Panasonic Lumix FZ48 review – Features

The Panasonic FZ48 has a 24x optical zoom lens that equates to a wideangle 25mm through to a long-reaching 600mm equivalent. As well as POWER OIS image stabilisation to reduce camera shake, Panasonic’s latest Nano Surface Coating covers the front glass to reduce reflective qualities and therefore produce pictures with less ghosting and flare.

Behind the scenes is a 12.1MP CCD sensor, which is a lower resolution than the previous FZ45 model’s 14.1MP version. It would seem that Panasonic is taking note of the current limitations of imaging sensors and not overpopulating the sensor with unneeded pixels in a bid to improve final image quality that’s still of a significant enough output size for the purpose of enlargement. The latest sensor has a higher transfer processing speed and this makes Full HD 1080i movie capture possible at 50 fields per second.

As well as intelligent Auto (iA) there are full manual controls, a 3D mode and a variety of scene options, including picture-enhancing modes under the ‘Photo Style’ guise.

Elsewhere the FZ48 may look like a carbon copy of the previous FZ45 model, but there are some notable updates: The FZ48’s 3in LCD screen now sports a 460k-dot resolution, outing the previous lower resolution 230k-dot version. The same 0.2in, 201k-dot electronic viewfinder (EVF) also features, an essential for a superzoom camera of this type.

Perhaps the FZ48’s biggest overhaul is the introduction of a ‘Sonic Speed’ autofocus system that takes a leaf out of the latest Lumix G-series models’ book and promises far quicker focusing than before.

A new ‘Miniature’ mode also features to act as a fake tilt/shift effect that gives the impression of miniaturising scenes.

However the FZ48’s lack of a Raw shooting function – a feature the previous FZ45 possessed – does seem a backwards step. Why this has been omitted in this latest release is unknown.