Panasonic FZ 200 Hands-on-Test video bridge over the river

Описание: Panasonic was arguably the first manufacturer to popularize the superzoom concept with the Lumix DMC- FZ10 in 2002 which sported a 12x 35-400mm zoom lens. Over the years zooms have been steadily growing, at both the wide-angle (again spearheaded by Panasonic) and telephoto ends. The more recent Panasonic models such as the FZ150 which was launched last year come with a 24x, 25-600mm zoom lens. But this is far from the most extreme model in the superzoom sector: Nikon's Coolpix P510 for example comes with a whopping 24-1000mm (41.7x) zoom range.

This abundance of focal length comes at a cost though. Even Japanese camera manufacturers cannot defy the laws of physics and as the zoom lenses were getting longer and longer the maximum apertures had to be reduced in order to keep the camera and lens dimensions in check. Competition on price has also seen specs other than zoom multiplier get scaled-back. While in 2002 the 12x FZ10 had a maximum aperture of F2.8 across its entire zoom range, the 24x FZ150 in 2011 only offers this setting at its wider zoom positions. At the long end of the lens the maximum aperture is reduced to F5.2 which, in combination with the limited high-ISO capabilities of the small sensors typically used in superzooms, makes shooting at long focal lengths a difficult task in anything less than perfect light.

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