Panasonic FZ300 Field Test: Numerous improvements make this an excellent all-around camera
posted Friday, February 26, 2016 at 12:34 PM EDT
The Panasonic FZ300 takes what made the FZ200 a good bridge camera back in 2012 and adds numerous performance upgrades and features.
During my Field Test for the FZ300, I found the 25-600mm f/2.8 equivalent lens to be one of the camera's strong points. The lens is unchanged from the FZ200, but then again, there wasn't a lot of room for improvement. While it isn't optically perfect, it does provide good performance and a fast constant f/2.8 aperture.
The FZ300's camera body is entirely new, though. The redesigned camera body proved to be comfortable and well-designed, and also has splash- and dust-resistance to make it suitable for shooting in a wide array of conditions.
One area of weakness for its predecessor was its autofocus performance. With Panasonic's Depth from Defocus technology and Light Speed AF autofocus system, I found the FZ300's autofocus performance to be typically fast and accurate, even at telephoto focal lengths. To help keep things stable, the new five-axis Hybrid O.I.S. stabilization system works very well.
4K video and 4K Photo features have arrived with the FZ300 as well. Panasonic has been placing a large emphasis on the 4K Photo features lately and this trend continues with the FZ300.
In the over three years since the FZ200 was introduced, Panasonic has made a lot of changes for the FZ300 and they pay off. While the 12-megapixel sensor and lens are the same, nearly everything else has changed. For much more on my experience with the impressive FZ300, head over to my Panasonic FZ300 Field Test and be sure to check out our FZ300 gallery.
