however, the DMC-FZ15's Play menu allows you to write-protect individual image files, protecting them from accidental erasure, unless the card is formatted.

Still images can be saved at one of five resolutions (2,304 x 1,728; 1,600 x 1,200; 1,280 x 960; 640 x 480 pixels or "HDTV," 1,920 x 1,080 pixels), while movie images are recorded at 320 x 240 pixels. Still images also have two JPEG compression levels available: Fine and Normal, plus an uncompressed TIFF setting that records the RGB image with no compression at all.

A full complement of interface software comes with the DMC-FZ15, as does a USB cable for speedy connection to a PC or Macintosh computer.

Following are the approximate resolution / quality and compression ratios for the furnished 8 MB card. (Compression numbers are based on my own computations. - You can see how pointless the 8 MB card is, able to hold only four images at the camera's best JPEG size and quality setting.):