Panasonic DMC-FZ50K 10.1 Megapixel Lumix Ultra-Zoom Digital Camera

Better And Better And Better... And Better

Progress evokes metaphors like the ebb and flow of the tides because the gains are incremental and overlapping. Not so much tsunami as a thin line of salty water inching forward, little by little claiming this or that bit of land as its own. The Panasonic DMC-FZ50 builds on the success of its predecessor, the DMC-FZ30, not by reinventing the wheel, but by making improvements where they were needed, and leaving those parts bordering on perfection untouched. Sounds smart enough, right? Seeing the improvements, you'll develop a new definition for "smart." Most noticeably, the DMC-FZ50 boasts an improved 10.1 megapixel image sensor and a next-generation Venus Engine III, which team up to alleviate the noise that haunted the DMC-FZ30 -- even when shooting full resolution using the high sensitivity ISO 1600 setting. Plus, Panasonic's proprietary Intelligent ISO Control makes shooting moving targets as easy as still lifes by detecting motion and adjusting ISO and shutter speed. Its predecessor was highly praised for its ease of use, but the DMC-FZ50 goes one step further by adding a new Function Button: a shortcut to the manual features you use most frequently, such as recording image size, light metering, AF area, white balance, and ISO sensitivity. The techno cherry on top, this latest offering from Panasonic can shoot approximately 360 pics before needing a recharge -- that's 29% higher battery capacity than before. You'd better believe things are getting better.

All The Camera You Need

You know what they say--more is better! And with this camera that's just what you get with more megapixels than before. With the Panasonic DMCFZ50 you can not only kiss blurry photos goodbye forever because of its precise MEGA Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS); but with its upgraded Lumix 10.4 megapixel (total) charged coupled device (CCD) you can take even higher resolution images than before. This camera upgrades to a next-generation Venus Engine III LSI processor and retains the professional Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens, which together work in such perfect harmony that you'll be amazed with the vibrant works of photographic art you can create. And there'll be no more stooping or standing on tiptoes with this camera's remarkable flip down and twist 207,000-pixel 2.0" (diagonal) TFT LCD monitor you can adjust any way you want. You get the flexibility to catch a high-angle shot over a crowd, or a low-angle shot of flowers in a garden, all with a comfortable posture. Panasonic's DMCFZ50 achieves a level of performance never before seen in digital cameras, having been designed expressly with your photographic needs, wants, and skills in mind.

Superior Quality Leica Lens

The DMCFZ50's Leica lens features 14 elements in 10 groups, including 3 aspherical lenses and an ED (extra-low dispersion) lens that helps to suppress the color bleeding that often occurs in telephoto shots, plus a 12x optical zoom (35 mm equivalent: 35 to 420mm). It's made by Leica Camera AG, a world-renowned German camera and lens maker. Professional photographers sing the praises of Leica's finely crafted lenses, which are recognized for the accuracy of their optics. And, unlike other lenses that tend to have distortion near the edges of wide-angle shots, Leica lenses produce consistently high-quality images. Ever since they first produced the original 35mm camera in 1913, Leica has worked to be the industry's pinnacle company. This exceptional lens combines with the large, 1/1.8" type, 10-megapixel CCD to give you enormous expressive power. The new Extended Optical Zoom, which minimizes the image degradation that normally occurs with digital zooming, gives you up to 21.4x power in 2.5-megapixel photos, up to 17.1x power in 4.5-megapixel photos, and up to 13.4x power in 7-megapixel photos. Plus, the 12x optical zoom can be used together with the 4x digital zoom to produce a maximum of 48x zooming power.

Keep Your Focus

In addition to five auto focus (AF) modes (1-point, 3-point high-speed, 9-point, spot AF, and 1-point high-speed AF), the DMCFZ50 features a ring that lets you manually adjust the focus from 0.98 feet (0.3m) to infinity. It also has Manual Focus Assist, a function that shows an enlarged image of the subject's center in the viewfinder. One-Shot AF function in manual focus mode lets you focus automatically for a single shot by pressing the FOCUS button. The manual focus ring lets you focus on whatever part of your subject you wish, and the zoom ring lets you zoom in and out easily and accurately as you compose the perfect shot. They're both fast, so you can capture moving subjects in your composition. Continuous AF function keeps moving subjects in sharp focus, and the AF Assist Lamp helps in dim lighting. Regardless of the Mode Dial setting, you can take macro shots instantly by flicking the switch on the side of the lens to the AF Macro setting. This lets you get as close as 0.16 feet (5cm) from your subject (at the maximum wide-angle setting). All this adds up to easy, accurate focusing.

Gyrosensor Detects Shaky Hands

Jitter from shaky hands is one of the main reasons why cameras produce blurry images. Panasonic doesn't expect everyone to have hands of stone when taking pictures -- that's why Lumix cameras help solve the problem of unsteady hands with advanced MEGA Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS) technology. The DMCFZ50 has a built-in gyrosensor that detects any hand movement and relays a signal to a tiny microcomputer inside the camera that instantly calculates the compensation needed. A linear motor then shifts the OIS lens as necessary to guide incoming light from the image straight to the CCD. With the MEGA OIS, not only can you take those distortion-free, ultra-telephoto or macro shots; but you can also take equally impressive photos in low-light and other difficult situations. You won't even notice MEGA OIS working--all you'll see are the outstanding results!

10 Million Pixel Mosaics

Like artists who create beautiful mosaic scenes with small pieces of tile, your camera uses the same idea to create photographs. Digital photos are made up of millions of tiny color elements called pixels, which are generated by the image sensor when you take the photo. The quality of a digital image partially depends on the number of pixels, or resolution, used to make up the image. More pixels add enriching detail and sharpen color edges. More pixels also mean you can enlarge the image without pixelization--when graininess begins to show and the photo looks distorted. The images you get with this camera are typically 3,648 pixels across by 2,736 pixels high, producing a resolution of 9,980,928 pixels--almost 10 million pixels! That's a lot of detail. But, wait, that's not all. In addition, the image stabilizer lens is guiding incoming light straight to the CCD, which converts optical data into digital information to capture the full range of expressive colors. By using a primary color (red, blue, green) filter to ensure the correct extraction of color information, the CCD creates vividly colored images. Simultaneously, the highly evolved brain of the operation, the Venus Engine III LSI processor, is instantly processing and recording the images even faster and more accurately than ever before. And unlike a conventional LSI that generates a luminance signal only from the green component of the incoming light, the Venus III Engine LSI generates a signal from the red and the blue light, as well as the green. This extra-detailed information in the luminance signal then boosts the diagonal, horizontal, and vertical resolution for super-rich images. Additionally, this system uses a low-pass filter to distinguish edges between colors accurately. Due to false signals generated at color borders when the luminance signal is extracted from the pixels by a conventional engine, there is a tendency for colors to bleed into each other. The Venus III Engine however, creates sharp color edges and more clearly defines each distinct color.

You'd Have To Work At Ruining A Shot

In addition to giving you clear, sharp, shots the DMCFZ50 helps you achieve your photographic visions by expanding the shooting mode options. Whether you're more comfortable with an automatic mode, or ready to flex your artistic muscles, this camera will let you. With such a large variety of available modes, you'll be able to find one that best fits the physical setting of your photograph opportunity. For example, the Program Mode lets you adjust the white balance, ISO sensitivity, and other settings; while Aperture Priority lets you select the aperture (incoming light) as the camera automatically sets the shutter speed that's best for the subject's brightness. Shutter Priority Mode does just the opposite by letting you select the shutter speed, while the camera automatically sets the aperture. Want still more control? There's the Manual Exposure Mode, which lets you select both the aperture setting and shutter speed. And to make focusing easy in the Manual Mode, there's even a Focus Assist Function that lets you enlarge the image center in the color viewfinder or LCD monitor by 3x for easy viewing. With MEGA BURST, you can snap off consecutive shots at 3 frames per second with full resolution. In addition, the Unlimited Consecutive Shooting function lets you continue shooting until the memory card is full. Not sure if you can trust your instincts? Use the Manual Exposure Assist Function to let you see how much your settings differ from the settings the camera considers optimal. You just can't go wrong with this camera!

Make The Scene

Still not enough options? In addition to the exposure modes, there are 14 Scene Modes to reflect the settings of your life. For example, you can choose from Portrait Mode for a soft background with a sharp subject, or use the high-shutter speed Sports Mode, or try the Scenery Mode for sweeping vistas. Night Scenery Mode is great for clear night lights against a landscape. Additionally, there are Night Portrait, Fireworks, Party, Snow, Self-Portrait, Food, Baby, Soft Skin, Candle, and Starry Sky Modes. And, if all that still isn't exactly what you're aiming for, you can always add one of the Color Effect Modes--Cool, Warm, Black & White, or Sepia (for a nice antique-looking picture). There is also a Moving Image Mode that allows you 10 or 30 frames per second of 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixel resolution moving images with audio -- recorded segment time limited only by available memory capacity. And finally, when you're ready to see what you've got, use the Playback Modes to see your pictures. You can display 9 or 25 thumbnails, zoom playback at 2x, 4x, 8x, or 16x magnification, or present a slideshow. You can also rotate, resize, and trim images right there on the camera's display. For even more fun, create a flip animation clip that's up to 20 seconds long.

Make Room For Memories

The SD (Secure Digital) Memory Card is the high-capacity, high-speed storage medium for the digital age. Incredibly small (the size of a postage stamp) yet durable, the included, larger-capacity 32 MB SD Card stores all kinds of digital content (like video, still images, music, and more) so you can easily transfer data between it and the other SD-compatible products you already have in your home. And, because there is strong industry support for the SD Card, it will be as lasting as it is versatile. This Lumix camera lets you record digital images onto a SD Card or a MultiMediaCard and then cordlessly transfer them to any PC, printer, or media storage device that has a SD Card slot. There are a variety of SD-compatible accessories available, allowing you store and even print images without the need for a computer. And, with this camera you'll be able to use your memory space wisely with selectable image sizes. Although you get best photo results with larger images, they aren't always needed; especially when you want to e-mail them, or print small snapshots. In these cases, smaller images will work just fine; and, because they have smaller file sizes, you'll be able to squeeze more of them into your camera's memory. This camera has several different selectable still image resolutions from as detailed as 3648 x 2736 pixels down to 1920 x 1080 pixels. Optional (not included) SD Cards range in capacity up to 2 GBs.