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TIPA Camera Test Online: Panasonic FZ48
By TIPA
Cameras
15 September 2011 12:00
The Panasonic FZ48 is a new ultra zoom camera (24x zoom lens) with a 12 MP sensor and lots of automatic modes. In addition it offers manual settings and shoots HD video in AVCHD format. The camera has a compact body an offers easy handling.
Comments on Handling
The camera looks like a small SLR system but is very compact. It uses a big grip on the right hand side of the body which makes for comfortable handling of the new Panasonic camera.
The camera has a large monitor on the back with 461,000 RGB dots. Controlling menus and reviewing images is very easy, but the monitor is fixed instead of the swivel monitor of the FZ100 for example. The photographer has to push the “EVF/LCD” button right beside the viewfinder to switch between the electronic viewfinder and the LCD on the back.
The basic modes (P, S, A, M; film mode; panorama mode) are chosen with the help of a large mode dial on the top. This mode dial also offers a custom defined image mode (“CUST”-setting) which allows you to activate certain user chosen image parameters directly.
The camera uses a lot of automatic systems: It offers face detection, a very efficient optical image stabilizer (“Power O.I.S.”), iAuto-mode for automatic detection of the matching scene mode and more. The FZ48 uses a standard 4-way selection button on the back and a small dial which is controlled with the right hand thumb to set parameters.
The camera offers an extreme zoom lens with a nice wide angle setting of 25mm (35mm film equivalent) and an ultra-telephoto setting of 600mm. In addition Panasonic offers a tele-converter which provides a focal length factor of 1.7, which takes the lens up to 1020mm. Using the digital zoom function allows the camera to take images with a equivalent focal length of up to 4800mm.
The camera offers Full HD video capabilities. It uses the AVCHD file format to save videos with 1920x1080 pixels and allows editing with all standard edition software. The camera is supplied with additional software called “PHOTOfunSTUDIO Studio 6.3HD Lite Edition” for simple video editing (trimming clips for example) and to burn DVDs (even HD DVDs with AVCHD movies on a standard DVD disc).The camera uses a stereo microphone on the top to record sound but can’t use external microphones.
Test shots
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The bright white background has a clearly visible yellow and greenish touch, while darker colours are look more realistic. The camera is able to reproduce skin tones very naturally.
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The camera showed an acceptable result when reproducing our standard testbox. The white balance system causes a light yellow touch, but most of the colours have a realistic look. Sharpness is on an average level for a ultra zoom camera with a 12MP and 1/2.33 inch sensor.
Comments on Image Quality
Colour:
The automatic white balance system showed an ambivalent and sometimes even poor performance when taking images with our standard studio light (fluorescent light with a color temperature of 5500 Kelvin/daylight). The portrait shot and the testbox shot have a yellow to greenish touch especially in bright areas. The result chart of the colour test showed that darker grey fields are nearly perfectly located in the center of the graphic which means that they are reproduced with neutral colors. The bright white colour field showed the shift into the yellow area.
In standard daylight conditions the camera shows a more neutral, even slightly cool, colour character. The FZ48 showed slighty under saturated colors in our tests which were taken in standard image mode. The Panasonic offers additional modes with more vivid colours.
Sharpness:
While the nominal resolution of the image sensor is 4000x3000 lines the camera reproduced the ISO 12233 test chart with 2313 lines in picture height. This is an average result for super zoom cameras and yet acceptable. The camera showed a lot of detail in images taken with lower ISO speed settings because the anti noise filtering is on a low level in ISO 100 to 400 mode but will increase in higher ISO modes. You will notice a lot of image detail in the portrait shot and the standard testbox shot – both were shot in ISO 100 mode. The hair structure of the model looks realistic and the fabric of the model’s t-shirt shows a lot of detail.
Noise:
In P-mode (standard mode for our tests) the camera offers ISO settings between ISO 100 and ISO 1600. Images taken with ISO 100 to ISO 400 are nearly free of colour noise, but luminance noise is visible. The noise factor test showed the high luminance noise, which looks a little like film grain (images taken with ISO 100-200). In images taken with higher ISO settings you will notice colour noise with smoothened structure because the camera uses an intense anti noise filtering system. Nevertheless even images taken with ISO 1600 are still usable in print sizes up to 20x30 cm.
The camera showed a standard performance in our tests of dynamic range. It offers a maximum of 10.5 f-stops in ISO 200 mode but shows an average dynamic range of 9 f-stops in other ISO modes.
Opinion
Pros:
+ compact camera with extreme zoom lens system
+ well balanced ratio of resolution and CCD size
+ very efficient image stabilizer “Power O.I.S.”
+ easy handling, a lot of features which will help beginners
+ Full HD video in AVCHD format
Cons:
- missing swivel monitor
To download the PDF specifications sheet for the Panasonic FZ48, click HERE.
About TIPA
The Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) is a non-profit oranisation made up of a worldwide family of independent photo & imaging magazines with the most expert editors.
TIPA uses BetterNet GmbH in Heidelberg, Germany to perform routine digital camera tests based on an independent and objective testing method. The TIPA sponsored tests range from small compact cameras to popular DSLRs and even up to high-tech medium format models.
For more information on TIPA, its members and the annual TIPA Awards, visit www.TIPA.com.