Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 reviewed: the best megazoom shooter your dough can buy
By Darren Murph 
posted August 13th 2010 6:45AM
posted August 13th 2010 6:45AM
Panasonic and superzoom cameras go together like... well, like any two things that are undoubtedly meant to be together. The company has a history of outdoing itself time and time again when it comes to enlarged point-and-shoots with atypically long zooms, and the all-new DMC-FX100 is most certainly not bucking the trend. Announced just a few weeks back, this here Lumix carries a 24x optical zoom, 11fps burst mode, 1080p movie recording and a 14 megapixel sensor. The gurus over at PhotographyBLOG have been testing its every feature for the past few days, and they drew some rather positive conclusions. Confessing that the FZ38 was a hard act to follow, they still felt that the FZ100 managed to top even that, with the only real (expected) knock being the noise that made itself too evident once you pushed beyond the ISO 400 mark. They also felt that the $499.95 asking price was a bit on the high side, but now that Panny's building somewhat of a reputation in this space, we guess it's entitled to try and take advantage. Hit the source link for the fully skinny, but don't even bother if you're hoping for someone to talk you out of pulling the trigger.
This summary is a rather favorable interpretation of a review that was mixed. The folks at dpreview have discussed the camera, and this review, and their conclusion is that if one is interested in pictures, the FZ100 is no improvement at all for image quality over the fz35. If one wants movies, then it is.
I'll save my money and keep using my excellent fz35
@wanda876
Or buy a half price used/new Panasonic 4:3 G1/G2 which will blow this out of the water any-time/day...
@wanda876
Agreed.
"The FZ100 only narrowly misses out on our highest award thanks to poor image quality at higher ISO speeds and the rather eye-watering price tag."
$500 and decent ISO800 shouldn't be mutually exclusive.
Is that a SKULL reflecting in the lens?
@barac Yeah, it's Jason Vorhees....today's Friday the 13th.
@wanda876
At that size and for that amount of cash u can huy a canon t1i wih will shit directly on this thing , 1080p, SLR, canon... Not panasonic, fast, Very fast.
Normally i would compare the two but this one is right up. Slr"s alley. Abo the same size , weight, and same price ( on b&h.com. The canon is cheaper)
@dtakias and @Nestea69
this camera has a focal range of 24-600mm. you cannot find an SLR body and a lens that reaches 600mm for the same price as this or even close. a lens of that reach would cost you many times more than this camera costs! the big selling feature of this camera is the huge zoom.
New EVIL cameras seem like a muhc better proposition these days. For similar moneys you get a bigger sensor (with better ISO range), and exchangeable lenses these days. And the size is similar.
@Marko note to myself. must start proofreading posts before hitting the submit button /:
c'mon give us the edit button, please
@Marko
You just realized that man?
@Firewave - some people are slow learners!
@Marko Note to self... Coming to you in Google Voice Actions!
@Marko
The closest equivalent removable lens would cost 1200 bucks (and that's a lumix gh1 with 28-280mm equiv). So, yes, much nice, but not quite the same price range
I received the camera yesterday and so far I'm SOOO disappointed.
I still have an FZ28 at home and did a little test taking the same pictures with the same iA setting with both the FZ28 and the FZ100. Results? The FZ28 blows the FZ100 out of the water.
The camera looks great (although substantially heavier than the FZ28), the swivel screen is great, autofocus is much faster and the menu system has been greatly improved and it offer more flexibility. All this doesn't matter though when the picture quality has deteriorated so much. I have only tested it yesterday evening in low/artificial light. I'll give it another go at the weekend. Unless I'm amazed by what I get in daylight the FZ100 is going back to Amazon on Monday.
@camaway
Don't bother with those hyper Mpixel pointNshoot cameras any more. The sensor is too small and noise cannot be avoided no matter what. Also information captured will always be the same because of small sensor.
Look at micro four thirds. Much bigger sensor and same size....panasonic g1/g2/gf1/gh1...Olympus Ep1,Epl1.....
@dtakias
I thought about moving to a micro four third but I love the convenience and flexibility of a compact camera with that kind of zoom. I was happy enough with the FZ28 and was truly looking forward to upgrade to the FZ100, mainly for the swivel screen but also expecting some kind of improvement in the image quality.
When I came back home yesterday and saw the parcel I was quite excited, and you cannot imagine the disappointment when seeing the first pictures. At first I thought I must have done something wrong as I could not believe the results. I had to make the comparison test with the FZ28 to truly accept that the new MOS sensor is rubbish:-(
@camaway
You hold it wrong, or, you did the 'death grip' :).
Sorry for the joke. I also have FZ28, and really love it. I planned to buy the FZ1000 too, but, from the opinions from few us here, make me think twice. Please do some more testing and comparisons. Also if possible, fixed sensitivity to ISO 400 or less for better quality comparison. Most probably, the FZ1000 might choose higher ISOs to compensate the low light environment, compared to FZ28.
Thank you.
@bahathir
Yes, I noticed that yesterday evening. In quite a few instances where the FZ28 activated the flash (in iA mode) the FZ100 simply cranked up the ISO. Results? Noise galore.
I did a few tests fixing the ISO at 200 and the FZ28 won hands down. I will try a few fixed ISO comparisons at the weekend and let you guys know the result.
One more thing: the flash of the FZ100 seems substantially weaker than the FZ28.
Pass......
Forgive me if someone else has spotted this but anyone notice the *Skull* peering out through the lens? Spooookie !
@formanhe
it's a hockey mask....look at the calendar
@EI8HT
What's it doing there is more what i'm looking for?
@formanhe it's friday the 13th.
Has Panasonic fixed their lousy audio recording problem? I have an FZ28, takes the best pictures of my life, does 720p video, and records audio in the worst muffled mono quality possible. Makes me sad.
@WealthyIndustrialite that's called a FZ35/38. it has stereo audio recording, am using one loving it ever since day 1.
Nice touch putting the Jason reflection in the lens.
@flanders Instead of pressing the shutter, someone pressed X
I just ordered a FZ100 and will keep my LX3 (and will not upgrade to the LX5). That seems like an interesting combination. Lowlight and portability with the LX3. Zoom and HD video with the FZ100.
What I mainly want are better "video" functions with stereo sound and swivel LCD and viewfinder. But also curious to shoot sample photos with the LX3 and the FZ100 in comparison.
I had also considered evil cams but with a small one, comparable to the LX3, I would get only mono audio and no full HD video. This is what the LX3 does already. So I will be curios how I will like this combination of cams. av
If you look at the sample photos on the site, even at base ISO, they are not pleasant. Filled with artifacts and noise.
Cut down the megapixels Panasonic!
@photoguy622
There's NO downside to having more pixels. It's a common myth. Yes, there'll be more noise, but it's a higher density noise, so you can resize it into lower megapixels (of your desire), and average the noise out (effectively, noise reduction).
I dare anyone to do this. Take an ISO800 picture with a P&S, and resize it 4:1 (use a good image resizer), and you'll get an extremely noise-free picture.
I had a FZ28 I believe. 10x Zoom, excellent for vacation on the beach.
Well Jason is the last thing this person ever took a picture of, clearly.
YEAH JASON!!!