Panasonic fz200 - *constant* f2.8 superzoom
Jul 18, 2012
I'm just posting this here because I know the reason I'm in the Canon forum is because of low light compacts.
Panasonic announced the fx200 today - a superzoom with a
constant
f2.8 aperture, which is -
amazing
. For years people have been asking "what's a good camera for concerts", and for years the answer has been "nothing is really great" - until now (obviously a dslr with expensive glass will still be better) - but this is a major leap forward in this kind of camera.
On the forum, phrases like "blown away", "night and day difference", "major leap in technology" etc etc are usually used for extremely minor differences that are just barely apparent, things you have to squint at test shots at 100% to see (like the difference in resolution between full frame and crop, the supposed difference between the s90 and g11, etc etc etc).
But this is the first camera that is actually a "night and day difference" from previous zooms at the long end of the zoom.
Amazing.
(Though it would be a little more amazing if, as dpreview wrote, "in 2002 the 12x FZ10 had a maximum aperture of F2.8 across its entire zoom range" then after that suddenly you stopped seeing superzooms with a constant aperture range - and people try to say there's no conspiracy/collusion that suddenly everyone stopped making them - right).
While I realize the sx40 zooms a little further, this Panasonic really does "blow away" cameras like the Canon sx40's f5.8 at the far end of it's zoom range. I'm just so excited to have something to
actually
find exciting in camera announcements, rather than the usual "slight improvement over last years models" stuff we usually see.