Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50

We've been talking about this one for a while now. Rated as Tech 2's best superzoom of 2006, the FZ50 makes it to our labs for review purposes. It may be close to a year old, but it's still a strong contender in the superzoom category, and now at a whole new discounted price it makes a very attractive package. So here it is, by high user demand, our complete review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50.

Build
Tight would be a great one word description for how the camera feels. You pick it up and you know how well wound together it is. For what it can do, the FZ50 has a relatively small body at 141x86x142 mm. Of course with that great big zoom lens, this baby's a bit on the heavier side, like 734 grams.

What I like about the colossal zoom lens is that it doesn't pop out any further than what you get out of the box. All the optical zooming happens inside the lens itself keeping it from looking obscenely huge.

The 2 inch display pops out to tilt and swivel for your convenience. 2 inches may be a bit too small, considering 2.5 inches is the standard going for most consumer cameras these days, but in actual usability, the screen does deliver the needful. Still, a bigger screen would have been better during manual focus.

The camera's controls are divided between the top and the back of the camera. Unique to the FZ50 are the two SLR-like jog dials to adjust the shutter speed and aperture size, just the way I like it.

In fact the FZ50 has so many similarities to an SLR camera that its easy to mistake it for one.