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Details at a glance
Megapixels: 5
Optical Zoom: 12x
Digital Zoom: 4x
LCD screen: 1.8 inch
Storage: SD and MMC
Size: 108(w) x 68.4(h) x 84.8(d)
Weight: 290g
Batteries: Lithium-ion
We clicked with
Leica lens
Image quality
Shots in the dark
Manual flash
Plastic body
Links
More Panasonic information
www.panasonic.co.uk
More images
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The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 is a five megapixel digital camera. It sports a 12x zoom with a 4x digital zoom. Note that the 12x optical zoom is generous in its class, and much better than 12x zoom only achieved with digital assistance. This gives a 36-432 mm 35mm equivalent lens. The aperture is between F 2.8 - F 3.3. The camera also has a video mode which will capture movies at 320 x 240 at either 30 or 10 frames per second. The iso-range of is 80-200 or 80-400 with the flash activated. It comes complete with a 16MB SD memory card (not all do!). As well as a 1.8 in. TFT LCD, the camera also has an electronic viewfinder. It also offers AV and digital out and you can switch between the rear LCD and viewfinder.
The flash on the camera is manually activated, which is a bit of a pain- many other cameras in its class will auto-activate the flash, and manual activation means you may miss the moment. Admittedly, it does save on power.
The camera comes complete with a lens hood which allows the fitting of additional filters. I did find this a little fiddly, and you have to remember to take off the lens hood and assembly before taking any pictures using flash.
The camera has an image stabilisation system which offers two modes. In Mode 1 the stabiliser operates continuously; in Mode 2 the stabiliser only functions when the shutter is pressed. The camera itself feels quite light and insubstantial. But it does the job.
Panasonic seem to have linked up with Leica for all their lenses in the Lumix range. This is one redeeming feature.
Modes and options
The camera has the following modes: manual, shutter priority, aperture priority, professional, macro, motion image, and scene modes. The scene modes allows you to set portrait, sports, scenery, night scenery, night portrait, panning mode, fireworks mode, party mode and snow mode. It's all pretty standard stuff, and comparable with other units of the same price.
The ability to set aperture priority, shutter priority and manual modes make this camera a good piece of equipment to learn all the skills associated with true camera knowledge without the commitment of a more expensive camera. You can play to your heart's content and learn some good camera skills.
Nice pics, shame about the body
The handling of this camera does feel a little plastic. For me the whole thing is little too light. I like something that feels meaty in my hands, and this one just doesn't do it for me. That said, the image quality from this camera is extremely good, the colours are well saturated and accurately record the scene.
Even though it is only a five megapixel camera it does perform well. I do know that this camera has now been superseded by the DMC-FZ7; and I expect better things from the latter.
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Ease of use 
Functions
Value for Money 
Overall 
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In summary, the camera does perform acceptably, but there are other cameras out there which have a better feel and performance in action. If you're going to head into the price range required for interchangeable lenses, there are pricier, but nicer, options.
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