Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18EB Digital Camera - Silver (8.1MP, 18 x Optical) 28mm Wide-Angle Lens

The FZ18 sits in the increasingly popular "super zoom" category of compact cameras.
Whilst this is not an SLR (and doesn't pretend to be), it offers great picture quality, fantastic zoom and superb image stabilisation.
As a "point and shoot" camera, it's great. Just select "intelligent auto" mode and away you go, everything is done for you.
If you are more advanced, then you can really start to see the advantages of this camera. It has all of the manual tweaks for focus, aperture priority, ISO settings, etc.
There have been some reviews that seem to be concerned with the quality of the pictures in high ISO settings. Well, it is a cause for concern if you are regularly using the higher ISO settings, but for most of us, who tend to shoot in reasonably light conditions, or use the flash, it is not an issue.
Also, software like noise ninja can be used to fix this in post processing.
The fact that the image can be saved in RAW format, rather than just JPEG means that post processing holds a lot more options than most cameras in this price range.
Overall, an excellent camera that lets you get close to SLR quality without getting anywhere near SLR prices!

I read review after review on many many cameras like this one but always found myself coming back to the FZ18, some reviews worried me about night shots or indoor shots having lots of noise so I kept putting off buying this camera. I have now had this camera a couple of weeks and admit to being very much a novice about photography which is why this camera is so good. If you want to just use it as a point and shoot with a fantastic zoom, which will go to 23X when reduced to 5mp you can. You also then have all the manual controls to use if you want to, I was worried it would be to complicated but if you give the manual a good read you will soon master most things and can then explore what else the camera has to offer. As for indoor shots, yes with the flash off they can be a bit noisy but if like me you don't mind using the flash they are fine. I love this camera and am very pleased that I brought it. I have posted some picture examples on here, they include an indoor shot, some basic point and shoot and an example of the zoom but they come up in the wrong order. The shot of a barn and of a field are taken from the same spot but one zoomed out.

I spent the last 6 months trying to decide between bridge or DSLR.
I have decided to go bridge to get away fron the multi lens thing. I have been stunned by the sharpness and colour balance on auto on this panasonic and I have'nt experimented with the manual settings yet.
It is a light camera but this is an advantage for me as I live in a rural area and it gets taken on long walks hung on the neck strap ready to shoot anything interesting. I nearly bought a Canon G9 but was put off by a few bad reviews. Having used the Panasonic now I would miss the super zoom.

I was attracted to the camera for its powerful zoom,its high resolution and other features that make the shot more successful (the Leica lens, face recognition software, burst function, stabilizer.
Well, I was overwhelmed, many other features were available to improve the quality of my work/play (recording guide lines, large LCD screen or viewfinder, built-in flash, intelligent automode).
What else can I say, it is a great camera, either as point-and-shoot or great composition with manual settings for the more adventurous with a myriad of gadgets. Did I say the size is just right? Light, compact, yet handles firmly for more steady shots.
I would recommend strongly...

I spent months looking through reviews and checking out the Fujifilm S8000, Olympus SP-560 and finally settled on the Panasonic. Fantastic - zoom is amazing, and image stabilisation really works. I was told to buy a tripod but there is really no need, even at max zoom. Fully auto mode is very intuitive and there are virtually zero lag times, as with others. You can do as much as you want too - making it fully manual is a flick of a switch. Batteries are their own, not AA, but don't let this put you off - they last a long time (way over an hour of CONSTANT use so days and days) and are fairly inexpensive when you need to replace them (each should last 4 or 5 years though).

Quality of image is fantastic - much better than what I saw from the above two cameras. Hope this helps your choice.