Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18K 8.1MP Digital Camera with 18x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)

I normally use digital SLR cameras. However, they are not always ideal to travel with or taking out to friend's houses or nights on the town. I bought this Panasonic because it is small yet powerful enough to take more advanced pictures (not just the quick point and shoot).

So far, I'm really impressed with the camera. The optics are top-notch. The glass is able to resolve the finest details. As far as point and shoot lenses go, the glass in this Panasonic is absolutely incredible. They are simply the best you'll get in non SLR cameras.

The reason I gave it 4 out of 5 stars is because the noise that appears in some pictures when using higher iso settings. Perhaps I'm spoiled from the low-noise pictures from my DSLRs. Panasonic put the best glass in this camera, but ultimately limited the camera's performance by using the small, noisy sensors.

Is it still a great camera? Yes, absolutely. All little point and shoot cameras are crippled by the same sensor noise, so this Panasonic is no different. However, the glass is wonderful. The zoom is excellent. It's a joy to use and takes marvelous pictures. Just don't expect miracles at high isos.

I recommend this camera to anyone. It is well worth the money and will take excellent pictures for you.

I upgraded from a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5, which was a great camera. The FZ18 is a huge upgrade. The extra-distanced telephoto, the ability to make fast adjustments with the joystick, user-friendly controls, and a wide-angle lens to boot. My friend has a Canon S3, which is a great camera, too. The S3 and Canon S5 do not have a wide angle lens, which makes the FZ18 the most versatile camera this side of a digital SLR. Oh yes, the photos are tremendous. The nice-sized LCD monitor is very good, however my one criticism compared to the Canon S3 & S5 is that the FZ18 LCD is not adjustable/movable. All in all, for the money you can't beat it; it's the best digital camera on the market right now.

Panasonic's partnership with Leica has created some real gems for photographers who want fast and fun cameras. The latest in their megazoom FZ line is this - the FZ 18, so called because of a 28mm-504mm 18x zoom.

Those optics are the first of three great things about this camera. The lens is sharp and produces remarkably little distortion, a great achievement for a camera of this zoom range.

Second is the optical image stabilization - as Panasonic calls it, MEGA OIS. This feature, one of the best available in the market, helps to steady the camera which allows for clearer hand-held shots than was possible before stabilization, which makes the long end of the zoom truly useful.

Third is the ergonomics and ease of use. The idiot-proof Intelligent Auto mode gets the shot right most of the time and the camera is fun to use with well-placed controls and a functional body.

Other, less defining achievements are fast response times, good battery life, excellent flash recycling times, a useful burst mode, and customizable shooting settings.

That said, there are some faults that inevitably come from the megazoom design - an irritatingly small sensor that will be prone to noise.

As I'm sure most photographic enthusiasts and electrical engineers will agree, the tiny design of such a chip will create electrical noise, indistinguishable from picture detail, which means in low light (and thus high ISOs), the pictures come out grainy. To correct for this, the camera processes the picture, reducing detail even more to smear out the noise.

However, this isn't the end of the world. First, the noise is nearly invisible on small prints - so if you only make small prints, no one would even notice. Second, the FZ-18's noise isn't much worse than its competitors such as the Olympus SP 550 and 560 UZ. And third, better than many of its competitors, the FZ-18 allow for the user to adjust the amount of noise reduction and also supports RAW output, which retains the detail for processing later.

Its movie mode is acceptable but not great. It can't zoom while filming and it doesn't have stereo sound like the Canon S5 IS does. If you want that, this camera might not be for you. Get a camcorder instead.

Another problem is the blue banding effect, which creates a large band of blue color on the left hand side of the picture under special conditions, but will almost never show in real-world shots. This problem seems to vary from camera to camera and Panasonic (as of X-mas time 2007) is working on a fix.

Movie mode (which I hardly use) and the blue band problem (a nuisance that is rarely seen in real life) aside, the only major drawback this camera has is its noise, a zit upon the forehead of photographic greatness. And although this is annoying, it's the same problem present in all megazoom cameras, which in this case is more than made up for by the ease of use and incredibly useful zoom range.

Overall, a good - though not faultless - camera that is probably the best-of-the-bunch of the megazoom range. Get to know its limitations and adjust your preferences, and it will give you excellent results. If you don't want to bother, put it in the Intelligent Auto mode and it will do fine all by itself.

As a side note, if you truly wanted to get away from noise, get a DSLR, but don't expect to be able to use the same zoom range without constantly changing lenses.

The image stabilization is JUST adequate for 18X shots, but only if you make an effort to hold the camera steady. And, due to the small chip size, the dynamic range is somewhat limited and noise is apparent on most shots using ISO above 200. Even with these limitations, this is by far the best digi camera I've owned (and that's a BUNCH). Very fast and accurate focus, wonderful lens, and well thought out menu/control system.

I own a quality SLR with image stabilization and love it. I use primarily prime (non-zoom) lenses (with low f-stops, typically better than F 2.0) with my SLR in order to take pictures in low-light situations indoors. You cannot beat it for that. I also own a few zooms for it, up to 500mm (750mm equivalent). However, the FZ18 Lumix has some features that made me buy it instead of just settling for my SLR. Here are some of the advantages that I found:
1. Size - you have 28mm to 500mm (with respectable f-stop speed) and macro all in one compact body. A definite advantage when you want to travel small and/or light. Some of the reasons Panasonic (and other manufacturers) were able to do this are listed below.
2. Sensor Efficiency - the sensor on most of the digital cameras (including most SLRs) is much smaller than film, therefore you don't need to have as large of a lens physically. Also, if you use a smaller lens, you can also use a smaller body, hence a greatly reduced size for the camera and the ability to incorporate a greater zoom range and faster lens.
3. SLR Efficiency - An SLR uses a mirror to transfer the image to the viewfinder and must flip out of the way in order to take a picture (a time-consuming process that restricts the speed of flash synchronizations, among other things). Since a digital camera reads the image anyway, it can be transmitted to the screen or viewfinder (which is a little screen you view) without sacrificing the "through the lens" advantages, but not needing the cumbersome mirror-flipping, hence a more compact camera. The absence of the mirror also makes sharper pictures due to less vibration.
4. Optical Image Stabilization - Many SLRs have such a feature, but it is usually by being built into an expensive lens. I own a Pentax SLR, which has it built into the camera, but it has been shown that a camera like the Lumix has as good or better stabilization than the typical SLRs do and you get it through the whole spectrum of the capabilities of this fantastic lens.
5. Fast Telephoto - I don't even want to think about how much a 500mm F4 lens costs (much less carry one around), but that is what you get with this camera. With the combination of image stabilization, I can take pictures that were impossible before. (See the image in the image gallery.)
6. No removable lens - I know this is an advantage of SLRs, but it is also a disadvantage, as it allows dust, etc. to enter in to the inside of the camera between the lens and where the picture is recorded (the sensor).
7. Cost - $300+? I paid $500 for a manual focus 200mm F2.8 lens alone. Most SLR bodies cost more than $300, even used (for digital, of course). To replicate what this camera can do photographically in an SLR format, you would have to spend many times the price of this camera.
8. Tripod - the smaller the camera, the smaller the tripod that's needed. You can get away with a tiny little thing for this lightweight.

Now, some disadvantages of this camera compared to the SLRs:
1. Flash - Point and shoot flashes are typically inadequate, sometimes terribly so. This one has no hot-shoe for an add-on. My solution is that I virtually never use the flash (I have to confess I haven't even tried it out yet on this camera, but I do not have ANY grandiose expectations).
2. SLR Prime speed - I have a 50mm F1.4 lens that can do things this camera can't, problem is, it is only one lens size, so I also have a 20mm F1.8. However, if you're not using prime lenses, this Lumix will match or beat almost any of your zooms for f-stop speed.
3. SLR manual control - manual focus is easy on an SLR, and sometimes manual focus is MUCH preferred over auto-focus. Though this camera has a manual focus capability, it is cumbersome and a bit complicated. Most SLR lenses (especially primes) have scales for depth of field, which can be EXTREMELY useful. Also, the same is true for manual exposures. On an SLR, you can sometimes go to F22, F32 or even F45 for extra depth of field. Not so on the Lumix - F8.0 is the limit. By the way, the best way to do a panorama that you are going to stitch together is to do a fixed manual exposure on the shots, so that they will blend well.

I'm still going to use my SLR, but I may consider selling all my non-prime lenses for it. This camera is smaller and lighter than most of my zooms! When I go out hiking or on a vacation, you can bet what I'm going to be taking with me - this Lumix!