Panasonic FZ80 First Shots: How does the latest 60x superzoom hold up in the test lab?

posted Monday, January 30, 2017 at 6:57 PM EDT

The Panasonic FZ70 was the first superzoom camera to offer a 60x optical lens, and back in 2013 that was a really big deal. Since that time the superzoom segment has been very popular on our site in general, and yet we've seen no new models for quite some time. The Panasonic FZ80 changes that and marks the first superzoom camera to hit our labs in 2017, having just completed the first leg of its lab journey.

For the technically-minded or curious among you (which means most of our core readership) the FZ80 sports both a newer sensor with a higher resolution, moving up from 16MP to 18MP, and also a souped-up version of the Venus Engine processor. The net result is intended to provide an increase in the overall image quality of the product line. Did they succeed?

Our First Shots are definitely the best place to start! By heading to our Panasonic FZ80 Samples tab, you can view our standard Still Life test target images as the available ISO range rises, and also download the RAW files for your own personal conversion and pixel-peeping pleasure. And in our world-renown Comparometer, you can view test images of the FZ80 beside the same image shot with the predecessor or any of the superzoom models that we've tested, also across the entire available ISO range.

To get you started, below are side-by-sides at both base ISO and at ISO 1600 with the FZ80 as compared to the FZ70. (The slight apparent size difference is due to the difference in sensor resolution between the two.)