Panasonic DMC-FZ8 Optics

Zoom
A generous 12x optical zoom with very good performance. Digital zoom performance is about average these days.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8's optical zoom covers the equivalent of a 36-432mm, which is quite generous in the world of consumer digital cameras. Details are reasonably sharp at full wide angle, with low levels of coma distortion and very good corner-to-corner sharpness. Results at full telephoto are also quite good. Details are soft with the 4x digital zoom enabled, thanks to significant noise suppression; performance here is about average for a 4x digital zoom.

Macro
A very small macro area with good detail and high resolution. Closest focusing distance is too close for the flash.

The Panasonic DMC-FZ8's macro setting performed quite well, capturing a very small minimum area of 1.62 x 1.21 inches (41 x 31 millimeters). Detail and resolution were both good, though there's a moderate amount of softening in the corners from the lens, as well as significant chromatic aberration not far from the center. (Most cameras have some softening in the corners in macro mode, and it's not surprising to see chromatic aberration in a 12x lens's macro mode.) The FZ8's flash had trouble throttling down for the macro area and was blocked by the camera's long lens, resulting in a very uneven, severely blown-out exposure. Plan on using external lighting for any macro shots with the FZ8.

Distortion
Moderate barrel distortion, though low pincushion.

This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel -- usually at wide angle) or inward (like a pincushion -- usually at telephoto). The Panasonic DMC-FZ8's 0.7% barrel distortion at wide angle is about average, though I think this level is too high. At the telephoto end, the DMC-FZ8's 0.1% pincushion distortion is fairly low.

Chromatic aberration
Low at wide angle, high at telephoto. Very noticeable effect on some images in the corners toward full telephoto.

Chromatic aberration is low at wide angle, showing only a couple of pixels of very faint coloration on either side of the target lines. However, at telephoto, the effect is much stronger and brighter, with an almost neon appearance that is very noticeable in images with high-contrast elements near the corners. (This distortion is visible as a slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.)

Corner Sharpness
Very slight blurring in the corners of the frame at wide angle, slight at telephoto.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 produced slightly soft corners of the frame at full wide angle. At full telephoto, blurring was slightly stronger, but still quite low (though C.A. was quite noticeable). An impressive performance, especially at wide angle.

Coverage
Very good accuracy from the electronic viewfinder and LCD monitor.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8's EVF and LCD monitor both showed about 101% coverage accuracy at wide angle, and about 99% at telephoto.