Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5By: Dave EtchellsPanasonic updates its 12x optically stabilized Leica lens digicam to five megapixels. <<Viewfinder :(Previous) | (Next): Exposure & Flash>> Page 6:OpticsReview First Posted: 05/09/2005 |
Optics
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The Panasonic Lumix FZ5 boasts a high quality 12x, 6-72mm telescoping Leica zoom lens (equivalent to a 36-432mm lens on a 35mm camera). A removable, plastic lens cap protects the lens surface, and a small eyelet hole in its edge lets you tether it to the camera body to prevent it from being lost. Lens caps are always a nuisance to keep track of, so tethering it to the camera is a good idea. When the camera is powered on, the lens telescopes out from the camera body into its operating position, projecting an additional three-quarters of an inch from the camera body. It retracts again when the camera is shut off. Panasonic includes a lens hood with the DMC-FZ5, and a hood adapter for attaching auxiliary lenses. Focus is always under automatic control by the camera (that is, there's no manual focus mode), with a range of 0.98 feet (30 centimeters) to infinity in normal mode. Macro mode lets you focus as close as two inches (5 centimeters) in wide-angle mode and 3.94 feet (120 centimeters) in telephoto mode. The lens aperture adjusts automatically or manually, and the maximum aperture varies with lens zoom, with a range of f/2.8 at the wide position to f/3.3 at the telephoto position. The minimum aperture is f/8.0, regardless of lens zoom position. (This is a departure from the FZ3, which had a constant-aperture f/2.8 lens.)
The Panasonic DMC-FZ5 offers nine active autofocus (AF) areas, but you can also limit the active area to three or one AF points through the Record menu. In nine-area mode, the nine AF points are arrayed in a 3x3 pattern in the center of the frame. The camera automatically sets the focus based on the part of the subject closest to one or more of the AF areas, and highlights each area that it's using in the display with a white box. Thus, you can photograph off-center subjects without having to lock the focus and then reposition the camera. In three-area mode, the three AF points stretch across the center of the frame, and the camera again bases focus on the portion of the subject closest to any of the points. One-area mode bases focus on a large area in the center of the frame. There's also a Spot AF mode, which employs a smaller central focus area. A Continuous AF mode is available through the Record menu, which continuously adjusts the focus for moving subjects, but only works with the single area AF modes. New to the FZ5 is high-speed focusing, available only for the 3-area or single-area AF modes. This prioritizes focusing speed over viewfinder refresh, resulting in a brief pause in the viewfinder or LCD image - but definitely improving autofocus lag significantly. (It's worth noting that the FZ5's autofocus speed is much improved over that of the FZ3, even when the 9-area AF mode is in use.)
If dim subject lighting requires it, a bright orange LED autofocus assist light on the front of the camera automatically illuminates whenever autofocus is active. (The AF-assist light can be turned off via a menu option.) The AF assist beam is rated as effective to about 4.92 feet (1.5 meters). Even without the AF assist light in play, the Panasonic FZ5 focuses better in low light than most cameras, as it can achieve focus down to a light level of roughly 1/6 foot-candle, about one-sixth the brightness of a typical city street scene at night. With the AF assist beam enabled, it can focus in total darkness, so long as your subject is within the range of the beam.
Because of the DMC-FZ5's long lens, Panasonic included Image Stabilization technology to reduce blurring from camera movement, which is more noticeable at the full telephoto setting. You can turn Image Stabilization off courtesy of a button on the camera's top panel, or set it to Mode 1 or 2. In Mode 1, stabilization operates continuously, while Mode 2 keeps it in standby, activating it only when the shutter is released. (Based on Panasonic's recommendations and my own testing of the earlier FZ3 model, I suggest using the Mode 2 stabilization most of the time, as it makes the best use of the relatively limited excursion of the Mega OIS floating optical elements.) I don't have any way of quantitatively evaluating the effectiveness of anti-shake technology, but that in the FZ5 seems to work reasonably well. As I've said before, I feel that optical stabilization is an almost essential feature in a long-zoom digicam like the FZ5, and its system works well enough to make the long lens far more usable than it would be otherwise. An in-depth look at the image stabilization of the previous DMC-FZ3 model compared to that of the Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3 can be found in our DMC-FZ3 review; the feature should be very similar to that in the FZ5.
The DMC-FZ5's 4x Digital Zoom can be enabled through the Record menu, and is activated whenever you zoom past the maximum optical telephoto range with the Zoom lever. I always warn readers that digital zoom only enlarges the center portion of the CCD image, and compromises the image quality by reducing resolution and enlarging noise patterns.
True to its Leica heritage, the lens on the FZ5 appears to be of high quality, offering better corner to corner sharpness at most focal lengths than I'm accustomed to seeing in digicam lenses, particularly those with long zoom ratios. (Its images get a little soft in the corners at the telephoto end of its range, but to a lesser extent than I've seen with many long-zoom lenses.) Barrel distortion is about average at maximum wide angle (at 0.8%), and pincushion distortion at telephoto focal lengths is low (0.2%). Chromatic aberration is also quite low at wide angle lens settings, rising to an average level at telephoto.
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