Testurteil: "85%"
Test: Einzeltest: Panasonic Lumix FZ45 / FZ40
Zitat: Highly
Pro: + 24x optical zoom with decent stabilisation.
+ ´Shooting priority´ playback button.
+ Long battery life and compact body.
+ Bayonet mount lens hood included.
Contra: - Telephoto image quality. Poor continuous shooting at full resolution.
- Fixed screen.
- No still capture during video recording.
Panasonic´s Lumix FZ45 / FZ40 is the much-awaited update to the highly popular Lumix FZ38 / FZ35. As you´d expect, Panasonic has inevitably boosted the pixel count giving the FZ45 / FZ40 a 14 Megapixel CCD sensor. In better news, the zoom lens has been extended to 24x providing a little extra coverage at the wide angle end and more telephoto reach with a 25-600mm range. The LCD panel has been upgraded to 3 inches, but unlike its big rival from Canon, remains fixed and there´s still no flash hotshoe either.
Beyond the headline improvements there´s a raft of other changes that improve the overall handling not least of which is the rearrangement of the physical controls and the move from a switch to a button for selecting shooting or playback modes. The movie recording button has been relocated to the top panel, the lens hood redesigned with a new more fool-proof bayonet fixing, the lens cap no longer blocks the lens on power-up, and there´s now the option to shoot fine quality JPEGs with RAW files.
What´s really different this time round though is Panasonic now offers two versions of its super-zoom camera. There´s the FZ45 / FZ40 reviewed here, but for those who enviously looked at Canon´s articulated screen and flash hotshoe, there´s the new FZ100 which adds both of these key features, along with 1080p video and quicker continuous shooting thanks to its CMOS sensor. So which is best for you? The core features of the FZ45 / FZ40, the pricier, but better-featured FZ100, or of course the big rival from Canon, the PowerShot SX30 IS? Let´s see how all three compare.