Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 Review

(Note: All screens and menus can be displayed on either the EVF or LCD.)

Typical playback screen with minimal exposure information displayed. Upper right corner has the image size (7M), quality (Fine), the battery is 2/3 charged, folder name (100) and image number (0636.) The current image 84 of 127 total images. Time and date is on the bottom status line (if set). A musical note indicates Audio has been added to this frame (not shown), press "Down" on the 4-way controller to listen.

Pressing the DISPLAY button will put the extended exposure information over the image and includes a histogram, the exposure mode, aperture, shutter speed, ISO speed and flash mode.

Here you can see the options when pressing and holding the Display/LCD MODE button.

Toggling the zoom lever to the Wide angle position brings up the thumbnail index mode display. You can bring up 9 or 25 images per page as well as the calendar display, allowing you to quickly sort though saved images.

Toggling the zoom lever to the telephoto position allows you to enlarge the current image up to 16X in 2x steps. At any point you can use the 4-way selector to scroll around inside of the enlarged image.

Playback Menu options:

Slide Show - Auto playback of all images or just those selected for DPOF printing
Favorite - Add the image to favorite list
Rotate Display - Automatically rotate vertical images
Rotate - Manually rotates images
Date Stamp - Enable date stamp for single or multiple images
DPOF Print - Select one or all images for later printing
Protect - Protect/Unprotect one or all images
Audio Dub - Add up to a 10-second audio note to a still image
Resize - Make a smaller image
Trimming - Create a new smaller image from a zoom-cropped larger image.
Aspect Conversion - convert image to different aspect ratio
Copy - Copy images from Internal memory to SD card or visa versa
Format - Format the internal memory or SD card

The Resize option lets you "down size" larger images.

The Trim option lets you crop an image and save it as a smaller image.

Ten-second audio memos can be recorded and replayed.

Movies are played back fullscreen on the LCD, EVF or a television set when using the supplied audio/video cables. If played back in-camera, the audio portion of a clip is heard on the built-in speaker.

You get VCR like controls to pause, stop, fast forward and rewind.

Setup Menu (same in record or play mode):

Clock Set - Set the time and date
World Time - Set the world time used by the camera
Monitor - Adjust the EVF brightness
Guide Line - Enable or disable Rec. Info, Histogram, and Grid lines
Travel Date - Adds an icon indicating which day of your vacation the image was taken
Play on LCD - Show playback images on EVF or LCD
Auto Review - Auto review after capture (off, 1s, 3s, Zoom)
Power Save - Auto power off delay 1m, 2m, 5m, 10m, Off
Zoom Resume - Camera returns to last zoom position before last power off.
MF Assist - Enlarge center of screen during manual focus
Beep - Camera beep sounds, On or Off
AF Beep - AF lock sounds, On or Off
Shutter - Shutter release sound-effects
Volume - Internal speaker volume control
No. Reset - Reset file numbering counter
Reset - Reset all settings to factory default
Video Out - Video output signal format, NTSC or PAL
TV Aspect - Choose 4:3 or 16:9
MF m/ft - Choose method of measurement used
Scene Menu - Display scene menu Automatically when selected or never
Dial Display - On or Off
Language - Menu language; English, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Japanese