Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50 Review

The LC50 features an all-glass aspherical f=5.8 - 17.4mm Leica DC Vario-Elmarit Lens, it is comprised of 7 elements in 6 groups (with 3 aspherical lenses), equivalent to a 35-105mm zoom on a 35mm camera. It has a fast F2.8 aperture at wide angle and F4.9 at full telephoto. It also features a 3x variable digital zoom.

When the camera is powered down the lens retracts into the body and is protected by a built-in lens cap.

The TTL contrast-detect auto focus system covers from 19.7 in to infinity in normal mode and from 3.9 in. (W) / 19.7 in. (T) to infinity in macro mode.

The eyelevel optical viewfinder is a real image zoom viewfinder that follows the focal length of the camera's zoom lens. It does not have dioptric adjustment. The two LEDs indicate focus and flash status as well as "camera busy."

The built in speedlight features Auto, Auto Red-eye reduction, Slow-synchro/Red-eye and Forced On/Off modes. The flash range (at ISO Auto) 0.98 ft - 15.75 ft (W), 1.6 ft - 9.19 ft (T). There is no external flash port or accessory shoe.

Controls on the back: The Mode Dial (see below). The 4-way selector in Record mode toggles the flash mode when pressed "Right." When pressed "Up" it selects either exposure compensation or AE Bracketing. Press "Left" to activate the Self-timer, press "Down" to use the Quick Review mode to examine the last image captured. In Playback mode the 4-way selector is used to select images and of course in both record and play modes it is used to navigate the menu screens, press "Down" to accept (SET) menu selections. The Trash can button is for deleting images and selecting focus mode. The DISPLAY button turns the LCD monitor on/off and controls the amount of data displayed. The MENU button calls up and dismisses the menu system.

The Mode Dial has positions for:

Play - Playback of still images, movie or audio notes

Simple - Point-n-shoot mode, has menu options for image size but called Enlarge (2048x1536), 4x6" (1280x960) and Internet (640x480) to not confuse novice users.

Movie - Capture motion JPEG at 30 or 10 fps with audio, length of clip is limited only to available memory. Consumes approx. 10MB per minute

Night Portrait - Slow shutter speeds and slow-synchro flash

Landscape - Infinity focus and small aperture

Portrait - Portrait mode uses large aperture to help blur backgrounds

Macro - Macro focus mode for closeup photography

Economy - Super energy-efficient mode, dims LCD and turns it off quickly

Record - Normal still image capture mode with all menu options

The button in the center of the mode dial toggles the drive mode between Single frame, High Speed (3.3fps) or Low Speed (2fps) Continuous.

Controls on the top include the power switch and combination shutter release and zoom control ring. The zoom ring is used in playback to enlarge the image or display an index page.

An optional AC power adapter can be connected to the DC IN port.

Data I/O is via a USB v1.1 port, it is Mass Storage compliant with newer operating systems, no driver required for Windows Me, 2000, XP. A/V Out sends the audio and video to a television set, the video format is user selectable for NTSC or PAL standard.

Still images, movie clips and audio files are stored on removable Secure Digital or MultiMedia Card flash memory cards. Panasonic supplies a 16MB size SD card so the first thing you need to buy is a bigger one. We tested it with a spacious and speedy Lexar 256MB SD card.

Power is supplied by a pair of standard AA batteries, alkaline, lithium, NiMH or NiCD type. The run time is rated at 100 minutes with the color LCD monitor on (approx. 200 pictures) and 6 hours with the LCD off (approx. 720 pictures) using alkaline batteries.