Putting the turkey stuffing of a small sensor aside (10MP in a small sensor, when will manufacturers stop?They know that hole and still go for it ), the new Panasonic FZ50 seems the biz to me. At least they offer some true innovations by introducing what Panasonic has called Intelligent ISO Control (IIC), which works alongside OIS (Image Stabilizastion). What is different about IIC is that it works not on the camera shake produced by the user but it detects subject movement and adjust ISO and exposure ACCORDING TO LIGHT. Which to me it reads like, you can get your action shot without recurring to too high an ISO, it will read the light and adjust ISO accordingly, so you won't have a grainy photo of a perfectly lit situation. Now this is a clever implementation and a true innovation (the same cannot be said of Fujifilm's Face Detection). Again, IIC seems to be so on paper. This feature seems to be meant for the section of the public that simply points and shoots but still buys a camera with which they can develop further their skills, but the camera itself seems directed to the "hobbyist to advanced amateur" section of the market. Apart from this the FZ50 features a high quality Leica DC Vario-Elmarit 35-420mm equivalent zoom lens (I would preferrably have a 28-400mm), a series of automatic modes and white balance modes, ISO100-1600 extendable to 3200, external flash hotshoe and is in general a good step up from it's predecessors. But, lets see how those 10MP cope with being crammed in that tiny sensor. I think this megapixel race is beggining to get ridiculous in what concerns compact cameras, as companies are aware that cramming so many pixels in a small space is actually phisically not allowing light going through to the tiny pixel locations, hence you bigger image (YEAAAY!!!) but more noise (OH NO!!!) than a sensor of the same size with a smaller number of pixels (if the opposite occurs then there is something seriously wrong with the camera :-D). Manufacturers have found ways around this such as employing NR (noise reduction) systems, but these most of the times result in loss of detail. Sony on the other hand took this serioulsy and came up with the Sony R1, which uses an APS-C sized sensor (the same size as in most DSLR) with 10MP and voila, noise is controlled. The downside, is that compact becomes an ambiguous term, the bigger sensor requires a bigger body.
In any case, watch this space, the Panasonic FZ50 as a package looks like a serious contender and design wise looks the part.
In any case, watch this space, the Panasonic FZ50 as a package looks like a serious contender and design wise looks the part.
Panasonic FZ50 link
Until next time,
Luis
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