Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 review

Panasonic's DMC-FZ7 impressed us enough to give it four stars in our group test of ultra-zoom cameras (Labs, Shopper March 2007), despite being fairly long in the tooth compared with the others on test.

Therefore, it was with some excitement that we unpacked its successor, the DMC-FZ8.

Cosmetically, the two cameras are almost identical, although we're glad to see that macro focus is now available via a button rather than the mode dial, so it's no longer mutually exclusive to the manual exposure modes. There's a predictable increase from six to seven megapixels, and the electronic viewfinder (EVF) and LCD screen both have higher resolutions, too, with the latter now at 207,000 pixels. Performance is excellent at just over a second between shots and 2fps in continuous mode. The FZ7 was a touch faster, though, presumably because of its lower resolution.

The FZ8's automatic ISO speed management is more sophisticated than most. It's possible to define the maximum ISO speed you're willing to tolerate: 400, 800 or 1,250. The camera will use this maximum setting only when low light demands it, but this means you have some degree of control without having to adjust the ISO speed manually for each shot. Meanwhile, an Intelligent ISO feature uses faster ISO (and hence shutter) speeds when it detects moving subjects in the composition. It's a great idea that often worked well, but we found that it didn't always behave as we'd like, sometimes using shutter speeds of one second at ISO 200, which resulted in needlessly blurry shots. Our only explanation is that the FZ8 thought it was mounted on a tripod, which was a clever assumption but regrettably incorrect in this case. Even so, Intelligent ISO, aided by the excellent optical image stabilisation that's common to all Panasonic cameras, gives welcome improvements to medium- to low-light photography.

Heavy noise-reduction processing in low light is common to all Panasonic cameras, resulting in a smearing effect that sacrifices subtle textures and fine detail. To Panasonic's credit, its cameras are getting better in this respect, and the FZ8's images in low light at ISO 400 and 800 are no worse than average for this type of camera. Sadly, images at ISO 400 and above were clean and sharp enough only for viewing onscreen and printing no bigger than 7x5in. However, it's possible to get around Panasonic's noise reduction by using the new RAW shooting mode. RAW photos are captured with no noise reduction, leaving this task and various others to the sophisticated if somewhat bewildering Silkypix RAW conversion software. Silkypix is capable of producing much better photos than the camera's built-in processing. RAW images come in at 11MB with a JPEG image saved alongside for reference, but this doesn't slow performance too much and we still managed a shot every 31/2 seconds.

Fortunately, the best things about the FZ7 remain intact. The 12x zoom stabilised lens and accessible manual controls make it a powerful creative tool, and while it's relatively compact for an ultra-zoom camera, it's extremely comfortable and satisfying to use. Best of all, image quality is extremely high, with consistently excellent colours and exceptionally sharp detail in bright lighting. Meanwhile, low-light detail is now average (rather than below average on the FZ7), and above average if you shoot in RAW mode.

The only significant drawback is the price. Competing cameras from Canon, Sony and others cost between £30 and £70 less, while the fantastic FujiFilm S6500fd, which is just as impressive if not as directly comparable, costs just £200. As we went to press, the FZ7 is available for just £156. If the FZ8's price falls to below £230 we'll be happy to give it our unreserved recommendation. Until then, there are better deals available.