Another Superzoom Camera from Panasonic

I have always been partial to bridge cameras, especially the ultra and superzoom models. And when Panasonic released another superzoom camera, it immediately piqued my interest. Ever since I purchased my trusty old Olympus C-760, I would immediately search the net each time a new bridge camera would come out into the market to check out its specs. One of the latest bridge cameras from Panasonic is a 14.1 megapixel beauty with a ultra-wide angle and powerful optical zoom lens. Aside from the latest LEICA DC VARIO-ELMART lens, which boosts its optical zoom from 25 mm all the way to 600 mm, the DMC-FZ100 also boasts of having a full HD movie recording capability.

The FZ100 has a 14.1 MOS sensor that allows it to record high quality 1980x1080 full HD movies. The same high speed sensor also allows it to to have one of the fastest burst shooting in the industry at an 11 fps on a 14.1 megapixel resolution using its mechanical shutter and up to 60 fps using it 3.5 megapixel recording mode.

Image blurs due to the movement of the subject or handshake has also become a thing of the past with the brilliant brightness of the lens and the Power Optical Image Stabilizer (O.I.S). This is especially useful if you are into sports photography or simply want to shoot moving objects.  Its Face Recognition function also allows it to remember faces allowing it to make the necessary AF/AE adjustments when taking pictures of people.

Although I would focus more on the optical zoom and image quality of bridge cameras, there are a lot more that this camera has to offer such as the Venus Engine FHD, which allows it to have a rapid response time allowing it to record a number of consecutive high resolution shots and full HD movie recording, an Intelligent Scene Selector, which allows it to automatically adjust the modes according to the shooting situation, an Intelligent Exposure function that helps it avoid overexposing or underexposing the image and an efficient battery system which allows it to take 410 shots for a single charge. The kit also comes in with a bundled software, the PHOTOfunSTUDIO 5.2 HD Edition that can be installed on your PC.

All of these features are packed in a camera that is priced much lesser than a full-blown Digital SLR camera. This is definitely on bridge camera I would not mind putting on my wish list.

Source: Panasonic