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12x Optical Zoom with 10.1-Megapixel Resolution - The 12x optical zoom (equivalent to 35mm to 420mm on a 35mm film camera) lets you take dynamic telephoto shots, or dramatic portraits with a softly focused background. By capturing this data with the total 10.1-megapixel CCD, the DMC-FZ50 opens the door to a whole new photographic world.
LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT Lens - The Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens on the DMC-FZ50 has passed the stringent quality standards of Leica Camera AG, the renowned maker of cameras and lenses for the world's photographers. This advanced lens system consists of one ED (extra-low dispersion) lens and fourteen lens elements in ten groups, including three aspherical lenses. The ED lens employs a special optical glass to compensate for chromatic aberration. It suppresses the color bleeding and reduced sharpness that tend to occur in telephoto shots, to produce crisper, clearer images. Backed by superb Leica optical quality, this lens system renders breathtakingly beautiful images that are bright and have minimal distortion. The aspherical lenses extend this extraordinary performance all the way to the edges of the image, and help to make the lens more compact.
Intellligent Image Stabilizer - To fight against the major cause of blurred images, Panasonic invented the MEGA O.I.S. system taking advantage of its outstanding lens technology to compensate for handshake ? a feature which has long been incorporated into the LUMIX range of cameras. In addition, the DMC-FZ50 also compensates for the other major cause of blurred images ? movement of the subject. The world's first* Intelligent ISO Control (I.I.C.) function, made possible by the Venus Engine III, detects the subject's movement and adjusts the ISO setting and shutter speed to best suit the subject movement and the light condition automatically. The Venus Engine III also enables high-sensitivity recording up to ISO 1600 in full resolution manually. Panasonic's excellent image stabilizing system allows users to take clear, crisp images in any situation automatically, leaving everything to the camera.
MEGA O.I.S. - The New Standard in Digital Camera Performance - Taking advantage of its outstanding lens technology, Panasonic invented the MEGA O.I.S.(Optical Image Stabilizer) system to fight against the major cause of blurred images. It compensates for the blurring caused by hand-shake. It is now featured on the entire LUMIX range, and is highly popular with users around the world. Even slight hand-shake movement is accurately detected by a sampling frequency of 4,000 times per second, and compensated to produce sharp, clear images.
Intelligent ISO Control for Preventing Blurry Shots Caused by Subject Movements - The movement of the subject, the other major cause of blurred images, is suppressed by the advanced image processing LSI Venus Engine III with the Intelligent ISO Control (I.I.C.). The world?s first incorporation* of this I.I.C. allows the automatic adjustment of the suitable ISO setting and shutter speed that best suits the situation by analyzing the speed of subject movement. If the subject is moving, the ISO setting would automatically rise to allow high shutter speed. On the other hand, if the subject is still and no movement is detected, you can take beautiful natural images with a low ISO setting.
Venus Engine III - High Image Quality - Recording up to ISO 1600 in Full Resolution. The DMC-FZ50 adopts the Venus Engine III to realize high sensitivity recording at max. ISO 1600 at full resolution. The noise reduction system is greatly improved by removing noise at the processing stages in series. First, critical noise is roughly undraped and the chromatic noise and the luminance noise are separated to respectively go through the supplemental noise reduction process so that the remaining noise is appropriately minimized. In addition, chromatic aberration is also reduced so beautiful images are assured even in telephoto shooting.
Super-Fast Shutter Response and Startup Time - With its multi-task image processing capability, the Venus Engine III also boasts outstanding response time with an industry-leading level of shutter release time lag of as short as 0.009 sec*. minimum and the shutter interval of 0.8 sec*. Together with the fast startup time of approx.0.7 sec., the quick response of DMC-FZ50 enables easy capture of those spur-of-the-moment shots.
Longer battery life ? Approx. 360 Pictures on a Single Charge - Despite the significantly increased performance of the camera, the Venus Engine III consumes only 80% of the power utilized by the Venus Engine II and is able to achieve a longer battery life of approx. 360 pictures* on a single charge. * Based on CIPA standard.
Full Manual Operation
Ring-Operated Manual Focus and Manual Zoom - The DMC-FZ50 succeeds the high operational ease and the good design that have been highly acclaimed with its predecessor DMC-FZ30. Two exclusive rings on the lens barrel provide manual control of zooming and focusing, allowing quick and fine control that cannot be achieved with button or lever operation. This feature will be highly valued by high-end users not only for its precise controllability but also for the feeling of manual operation.
Focus Mode Select Switch and Independent Macro Mode - Select Manual Focus, Auto Focus or Macro AF with the switch located on the side of the lens barrel. This means you can set the focus easily with your left hand while holding the camera to compose your shot. The One-Shot AF function is available in MF mode with a single press of the button.
Program / Aperture / Shutter Speed / Manual Modes - Provided for the more advanced photographer, this function lets you choose the exposure setting yourself to capture exactly the image you want. This opens the door to a host of creative possibilities. You can set both the shutter speed and aperture separately while viewing the image in the viewfinder or LCD screen.
Custom Setting Mode - Your frequent setting patterns can be memorized and it can be instantly applied by simply selecting this function with the mode dial.
Manual Exposure Assist - When you choose to set the exposure manually, this function shows how much your setting differs from the setting the camera considers optimal.
Program Shift - You can use Program Shift in Program AE mode to keep the exposure fixed while changing the combination of shutter speed and aperture. Provided for the more advanced photographer, this function lets you choose the exposure setting yourself to capture exactly the image you want.
Movable MF Assist - In manual focus, you can enlarge part of the subject in the viewfinder or LCD by 2x (Mode 1) / 4x (Mode 2). You can also freely move the magnified area for easy framing, which is especially handy when using a tripod.
Faster AF - The AF mode can be selected according to the shooting situation: 9-point, 3-point high speed, 1-point high speed, 1-point and Spot.
AF Distance Metering
9-point AF - For general shooting conditions. This mode gives you a sharp focus for a variety of picture compositions.
3-point high speed AF - This mode prevents the system from mistakenly focusing on the area between two subjects.
1-point high speed AF - The AF time has been dramatically reduced to achieve outstanding focusing.
*Compare with normal speed focusing.
1-point AF - Although screen-freeze in high-speed AF is now minimized, if you take the picture of subject with fast movement, you can select this mode which does not have any screen-freeze while focusing.
Spot AF - Spot metering: This mode keys the focus to a small area within the frame.
Selectable AF Area - While using 1-point and 1-point high speed AF mode, you can specify a point out of 9 AF points. You can thereby enjoy free framing shooting even with the subject not at the center.
Focus/AE Lock - The focus and exposure values that were automatically set when the lock button was pressed are maintained. The focus lock can be used even during manual focus in addition to auto focus. This means that there are no more worries about accidentally changing a delicate focus point after you have worked hard to get it just right.
AF Assist Lamp - Provides extra lighting as a focusing aid for slightly dark situations where AF focusing would ordinarily be difficult.
Continuous AF - Clear, sharp focus even for moving subjects
Useful Functions Mode Dial / Scene Modes
Free-angle LCD and high resolution EVF to extend shooting potential - The 2.0-inch flip-out 207k high resolution LCD is adjustable to 180 degrees both vertically and horizontally. This assists smooth shooting even in high- and low-angle shooting positions. The DMC-FZ50 is also equipped with the 235 k pixels high resolution EVF to encourage active shooting. Not OVF but EVF can provide the benefit of being able to check white balance, real-time histogram and the DOF(depth of field) before shooting.
Power LCD - You probably know how difficult it is to see an LCD image on a sunny day. When that happens with the DMC-FZ50, all you have to do is hold the EVF/LCD button down a little longer. The LCD backlight becomes about 1.4 times brighter to produce clear, easy-to-see images even in bright sunlight.
Brighter LCD Shows Even Dark Scenes Clearly - The bright 2.0-inch LCD is easy to see when taking photos. The pixel-mixed readout method is used to automatically increase the brightness level of live images according to the level of ambient darkness. This allows bright, easy framing of scenes that would normally be too dark to see.
Light Metering - 1. Intelligent Multiple 2. Center Weighted 3. Spot
An Even More Powerful Flash (TTL External Flash Compatible) - The DMC-FZ50 is equipped with a built-in multifunctional flash that features Auto, Auto/Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Sync/Red- Eye Reduction, and Forced On/Off. The flash intensity can be adjusted within a range of +/- 2 EV. If desired, you also can mount the optional DMW-FL500(GN50)/FL360(GN36) TTL external flash onto the DMC-FZ50. This expandability enhances the potential of shooting to make DMC-FZ50 a true high end camera.
Two Axis White Balance Adjustment - Choose from seven white balance settings: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Halogen, Flash, and White Set. When there are several different light sources and it's difficult to get the exact coloration you want, you can also adjust with a reference to the horizontal axis for amber to blue and vertical axis for green to magenta.*
Exposure Compensation - Adjust the exposure setting to create a particular image. (1/3 EV step, +/- 2 EV)
Auto Bracketing - This lets you pick the best shot from different, automatically graduated exposures. (+/- 1/3 -1 EV step, 3 frames)
New Composition Guidelines - You can use composition guidelines from two patterns according to the shooting subject. And guidelines can be shown at the same time as other information, icons.
Zoom Auto Review - This function shows you an enlarged view of the image right after you shoot, to make it easier to check the focus.
Direct Button Operation - You can set while confirming the alternative from the list on the screen and prevent from changing the setting with wrong operation.
3D Multi-Color Display
Menu Screen - Menu items appear to stand-out from the background in distinctively colored blocks, created using a total of 126 colors, making them easier to select with the cursor key.
Shooting Screen - The LCD and viewfinder can be switched to any of six display styles by pressing the DISPLAY button. You can choose to keep the information display completely outside the shooting area, so it isn't super-imposed over the image.
Real-Time Histograms - This graph, which can be displayed in the LCD/EVF as you line up the shot, shows the status of the exposure and contrast in real-time.
Highlight Display - A flashing indicator on the LCD/EVF shows any parts of the images that have been overexposed.
Self-Timer - You can use either a 10-second or 2-second setting.
Easy-To-Use Menu Operation - The easy-to-use menu lets you quickly change to the Rec, Setup or Scene mode with the left cursor. Then you can easily set the desired parameters or scene mode with the menu/set button. The icon on the setting screen for the selected scene mode is animated to show your selection more clearly.
Scene Mode Help Screen - A description of each scene mode is shown on the LCD, making it easier to select the mode that best fits the shooting conditions.
Soft Skin Detail Function - In Portrait, or Night Portrait mode, this function adjusts the skin colors to make complexions more attractive.
More Creative Fun!
High Quality Wide Aspect VGA* Motion Picture Mode - In addition to standard VGA** at 30 fps motion picture recording, the DMC-FZ50 also records stunning full-size movies in WVGA at 30 fps. Shooting is one thing but viewing is another, and you will be suitably impressed by the 16:9 motion picture when it is displayed on a wide screen TV. The brightness level of these motion picture is also enhanced as a result of the pixel mixed readout method performed by the CCD. Zooming in while recording motion picture is also possible with the manual zoom ring, while image clarity is secured by the Optical Image Stabilizer.
MEGA BURST Consecutive Shooting - Just keep the shutter button pressed to fire off consecutive shots* of a moving subject or a person's changing facial expression. Then save only the best ones. With the DMC-FZ50, you can just delete any shots you don't want. In addition, the Unlimited** Consecutive Shooting function lets you continue shooting until the SD/SDHC Memory Card is full.
World Time Setting - This setting lets you display the local time of your destination when traveling abroad. You simply select your travel destination, and the camera calculates the time difference from the time in the clock setting and displays the local time. You can set the time and date for 74 locations across the world.
Travel Date Setting - By setting the departure day when setting out on a trip with the DMC-FZ50, you can display which day of the trip each photo was taken on while viewing. Great for organizing your travel photos.
Selectable Aspect Ratio - An aspect ratio of 16:9 or 3:2 can be selected in addition to the conventional 4:3 ratio to best suit the composition of the image. You can shoot images in the wide-screen 16:9 format, then insert the recorded SD/SDHC Memory Card into a TV equipped with an SD/SDHC card slot to view them in perfect, large-screen size.
Picture Adjustment - Contrast ?Sharpness ?Saturation ?Noise Reduction (each in 3 steps)
9/25 Multi Display & Calendar Display - The newly incorporated large, high-resolution LCD allows the display of images even in tiny thumbnail size. You can view 9 or 25 frames on a multi-display screen in addition to the normal 1-frame view. This helps you to search for a particular image even when a large number of images have been stored on the SD/SDHC Memory Card. The DMC-FZ50 also features the Calendar Display.
Favorite Image Slideshow - You can place virtual checkmarks on your favorite images to group them together, then make a slideshow with only those images or delete the ones without checkmarks if you no longer need them.
Flip Animation - Using up to 100 of your photos, you can create a flip animation clip up to 20 seconds long.
Audio Recording - Add 5 seconds of sound to pictures, as you shoot. Or, if you prefer, add up to 10 seconds of sound after shooting.
Trimming & Resizing - Let you trim the image, or reduce the amount of image data.
PictBridge Compatible - The PictBridge standard lets you print directly on a compatible digital printer. Print size, layout, date and other settings can be made with the camera.
