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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 (black)

Manufacturer: Panasonic Part number: DMC-FZ18K

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$274.95 - $369.63 at 2 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
3.5 stars Very good
Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 18 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Product series; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: A decent but not great camera, the megazoom Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 still manages to outdo its few competitors.
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CNET editors' review

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 (black)

price range: $274.95 - $369.63

Reviewed by: Lori Grunin
Reviewed on: 11/27/2007
Released on: 08/27/2007

The good: Wide-angle, long zoom lens; nice set of shooting features.

The bad: Camera's JPEG processing choices can produce suboptimal results; no zoom in movie capture; sluggish LCD/EVF update.

The bottom line: A decent but not great camera, the megazoom Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 still manages to outdo its few competitors.

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Photos and image samples:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18

Though far from perfect, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 shapes up to be the best of the cameras promising 18x-zoom Nirvana we've reviewed so far, a trio rounded out by the slow Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd and the slower Olympus SP-550 UZ. Like those models, the FZ18 incorporates a wide aperture, wide-angle lens, specifically f/2.8-to-f/4.2 28mm-to-504mm, and like the S8000fd, incorporates an 8-megapixel sensor.

Its design looks quite similar to its 7-megapixel, 12x-zoom line mate, the FZ8 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H3, the FZ18 retains an EVF (electronic viewfinder). That's a good thing: even with the optical image stabilizer, when shooting that long you really want the additional steadiness conferred by an eye-level-grip type of stance.

Panasonic doesn't skimp on shooting options here. In addition to a full set of manual, semi-manual, automatic, and scene program exposure modes, and the standard three metering choices--spot, center and multiple--the FZ18 includes six autofocus algorithm options: Face, 1-point, 1-point high speed, 3-point high speed, Multi-point, and Spot. It also offers automatic scene detection, rather sluggish face-detection, and Intelligent Auto mode, which enables the image stabilizer, uses Intelligent ISO (automatic up to the user set cap), face detection, automatic scene mode detection, and continuous AF. The three-shot self-timer provides a retro photo-booth experience. And not only does the FZ18 offer raw mode, it also supplies a raw-plus-JPEG option, which we generally see only in midrange and higher dSLRs.

Choosing a rating for the FZ18's image quality was unusually difficult. At its best, the FZ18 snaps excellent photos: sharp, with accurate exposure, good color rendering, reasonable lens geometry, and only modest noise at the low-to-middle ISO sensitivities. However, this seems to apply predominantly under natural lighting. CNET Labs tests indoors under tungsten and fluorescent lights not only exhibited poor automatic white balance, but above average noise and compression artifacts in the JPEG images. The raw versions of the photos (opened with Adobe Camera Raw using the default settings for the file format), with their adjusted white balance, less sharpening and slightly more noise suppression, came out far better than the JPEGs. True, they're a bit softer, but the trade-off seems to be more than worth it. Unfortunately, since I foresee most users shooting JPEG--it's faster than raw in the FZ18--I docked the FZ18's image-quality rating a point. You can see what I mean if you look at the image samples.

The FZ18 performs typically for its class. From power on to first shot takes only 1.8 seconds, pretty quick for a long-lenser. Time to focus and shoot runs only 0.7 second in good light, rising to 1.1 seconds in dimmer situations--good for a non-dSLR, but still slower than you want. The interval for two consecutive shots is a brisk 1.3 seconds, which rises to an uncommonly fast 1.8 seconds with flash. Raw capture runs a bit slower--2.3 seconds for two sequential shots--which makes raw shooting a suboptimal workaround for the JPEG issues discussed earlier. In burst mode, it snaps at a clip of about 3.7 frames per second, but the camera's continuous shooting is limited to 7 frames at standard quality and 4 frames at fine quality.

Panasonic's Mega OIS image stabilizer works well, as always. In casual testing, photographing a stationary subject indoors at the camera's maximum 504mm-equivalent focal length using multipoint focus, I was able to shoot a reasonably sharp photo at 4 stops slower than mandated by the reciprocal focal-length rule; 1/125 second instead of 1/2,000 second. On the other hand, the FZ18's relatively low resolution 207,000-pixel 2.5-inch LCD and EVF disappoint. Typical for this class of cameras, they preview completely different color and exposures, but worse, they update far slower those of than competitors such as the S8000fd, making it difficult to shoot active subjects such as kids and pets.

You don't have much choice if you want one of these really long-lensed megazooms, but the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 looks to be the best of a not-so-great lot. It's a fine camera, as long as you keep in mind its shortcomings and can work around them.

Shooting time (in seconds)
(Smaller bars indicate better performance )

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (dim)

Shutter lag (typical)

Canon PowerShot S5 IS

1.6

1.3

0.8

0.5

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9

1.4

2.1

1.3

0.6

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18

1.3

1.8

1.1

0.7

Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd

2.6

3.1

0.8

Olympus SP-550 Ultra Zoom

4.6

2.9

1.6

Typical continuous-shooting speed (frames per second)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18

3.4

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9

Canon PowerShot S5 IS

1.6

Olympus SP-550 Ultra Zoom

1.5

Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd

0.5

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 18 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 18

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9 stars

Great prosumer camera!

by wllm995 on October 6, 2007

Pros: Leica Lens, 18x Optical Zoom, 28mm Wide Angle Lens

Cons: Feel very plasticy, nothing else!

Summary: I have really enjoyed using my new DMCFX18 -it is very easy to get started with the intuitive Panasonic menu; it is so nice to have a 28mm wide lens; ...

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Summary: I have really enjoyed using my new DMCFX18 -it is very easy to get started with the intuitive Panasonic menu; it is so nice to have a 28mm wide lens; the 18x Optical Zoom goes up to 23X on the 5MP setting that I use for most my pics; the Image Stabilizer works very well; it is extremely lightweight (almost too light - but not quite...); only drawback is it feels a bit plasticy - but as that is the only caveat - Highly Recommended!

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15 out of 15 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Great all around camera

by Cpt_Chaos on November 28, 2007

Pros: The auto features are fantastic and any level of camera user can adapt to its features easily. I took it out of the box and with no instructions took some great photos.

Cons: Whoever designed the instruction manual should be shot! Its choppy and not very useful. Sometimes you have to use the "Force". The EVF and LCD can take a bit to autofocus.

Summary: After reading, and reading lots of reviews and people's opinions about Superzooms vs. DSLRs I have to say, the choice is simple: If you are a professional photographer or ...

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Summary: After reading, and reading lots of reviews and people's opinions about Superzooms vs. DSLRs I have to say, the choice is simple: If you are a professional photographer or going to do super zooming or cropping of your pictures and want to carry tons of varying lens, then go for the DSLR. If you are the point and shoot or the amateur (like me)who wants to learn some more about photography, then this camera is for you.

What I like about this camera is: If you dont want to think about 10,000 settings and you are wanting to take that opportunity picture, then switch 1 button, point and shoot and bingo. A great picture.

Additionally, the range of the zoom is fantastic, I have taken some pictures in varying conditions and its reach is fantastic. However, sometime the Intelligent function isn't the best (e.g. indoor low light photos or night time photos) but with some experimenting, you can tweak this camera's abilities. But in its defense, I took my new toy, to an indoor-outdoor museum and took a ton of great photos with no flash and only 3 or 4 weren't usable.

My biggest pet peeve about this camera is I would like to shoot the rocket scientist who designed the user's manual. Its not the best one I've seen. It explains how to do the different functions, but sometimes in a confusing way.

But with a little experience and practice, this lightweight superzoom, is a great is a great camera.

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6 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

best non SLR I ever used

by mgeier on November 28, 2007

Pros: everything

Cons: low res screen

Summary: except for the low res on the viewing screen and EVF this camera is great in every other way. I just came back from vacation and shot nothing but 16x9 ...

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Summary: except for the low res on the viewing screen and EVF this camera is great in every other way. I just came back from vacation and shot nothing but 16x9 pics, over 400 of them and they beat my EOS XTI with Tamron 18-250 in every way, I love it....

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3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Wonderful Camera !

by dancingptoato on August 4, 2008

Pros: The 18X zoom ! Easy to handle, almost no shutter lag, my lens sample seems to have a sweet spot at 5.6 and the images are excitingly vibrant at all focal lengths, OIS, rather compact size and weight.

Cons: I don't have enough money to buy one for all of my friends !

Summary: Just a delicious and fun all around camera ... very responsive and flexible ... almost no shutter lag !!!! ... there is a bit of a learning curve to extract all it has to ...

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Summary: Just a delicious and fun all around camera ... very responsive and flexible ... almost no shutter lag !!!! ... there is a bit of a learning curve to extract all it has to give ... and I did have to experiment and still am .... with the various settings ... to find which ones mesh best with my kind of shooting...
For now I am using aperture priority at 5.6 ... and spot metering and spot focus ... for most of my shots ... and having a jolly good time ! I am amazed at the quality of the images at all focal lengths using this 18X zoom ! This camera is a blast !

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

One of the best

by stevefotos on June 11, 2008

Pros: Super sharp at 504mm! Great AWB and simple operation

Cons: slight lag with picture blackout after exposure

Summary: Got this camera as an alternative to schlepping my Nikons (5 lbs of gear) around all the time. Plus I was intriqued by its long focal length zoom. Twice as ...

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Summary: Got this camera as an alternative to schlepping my Nikons (5 lbs of gear) around all the time. Plus I was intriqued by its long focal length zoom. Twice as long as what I have with the Nikons.

I shoot professionally for magazines and stock agencies so I was looking for a lightweight, all round camera, that could produce images good enough for publication if necessary. I also write about photography and photo gear and closely read camera review websites reviews to get a sense of which cameras do what well. After a lot of research I setled on the FZ18K.

Got the FZ18 two weeks ago and I've been impressed by its capabilities. And as an old film photographer, rather than trying to determine image quality from a blown up screen image, I make big prints.

After a couple of dozen 11x17 prints it was clear that the FZ18 is an excellent photographic tool. I was most surprised by the quality of portraits taken at the long 504mm setting. They were richly colored and crisp. The Image Stabilization really works to keep these long focal length shots sharp.

I'd recommend this camera for anyone who wants something more substantial then a Point and Shoot. It will work well for travel and casual shots and a whole lot more. Its not a DSLR but unless you really, REALLY!, need three or four interchangeable lenses or plan to shoot fast moving sports in low light or need to connect to studio strobes, this camera will work for you.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Wow, what a camera for $300.

by howdyisneill on May 13, 2008

Pros: Zoom, features, weight, picture quality

Cons: Case feels a little cheap, Lens cap is a pain.

Summary: cNet's rating of 7.2 is too low. This is a wonderful camera for a non dSLR model. In this price range you can't beat it. I love ...

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Summary: cNet's rating of 7.2 is too low. This is a wonderful camera for a non dSLR model. In this price range you can't beat it. I love the view finder, the zoom and wide angle ranges. Darn it Panasonic you still make me take the camera off the tripot to change the flash card. Hey, nobody is perfect. Buy this camera at Vann's in Missoula, MT for under $300 and free shipping. Very nice people, I ordered by phone-easier than doing it online. If you want a point and shoot camera get something else. This camera has too many features not to enjoy if all you want to do is push the shutter button.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Love it, Love it, Love it

by jrlazar4 on April 29, 2008

Pros: Nice Features and Settings, Easy to Use, Great Zoom

Cons: Can't zoom in movie mode, screen doesn't rotate, lens hood useless

Summary: Bought this prior to a once in a lifetime trip to Antarctica. Brought along my previous camera as back up. Never touched the old camera - this one took amazing ...

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Summary: Bought this prior to a once in a lifetime trip to Antarctica. Brought along my previous camera as back up. Never touched the old camera - this one took amazing photos...mostly on automatic, as the camera out did anything I tried to program myself. There were some auto photos that varied the light and graininess in low light when I took a series of the same shot, but I usually got something to be pleased with.

Continuous burst mode combined with the 18X zoom allowed for incredible wildlife photos. 28mm wide angle was great for scenery. Side by side comparison with my Nikon was no contest, this camera was the clear winner.

Image stablization allows for some incredible photos, even in low light.

Lens hood useless, and no zoom in movie mode stinks, but zoom first and then video is fine enough...if I really cared about video I'd get something specific for that.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 stars

Great All-Round Camera, Spotty Low-Light Performance

by davebenj on January 16, 2008

Pros: Great Zoom Range/Composition Flexibility, Excellent JPEGs from RAW conversion software

Cons: In-Camera JPEGs have horrible artifacts/noise in low light conditions

Summary: This is a beautiful camera for someone prepared to deal with the larger size. But it's surprisingly (and thankfully)light. The Leica lens is excellent, although you may not ...

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Summary: This is a beautiful camera for someone prepared to deal with the larger size. But it's surprisingly (and thankfully)light. The Leica lens is excellent, although you may not quite realize how good until you shoot RAW - the in-camera JPEGs look noisy, muddy and yellow/brown in the shadows. Low light conditions generally create challenges for the camera (for example the otherwise excellent "Intelligent Auto" mode which doesn't always handle dark areas well even with flash.

You can get excellent results with this camera in almost any condition but you will have to hunt between modes to achieve them. A little learning curve involved here.

But you will find it hard to do without the unbelievable flexibility this wide-range zoom gives you once you get accustomed to it. The control layout and menu system make it easy to use.

Beautiful video results @ 640x480 and 30fps.
A flash hot shoe would have been nice.

Nothing else in the market with quite this nix of capabilities.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 stars

In LOVE with Panasonic's FZ18!

by LadyHawke9973 on June 11, 2008

Pros: quick start up, fast shutter speed, manual AND "camera for dummies" settings

Cons: no zoom control on camcorder mode, not great in extreme lowlight.

Summary: After 4 years, it finally became a necessity to replace my dependable but slow shutter speed Olympus Stylus 400.

I am a typical home/family user of a camera, but

...

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Summary: After 4 years, it finally became a necessity to replace my dependable but slow shutter speed Olympus Stylus 400.

I am a typical home/family user of a camera, but I want to keep up with my zooming 5 year old, whether she's on the soccer field, or in the dance studio...and get the shot that I see in my mind's eye. After reading everything I could get my hands on...out of all the variables on cameras, I finally decided that for me, the three biggest must haves were:

1) a fast start up/fast shutter response
2) a good zoom/image stabilization
3) good quality images to print

The Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ18 has all that and more than I could want.

I used a PNY Optima 60x 2GB SD card, and filled it in two days...just with playing around with pics and video (in a variety of MP sizes).

Start up speed:
I can grab the camera, and with one hand be turning it on & choose it's setting, and with the other hand taking the cover off...by the time I have the camera in front of my face, it is ready to take the picture I'm seeing. It's usually ready before I am!

Shutter lag minimal:
While I think the only way to ALWAYS get the shots I want is to take that step up to SLR (which I'm not prepared to pay for), this camera gets the majority (say...90+%) of the shots I want...and would get even more if I started a bit earlier and used burst mode, instead! I'm VERY happy with the low shutter lag time on this camera.

Zoom/ImageStabilization:
I'm just astounded by this camera. Considering the HUGE zoom factor, I'm floored by the clarity of the picture, and how confident in the pic one can be just by looking at the EVF. The image is there, stable, and waiting for you to hit the button. Add to that, it uses the stabilization factor in its camcorder mode, too...and one might think I'd mounted the thing on a tripod! Excellent!

Good Quality Images:
The Leica lens makes this a bit of a cheat, but that was part of the draw for me. Image quality is fantastic, and looks great on not only the camera screen, but on my computer screen, and on paper. (Extreme lowlight conditions, it's not great, but I'm VERY happy in my normal houselighting conditions (of which "house lights" will comprise the majority of my camera usage), and in the night shots I took using the night mode features.

Others have mentioned no zoom on the camcorder mode: they're right...you can't control the zoom in camcorder mode. HOWEVER! If you're already zoomed in while in another mode, and flip over to the camcorder, then it stays zoomed in. You can't zoom out without stopping the recording and changing modes, so that's a drawback, but this is not a camcorder...it's a digital camera with a camcorder mode...I'll take it!

All in all, this is an excellent camera with more features than I know what to do with. And the add-on of the camcorder ability just makes it more of a value. I won't have need of a camcorder, now...the quality is that good!

Per CNet's ratings system, I feel the need to give it a 9/10 due to the lack of zoom control, but more so for the lacking in extreme lowlight...but for my personal needs, wants, usage...it's a slam-dunk 10/10, easily.

Looking forward to a good, long relationship with my FZ18!

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Great Camera

by fjn100 on May 6, 2008

Pros: ZOOM, Feature Set & Size.

Cons: None I've found so far.

Summary: I have a lot of digital cameras and they are all good but limited in some way. I finally realized I needed a big zoom lens and did not want ...

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Summary: I have a lot of digital cameras and they are all good but limited in some way. I finally realized I needed a big zoom lens and did not want a super expensive DSLR. I read a lot of reviews and got this one. I find it to be a great all around camera due to the 18x optical zoom. I find that the pictures are very good, but could probably be a little better with a better sensor. I would highly recommend it.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 18

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Panasonic
Part number: DMC-FZ18K
Description: Experience the power of an incredible 18x optical zoom in a 8.1-megapixel camera that fits in the palm of your hand. From vast landscapes to super telephoto shots, the DMC-FZ18 gives you crisp, stunning images using a 28mm wide-angle Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens. For macro shots, the wide-angle setting lets you shoot all the way down to one centimeter from your subject, while the telephoto setting can be used up to one meter (3.28 feet) from your subject. With the Extended Optical Zoom function, zoom power is boosted to around 28.7x (in 3-megapixel resolution mode).

General
Product Type Digital camera - Compact
Color Black
Weight 0.8 lbs
Width 4.6 in
Depth 3.5 in
Height 3.0 in
Main Features
Resolution 8.1 megapixels
Image stabilizer feature Optical stabilization helps prevent blurry pictures, especially for handheld cameras at slow shutter speeds or when using high optical zoom.
Sensor resolution 8.1 megapixels
Optical Sensor Type CCD
Effective Sensor Resolution 8,100,000 pixels
Total Pixels 8,320,000 pixels
Optical Sensor Size 1/2.5 in
Light Sensitivity ISO 6400, ISO 200, ISO 800, ISO auto, ISO 400, ISO 1250, ISO 1600, ISO 100
Digital Zoom 4 x
Shooting Modes Frame movie mode
Shooting Programs Panning, Candle, Surf & snow, Starry sky, Night portrait, Sports mode, Soft skin, Fireworks, Party/indoor, Food, Portrait mode, Baby, Scenery, Night scene
Special effects Warm, Black & White, Sepia, Cool, Contrast compensation, Saturation
Max Shutter Speed 1/2000 sec
Min Shutter Speed 60 sec
Exposure Metering Multi-segment, Center-weighted, Spot
Exposure Modes Aperture-priority, Automatic, Program, Shutter-priority, Manual
Exposure Compensation ?2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps
Auto Exposure Bracketing 3 steps in 1/3 EV step
White Balance Custom, Automatic, Presets
White Balance Presets Halogen, Cloudy, Flash, Daylight
Digital video format QuickTime
Still Image Format RAW + JPEG, JPEG, RAW
Color support Color
Image Stabilizer Optical
TV Tuner None
Video Capture QuickTime - 640 x 480, QuickTime - 320 x 240, QuickTime - 848 x 480
Memory / Storage
Flash Memory 27 MB Flash - Integrated (soldered memory - 27 MB )
Floppy Drive None
Image Storage 3264 x 1840, 3264 x 2176, 2560 x 1440, Standard Exif 2.21 3264 x 2448, RAW+JPEG 2048 x 1536, RAW 2560 x 1920, 2048 x 1360, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1712, Fine JPEG
Flash memory 27 MB - Integrated
Memory soldered size 27 MB
Supported Flash Memory MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card
Lens System
Type Zoom lens - 6 mm - 82.8 mm - F/2.8-4.2
Focal Length 6 mm - 82.8 mm
Lens Construction 8 group(s) / 11 element(s)
Lens Manufacturer Leica
Additional Features
Self Timer Yes
Self Timer Delay 10 sec, 2 sec
Additional Features DPOF support, Audio recording, PictBridge support, AE lock, Digital noise reduction, RGB primary color filter, Built-in speaker, AF lock, Resizing an image, Digital image rotation, Camera orientation detection, Auto power save, Date/time stamp, Histogram display
Camera Flash
Type Built-in
Flash Modes Forced OFF mode, Auto mode, Slow sync mode, Forced ON mode, Auto mode with red-eye reduction
Red Eye Reduction Yes
Features AF illuminator, Flash +/- compensation
Viewfinder
Viewfinder Type Electronic
Color support Color
Diagonal size (inches) 0.44 in
Resolution 188,000 pixels
Field Coverage 100%
Display
Type LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2.5 in - Color
Mounting Rotating
Resolution 207,000 pixels
Digital Player (Recorder)
Type None

Microphone
Type Microphone - Built-in
Connections
Connector Type 1 x Audio/video, 1 x USB, 1 x DC power input
Expansion Slot(s) 1 x SD Memory Card
Lens Systems
Auto Focus TTL contrast detection
Type Zoom lens
Focal length 6 mm - 82.8 mm
Focal Length Equivalent to 35mm Camera 28 - 504 mm
Focus adjustment Automatic,

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 (black)

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