Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1K 2MP Digital Camera w/ 12x Optical Zoom (Black)

This is a compact, responsive, point and shoot camera with a robust feature set - including a capable burst mode (great for sports action shots and not found on cameras in this class), and true TTL framing via an EVF. There's enough to this camera to satiate the enthusiast - night portrait, portrait, panning, "normal" mode etc., and also has a fully automated mode if you want to let the camera do all the work, and just "focus" (pardon the pun) on composition. But what sets this digicam apart is the big zoom fixed Leica lens. It really is a word-class piece of glass with remarkable specs, especially considering its size. Combine this remarkable lens with an effective image stabilization system, and you have a "different animal" all together. This is a unique versitile and fun digicam that has so much more than others in its price range. Its limitations (weak pop-up flash, EVF cuts out in low light, noise above ISO 200, etc) are really more attributable to its class ($300 point and shoot) than the camera. However, it is capable of producing remarkable images, and once you start shooting with its high quality lens with an IS system, you'll never want a camera doesn't have them. Plus, it is an excellent value. If you don't do a lot of enlargements or cropping in a photo editor, I would recommend the FZ1 in a heartbeat over any other camera, regardless of the number of megapixels, in its price range, and most cameras that cost two or three times as much.

Now a word about megapixels. A megapixel is 1 million pixels (they're the little squares that make up the image...). So, this camera produces images that are 1600 pixels wide by 1200 pixels high. 1600X1200 = approx 2 million, hence 2 megapixels. Since going digital, I find that I view 90%-95% on my PC/laptop monitor. It's convenient, and priting them all would cost a small fortune, since now that I can snap away with wreckless abandon since film (for me) is a thing of the past. (I still use a lab to print. I would rather "borrow" the lab's $200,000 printer than own a $300 dollar consumer photo printer, plus it costs much less per print when you factor in the cost of the printer ink...) Okay, so my laptop's highest 32 bit resolution setting is 1024X768, the resolution of the FZ1 (1600X1200) exceeds that. Point is that since I view most of my pictures on a PC now, I gain NOTHING from a higher resolution camera with more megapixels in most circumstances. The 5% to 10% of pictures I print, I usually print at standard 6X4. Anything over 200 pixels per inch (ppi) is considered "photo quality" for printing, 150 ppi is considered "acceptable". As you get beyond 250 ppi on a print, the differences in resolution from a normal viewing distance are virtually invisible to the naked eye. IMO, I would fail a blind test, probably, if asked to guess the resolution of a picture between the 200 and 250 ppi range. 1600 (pixels)/6(inches) = 267 ppi, exceeding 250 ppi in length on a 6X4 (Note: technically, this formula isn't entirely accurate but is close enough for government work, and serves better as a quick illustration...). A 5X7 is 228 ppi, and an 8X10 is 160 ppi. Hence, this camera produces "photo-quality" images up to 5X7 and "acceptable" resolution up to 8X10. Most photo editors worth their disk space, like Photoshop, can resample images using bicubic interpolation to add pixels and boost resolution for the (very) occasional larger print. A very good product for this is Qimage, a free trial is available, and it's quite inexpensive to purchase. A hot shoe would have been nice but my understanding is that a "digital slave flash", which are quite reasonably priced, like the Vivitar AF200, work very well when you need a big flash.

Now consider, not a "scientific survey" but 3 or 4 folks I know own 3 to 5 megapixel cameras. (The 5 megapixel guy has a 10X optical zoom camera, made by one of the usual suspects, that cost 2X as much as the FZ1, but he doesn't even attempt zooming out beyond 5X without blurring the image, since his camera doesn't have IS). None of them kept their cameras on the highest setting thereby "using" all the megapixels. Why? Because the larger image files cut the amount of pictures they can store on their flash cards in half, their camera annoyingly "locks up" for a couple seconds while it writes a larger image file (often very frustrating), and they really can't notice a difference in quality on their prints, and they view most of their pictures on their PC. Let's say you have a 6 megapixel camera that had a cheap lens that introduced all sorts of distortion and a processing engine that rendered inaccurate colors. What would you get? A crappy picture with distortion and inaccurate colors rendered in all their ugly glory in high resolution. The FZ1 has the "best" lens on the market, and an excellent, innovative processing engine that provides "enough" but not "extraneous" megapixels to provide photoquality resolution for 99% of "real world" viewing formats. I believe that camera companies are exploiting the conspicuous consumption factor of camera consumers who wear their camera around their neck like jewelery. (The "name" + many megapixels = "the guy" equivalent of a pearl necklace to wear on a night out). It is therefore a great way for the camera co's to (finally) introduce planned obsolence into their offerings, dispensing with the days when folks held on to their cameras for decades until they finally died. I'm glad at least one manufacturer withdrew from the "great megapixel wars" and offered an excellent product based around real user needs and the true advantages of the full range of available technology - like IS and its processing engine, and did so at a very reasonable cost, instead of being just another combatant exploiting one aspect - "the megapixel", and the conspicuous consumption factor.

Get the picture?


Wow! Hot Camera   May 28, 2004
 11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I bought this camera in December of 2003, It's my first digital camera, and I know nothing about digital cameras or photography. There are some people where I work that are really into cameras and photography. A few of the people cringed when I told them I bought a Panasonic. When I showed it to them and told them about the features such as the 12x optical zoom and the Leica lens, those people quickly changed their minds about my camera. I read all the reviews here and someone mentioned that it doesn't take good 4x6 prints....to that person, are you nuts? They looked great to me, I used this camera to document the assembly of an engine for my friend's hotrod, I have taken about 40 pictures so far. I had them printed on ofoto.com as 4 x 6's and had one picture printed in 8 x 10 and they looked amazing! My friend was also impressed. One tip, purchase a bigger memory card than the 8mb that comes with it, it'll allow you to take about 8 pictures at full blown size and quality. I purchased the 128mb card and an extra battery. The bottom line is, buy this camera and 90% of the people you run into will be green with envy over your camera! Occasionally you'll run into someone who uses a high end camera who might snicker at this camera, but keep in mind folks, it's not a professional camera, it's a great amateur camera! In this price range, nothing can touch it. This camera is also offered in a 4MP model, When I saw that, I instantly wanted to upgrade because of the pixels. After reading these reviews today, I'm saving my money! Again, great camera.


Incredible Camera   April 21, 2004
 15 out of 15 found this review helpful

I made lots of research before buying this camera. I previously owned a Sony DSC-F707 which I sold because it was too bulky to carry around. The Sony was a great camera but I wanted something with a more powerful lens and an image stabilizer. The Panasonic was the only camera that seemed to fit my needs. I was hesitant at first because my Sony was a 5.0MP camera and the Panasonic only a 2.0MP camera. I read numerous reviews from other owners and researched websites like Steves Digicams, DC Resource and Megapixel.Net that spoke very highly of this camera. What I learned is that megapixels is an important feature to consider when choosing a digital camera, but there are other more important features to consider like the quality of components being used. This camera has a Leica lens. If you don't know anything about Leica, you should do some research and you will be amazed to know that Leica is a high end professional brand that is not cheap and considered one of the best in the world. The other item that stands out about this camera is the processor that converts the image to a digital image. This is a really important feature to consider because the processor is what determines how effective it is at converting the image to the original shot. This camera uses Panasonic's Venus image that does numerous functions at the same time which allows the camera to operate faster and smoother which is similar to the Digic processor on Canon cameras. This processor also increases image quality by 50%, because of this, the photos are far superior to any 2.0MP camera out there. The camera is extremely well built and very rugged. The photo quality from this camera is amazing, it honestly does not seem like a 2.0MP camera. The quality of the photos seems to close to a 4.0MP camera. The lens is extremely quiet and fast. The image stabilization works extremely well and allows you to take photos at full telephoto view without any problems. I highly recommend this camera. You will be impressed with the quality of construction, features and picture quality.