The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 continues to be a best value for money and one of my very favourite.

In a compact, light and solidly built body, it includes all the features desirable in a digital camera and throws in a couple that are hard to find in many other digital cameras: an effective image stabilization (the real type) and an accurate High Speed AF. All of this wrapped in an interface that is intuitive to use.

If you are in the market for an ultra zoom, you definitely owe it to yourself to try the Panasonic FZ18 before finalizing your decision. It is an impressive digital camera and easily the ultra zoom that sets the standard for the others to follow.

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Overall, images from the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50K were impressive, especially for a Panasonic, whose cameras tend to be noisier than this one. We still saw some noise, even at its lowest ISO, but some of this may have been worsened by compression artifacts, which showed up to turn some diagonal and curved lines jaggy.

Exposures were generally accurate, and colors were well saturated. Also, we saw very little distortion from the lens at its midpoint and also at its furthest telephoto settings. At its widest, the lens showed some noticeable barrel distortion, though you’ll likely notice it only if you’re shooting something with straight lines, such as a skyscraper or a telephone pole. For a non-SLR lens, it’s very sharp. We saw lots of crisp, fine detail in our shots at lower ISOs.

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We’re still awarding the Panasonic Lumic DMC- FZ50K our Recommended rating simply because despite its problems, it remains one of the best super-zooms around and is available at a compelling price.

The zoom range is massive, the optical quality of a very high standard, and thanks to effective stabilisation, it’s quite possible to shoot static subjects under low light at 100 ISO and enjoy excellent results. And remember it’s smaller, lighter and cheaper than most DSLRs while thrashing kit lenses in terms of range, quality and stabilisation, not to mention having no worries over dust. In these respects it’s a great camera, but don’t kid yourself you’ve got 10 Megapixel quality at anything other than the lowest sensitivities.

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When Panasonic called the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 a “Travel Zoom” it described it perfectly. The camera can perform well at both the Wide and Tele end of the scale, allowing you to capture both portrait and landscape shots of the places you visit, and the sturdiness of the camera means you can use the camera without a big fear of it breaking in a bag or if you drop it - although I wouldn’t try it.

Picture quality is reasonable but not outstanding, with the lens being let down somewhat by the sensor, but it is good enough for any situation.

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The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2 is very much a camera of two halves. In use, it can be an absolute dream with its wide lens, sensor and screen inspiring your creative side, and the decent build quality and high level of manual control satisfying the demands of enthusiasts.

In these and many other respects it’s an excellent product. It’s only once you get home and take a closer look at the images that you realise anything shot above 200 ISO is severely compromised by noise reduction and processing.

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