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Technical Details
- Brand Name: Panasonic
- Model: DMC-FZ47K
- Optical Sensor Resolution: 12.1 MP
- Optical Sensor Technology: CCD
- Optical zoom: 24 x
Product Details
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Product Description
The Lumix DMC-FZ47 packs a powerful optical zoom and attractive options including manual operation, adding full-HD video recording capability and the new Creative Control with Miniature Effect mode. The high quality lens unit of 25mm ultra wide-angle LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT lens with powerful 24x Optical Zoom newly features Panasonic’s Nano Surface Coating technology to minimize light reflection that causes ghost and flare. The powerful 24x optical zoom (35mm camera equivalent:25-600mm) can be increased its power to 32x equivalent with the Intelligent Zoom function taking advantage of the Intelligent Resolution technology maintaining the picture quality even using digital zoom. Empowered by a new 12.1-megapixel Hi-Speed CCD sensor, the DMC-FZ47 is compatible with high-speed, large-capacity signal processing required for 1920 x 1080 full-HD video recording in AVCHD and high speed continuous shooting. For more artistic freedom, manual control is available with DMC-FZ47. User can enjoy image shooting expressing their intention not only in photo but also in video, utilizing a host of options including the new Creative Control or Photo Style with a wide variety of preset options. In addition, the realistic, less-distorted 3D image produced by DMC-FZ47 with the 3D Photo mode can also be enjoyed on a VIERA 3D HDTV or other MPO-compatible 3D equipment. The DMC-FZ47 features a high-quality LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT 25mm ultra wide-angle lens with a 24x optical zoom (35mm camera equivalent:25-600mm). With the newly applied Nano Surface Coating technology, light reflection is dramatically minimized at entire visual light range (380nm-780nm) by applying the extra-low refractive index coating with nano-sized structure on the surface of the lens. It comes with the camera, a battery, the charger, the manual, the disc for the computer use and a wrist cord.
Available Warranties for This Item
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
208 of 211 people found the following review helpful
By R. D. Hoag
I've looked at and read reviews of comparable fixed zoom cameras from Olympus, Cannon, Nikon, Fuji, Sony, etc. and this Panasonic has all of them beat. Now that I have actually bought the camera and had a chance to test it out myself I am extremely satisfied with it. Comparing it against a much more expensive digital slr is sort of silly in my opinion, you can also argue for benefits of having a more compact/lighter camera with one lens that goes from wide angle to super zoom and quickly and the high quality HD video is a huge bonus. The only gripe I have is with noise at higher ISO speeds, but this is about average for cameras in this class and is better then most of the others and the lens has good f stop opening for its long range. As long as you set the ISO to not shoot above 200 for shots that you want the lowest noise, it is excellent. If you are into night shots or action shots where you might need blowups for cropping it isn't a problem, even at ISO 400 for prints up to B 13x19 it looks incredible. They did remove RAW with this model, but I don't miss it much as the camera has excellent output. Would highly recommend this compact full featured camera over any of the others that have "star name status" (Olympus, Nikon, Cannon) in this price feature group.
As an example DigitalCameraInfo.com said this about the FZ-47 color accuracy measurements: "No competitive model comes close to the dead-on accuracy of the FZ47. For that matter, the FZ47 is more accurate than the Nikon D7000, more accurate than the new Nikon D5100, and even more accurate than the Canon EOS 60D, our top rated DSLR!" They also said that the noise levels are a huge improvement over the earlier FZ-35 and much better then either the Canon Powershot SX30 or the Fuji HS10
As an example DigitalCameraInfo.com said this about the FZ-47 color accuracy measurements: "No competitive model comes close to the dead-on accuracy of the FZ47. For that matter, the FZ47 is more accurate than the Nikon D7000, more accurate than the new Nikon D5100, and even more accurate than the Canon EOS 60D, our top rated DSLR!" They also said that the noise levels are a huge improvement over the earlier FZ-35 and much better then either the Canon Powershot SX30 or the Fuji HS10
128 of 131 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Initial Review & Updates: I'm still in love with the FZ47! (Updated 3/25/2012)
November 16, 2011
By Stan
Amazon Verified Purchase
I've had the FZ47 for about a month and a half, and, so far, I am very satisfied with it. Here are my initial impressions:
Likes:
24x zoom range -- going down to a 35mm - equivalent of 25mm wide angle! Lots of times I've been in a situation where I can't back up far enough to capture the entire scene -- the 25mm wide angle position will really help in such situations.
Resolution and the image stabilizer
The electronic viewfinder (EVF): I wear bifocals, so in addition to LCD's sometimes being hard to see outdoors, I always have to crane my neck to have the LCD in focus -- the EVF eliminates that problem.
The AVC FSH movie resolution & the "zoom" mikes.
The "intelligent" dynamics option -- I have a shot I've tried to take with my 2 previous digital cameras (Nikon Coolpix 2500 & Canon A710is) -- because one side of the scene is brightly lit and the rest is in deep shadow. In the old days in a darkroom I would have dodged & burned, but I haven't found a photo editing tool that can do that. The FZ47, however, with "intelligent" dynamics set to high, handled the scene very well.
The ISO limit set -- it works very well with photos -- you can set the ASA to "auto", but the camera limits itself to ASA values at or below the ISO limit.
The flash range.
The macro function.
The options for manual focus, f stop, & shutter speed, along with the rear dial to adjust these. Together the options work really well. Also, the Focus button really helps when using manual focus.
The AF / AE lock.
The quick menu (though I wish it was user configurable!)
The one user-assigned button.
The separate ISO button.
Liked better in my previous cameras:
With my Canon, if I set the camera to "Hold" after taking a picture, I could zoom in to check the focus, etc, and then delete it if necessary -- all in the camera's "Record" mode. With the FZ47 I have to go to the playback mode -- even though the camera has a "Hold" option. This is the biggest single complaint I have with the FZ47 -- all the rest are quite minor.
While the FZ47 has a night-time scene that shoots several pictures in a row & keeps the one with the clearest focus, it will only work in that particular scene mode, and you can't set color balance or anything else in that mode. With my Nikon I could use that function anytime I wanted -- for example, in a museum that doesn't allow flash.
Noise above ASA 400. Even movies are a bit noisy at ASA800 -- particularly on areas with no texture and a solid color. I'm not sure if the ISO limit set works with movies, since it's set in the photo section (that disappears when you adjust the dial to the movie position). There is an "auto" ASA position for movies, but without the ISO limit set function, that would really be a rather questionable selection in low light conditions.
Having to use a separate shutter button for movies -- more often than not I forget & use the main shutter button!
If I could give the rating 4-1/2 stars, I would.
I've tried not to duplicate information in the Digital Camera Resource Page and other reviews; I've tried to give a user hands-on point of view.
As I continue using the camera I intend to update this review, but, for now, I really like the camera.
UPDATE 11/20/2011
I shot over 50 indoor photos today at a Thanksgiving Gathering, and, as expected the 35mm camera equivalent of a 25mm lens really came in handy -- I constantly got more of the scene in the photo than I expected to. The custom color-balance also worked extremely well. I shot everything using the EVF; I played back for review using the LCD. It's really nice being able to set record for one, and playback for the other. Checking photos for blur (sometimes the shutter speed was 1/10 second; blur occurred because subjects moved -- the image stabilizer was working fine) by having to go into playback mode wasn't nearly the problem I expected it to be -- the mode switch worked instantly back & forth.
I also shot 2 short AVC FSH films (about 40 seconds each). The PhotoFun software that comes with the FZ47 is really not even worth loading on my PC (an older single core 3.06ghz Pentium 4 with 4gb of RAM). Please see my review of Pinnacle's Studio 15 Ultimate software -- it works well on my older PC, though rendering a standard DVD from either AVC FSH or mp4 FHD originals takes about 5 hours for 1 hour of video. The important thing is that it works -- it doesn't freeze or fail, and the video & audio are always in sync.
The short videos I shot today I intend to load on a website -- in a VERY small reduction. PhotoFun certainly couldn't make the small copy, but a free open source converter called FreeHDConverter works very well -- again, even on my older PC.
Overall, I'm still extremely pleased with the FZ47. FreeHDConverter and Pinnacle's Studio 15 Ultimate are wonderful companions, at least for those whose older PC's can't keep up with the highest resolution videos produced by the FZ47. My PC CAN read MP4 HD videos with no trouble, but using the two software programs I can shoot in the highest AVC resolution available on the FZ47 -- and keep the originals for use if I upgrade my PC in the future.
3/25/2012
Seeing the alignment of Venus, the moon, and Jupiter this evening, I had to take a shot. I've posted two 1024x768 images to photobucket: one shot at ASA 100, the other at ASA 400. Both are shot:
Image stabilizer on
1/4 second
About a 6x optical zoom
Hand-held, leaning against a building
Auto white balance
"Natural" scene mode
Intelligent resolution on
The album is at: http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n556/Stan2002/
OR
s1139 dot photobucket dot com forward-slash albums forward-slash n556 forward slash Stan2002
These are image reductions using the Canon zb module that came with my A710is.
Download the photos -- then enlarge them until the moon is quite large -- you'll see the image noise at ASA400 and the moon won't be quite as sharp an image as it is in the ASA 100 shot. Never-the-less, while the ASA100 is better, I would have been quite satisfied with the ASA400 if that's all I could get!
Likes:
24x zoom range -- going down to a 35mm - equivalent of 25mm wide angle! Lots of times I've been in a situation where I can't back up far enough to capture the entire scene -- the 25mm wide angle position will really help in such situations.
Resolution and the image stabilizer
The electronic viewfinder (EVF): I wear bifocals, so in addition to LCD's sometimes being hard to see outdoors, I always have to crane my neck to have the LCD in focus -- the EVF eliminates that problem.
The AVC FSH movie resolution & the "zoom" mikes.
The "intelligent" dynamics option -- I have a shot I've tried to take with my 2 previous digital cameras (Nikon Coolpix 2500 & Canon A710is) -- because one side of the scene is brightly lit and the rest is in deep shadow. In the old days in a darkroom I would have dodged & burned, but I haven't found a photo editing tool that can do that. The FZ47, however, with "intelligent" dynamics set to high, handled the scene very well.
The ISO limit set -- it works very well with photos -- you can set the ASA to "auto", but the camera limits itself to ASA values at or below the ISO limit.
The flash range.
The macro function.
The options for manual focus, f stop, & shutter speed, along with the rear dial to adjust these. Together the options work really well. Also, the Focus button really helps when using manual focus.
The AF / AE lock.
The quick menu (though I wish it was user configurable!)
The one user-assigned button.
The separate ISO button.
Liked better in my previous cameras:
With my Canon, if I set the camera to "Hold" after taking a picture, I could zoom in to check the focus, etc, and then delete it if necessary -- all in the camera's "Record" mode. With the FZ47 I have to go to the playback mode -- even though the camera has a "Hold" option. This is the biggest single complaint I have with the FZ47 -- all the rest are quite minor.
While the FZ47 has a night-time scene that shoots several pictures in a row & keeps the one with the clearest focus, it will only work in that particular scene mode, and you can't set color balance or anything else in that mode. With my Nikon I could use that function anytime I wanted -- for example, in a museum that doesn't allow flash.
Noise above ASA 400. Even movies are a bit noisy at ASA800 -- particularly on areas with no texture and a solid color. I'm not sure if the ISO limit set works with movies, since it's set in the photo section (that disappears when you adjust the dial to the movie position). There is an "auto" ASA position for movies, but without the ISO limit set function, that would really be a rather questionable selection in low light conditions.
Having to use a separate shutter button for movies -- more often than not I forget & use the main shutter button!
If I could give the rating 4-1/2 stars, I would.
I've tried not to duplicate information in the Digital Camera Resource Page and other reviews; I've tried to give a user hands-on point of view.
As I continue using the camera I intend to update this review, but, for now, I really like the camera.
UPDATE 11/20/2011
I shot over 50 indoor photos today at a Thanksgiving Gathering, and, as expected the 35mm camera equivalent of a 25mm lens really came in handy -- I constantly got more of the scene in the photo than I expected to. The custom color-balance also worked extremely well. I shot everything using the EVF; I played back for review using the LCD. It's really nice being able to set record for one, and playback for the other. Checking photos for blur (sometimes the shutter speed was 1/10 second; blur occurred because subjects moved -- the image stabilizer was working fine) by having to go into playback mode wasn't nearly the problem I expected it to be -- the mode switch worked instantly back & forth.
I also shot 2 short AVC FSH films (about 40 seconds each). The PhotoFun software that comes with the FZ47 is really not even worth loading on my PC (an older single core 3.06ghz Pentium 4 with 4gb of RAM). Please see my review of Pinnacle's Studio 15 Ultimate software -- it works well on my older PC, though rendering a standard DVD from either AVC FSH or mp4 FHD originals takes about 5 hours for 1 hour of video. The important thing is that it works -- it doesn't freeze or fail, and the video & audio are always in sync.
The short videos I shot today I intend to load on a website -- in a VERY small reduction. PhotoFun certainly couldn't make the small copy, but a free open source converter called FreeHDConverter works very well -- again, even on my older PC.
Overall, I'm still extremely pleased with the FZ47. FreeHDConverter and Pinnacle's Studio 15 Ultimate are wonderful companions, at least for those whose older PC's can't keep up with the highest resolution videos produced by the FZ47. My PC CAN read MP4 HD videos with no trouble, but using the two software programs I can shoot in the highest AVC resolution available on the FZ47 -- and keep the originals for use if I upgrade my PC in the future.
3/25/2012
Seeing the alignment of Venus, the moon, and Jupiter this evening, I had to take a shot. I've posted two 1024x768 images to photobucket: one shot at ASA 100, the other at ASA 400. Both are shot:
Image stabilizer on
1/4 second
About a 6x optical zoom
Hand-held, leaning against a building
Auto white balance
"Natural" scene mode
Intelligent resolution on
The album is at: http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n556/Stan2002/
OR
s1139 dot photobucket dot com forward-slash albums forward-slash n556 forward slash Stan2002
These are image reductions using the Canon zb module that came with my A710is.
Download the photos -- then enlarge them until the moon is quite large -- you'll see the image noise at ASA400 and the moon won't be quite as sharp an image as it is in the ASA 100 shot. Never-the-less, while the ASA100 is better, I would have been quite satisfied with the ASA400 if that's all I could get!
102 of 104 people found the following review helpful
Now that I've had this camera for a couple of weeks, here are my thoughts.
The Good: Very nice lens that will really get out there, very low distortion even on maximum zoom. It's fast for a bridge camera, as fast as some DSLR cameras. It has a full manual mode and it's intuitive, so if you already know how to use a manual camera, it'll only take a few minutes to come up to speed; it also has full manual focus, a welcome addition. Takes HD video. Quality on photos and video is very good. This camera does better than some other bridge cameras at higher ISO settings, although its small sensor still can't compare with a DSLR or EVIL camera. Comes with lens hood, battery pack, charger, neck strap, and lens cap and strap. Accessories including filters, a lens protector, and an additional zoom lens (!) are available for purchase if you need them.
The Bad: not much to report here. The initial setup instructions are omitted from the printed manual, only available with the full manual included on CD. I prefer a camera that takes regular batteries instead of a battery pack, but as the recharge on this is fast -- about two and a half hours -- that's pretty minor. If you are getting one of these cameras for serious use, get a spare battery pack at the same time and you're gold.
The Ugly: really nothing, with the lack of a RAW mode being the only serious complaint, and one that won't be a deal-breaker for most folks buying a bridge camera. Very nice camera with a full set of features. It's physically large--this isn't a pocket camera by any means, and you'll likely want some sort of carrying case for it. If you are brand new to digital cameras, expect some learning curve. If brand new to digital cameras AND wanting to use the manual mode, expect to have to spend some time to get there. However, if you are already familiar with digital cameras, you can be up and going with this one fairly quickly.
The Good: Very nice lens that will really get out there, very low distortion even on maximum zoom. It's fast for a bridge camera, as fast as some DSLR cameras. It has a full manual mode and it's intuitive, so if you already know how to use a manual camera, it'll only take a few minutes to come up to speed; it also has full manual focus, a welcome addition. Takes HD video. Quality on photos and video is very good. This camera does better than some other bridge cameras at higher ISO settings, although its small sensor still can't compare with a DSLR or EVIL camera. Comes with lens hood, battery pack, charger, neck strap, and lens cap and strap. Accessories including filters, a lens protector, and an additional zoom lens (!) are available for purchase if you need them.
The Bad: not much to report here. The initial setup instructions are omitted from the printed manual, only available with the full manual included on CD. I prefer a camera that takes regular batteries instead of a battery pack, but as the recharge on this is fast -- about two and a half hours -- that's pretty minor. If you are getting one of these cameras for serious use, get a spare battery pack at the same time and you're gold.
The Ugly: really nothing, with the lack of a RAW mode being the only serious complaint, and one that won't be a deal-breaker for most folks buying a bridge camera. Very nice camera with a full set of features. It's physically large--this isn't a pocket camera by any means, and you'll likely want some sort of carrying case for it. If you are brand new to digital cameras, expect some learning curve. If brand new to digital cameras AND wanting to use the manual mode, expect to have to spend some time to get there. However, if you are already familiar with digital cameras, you can be up and going with this one fairly quickly.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Panasonic FZ47
I tried a couple of smaller cameras and they fail to compare to the Panasonic FZ47. The zoom, size, speed and picture quality are terrific. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Henry T. Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bought this camera AGAIN
This is the second camera we have purchased. Simply put, it has GREAT ZOOM for the price and you dont have to swap out lenses. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Trek Alpha
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Great Camera for the price
This camera is easy to use right out of the box. I took this up to some remote parts of British Columbia and took a variety of close up to far away magnified pictures and they all... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Scott Copeland
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easy to use, great photos
I like the size of this camera because it's much easier for me to hold steady than smaller ones. It has lots of features and it's easy to upload photos to my computer.
Published 1 month ago by Steph in California
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good camera
We are so glad we bought this camera. I didn't want to have to sit down and read a long manual to figure out a nice camera, and this has been fairly intuitive. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Albs
4.0 out of 5 stars
Should strap comes with it
On the reviews I didn't see anywhere that stated the features such as a shoulder strap. This was a gift for my daughter so I wanted it to be just right. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice camera
I bought this camera for my son as a gift. He loved it and its so easy to operate and takes fabulous pictures. Wish I would have waited and bought this for myself. Read more
Published 3 months ago by FLYERS FAN
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hard to Not Like this Camera
We wanted a camera simple to use but high zoom and the option for more sophisticated controls if needed or desired. This fits the bill. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Scooter74
5.0 out of 5 stars
Meets all expectations.
Bought this to replace an older model. Very happy with all the features. Works just like the old one, just wished the battery pack was the same size.
Published 4 months ago by Busy Mom
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth the money... nice camera if you don't want to spend 750
I've had this camera about a year. The zoom works fantastic and the shots are clear and rich. I don't use the more advanced settings much but the intelligent auto is quite... Read more
Published 4 months ago by N. Fernandez
