Digital Camera Review:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1
Page 2

ABOVE: I shot this photo of a pipe band at the Glenmorangie Tain Highland Gathering near Invergordon, Scotland, using the FZ1's default settings and focusing on the piper in the foreground. The large aperture and long focal length of the 12X f/2.8 zoom lens made it possible to blur out the background slightly, as you'll observe if you view the full-size image below:

See unedited 1600 x 1200 image (805 Kb).

How I learned to love the Lumix

In August of 2003, Panasonic USA shipped me a silver-finished Lumix DMC-FZ1 to test during a 10-day Silversea Cruises itinerary from Copenhsgen to London.

I got my first surprise when I unpacked the camera. In photos, the FZ1 resembles a 35mm SLR camera. I’d expected it to be a little smaller than my Canon Rebel G/EOS 500, but in fact it was both lighter and more compact than the Olympus 35mm point-and-shoot camera that my wife bought in the mid-1990s. It was actually “pocket-size,” assuming that you were wearing a parka or travel vest with roomy pockets.

The second surprise was how little the mighty zoom lens protruded from the camera after I’d unsnapped the tethered lens cap and thumbed the power switch. The central portion of the lens housing extended about half an inch, and that was it. Even when I cranked the lens out to maximum telephoto with the zoom controller (which was conveniently mounted next to the shutter button), the lens didn’t grow any longer. I’d expected Pinocchio, but--even at full zoom--the FZ1 was more like Michael Jackson.

The Panasonic’s electronic viewfinder was another revelation. It was like using an SLR, with exposure data and a focus indicator laid over a through-the-lens view. There was no need to worry about parallax error (the Marie Antoinette or chopped-off heads effect), and I could hold the camera near my eye instead of trying to steady it while squinting at the LCD display on the back. (Mind you, I could have used the LCD if I’d wanted to; a small pushbutton makes it easy to switch between displays, and the LCD comes on automatically in review mode.)

Although I glanced at the manual and played around with the FZ1 briefly in the days before our departure, I didn’t really spend much time with the camera until our arrival in Copenhagen. There, in the unexpected glare of a scorching summer sun, I turned the camera on and began shooting.

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