Panasonic FZ82D

If you want the flexibility of a superzoom bridge camera, then the FZ82D is a new model to tempt you. But is it any good? Amy Davies finds out

- Amy Davies

Showing that there's life in the bridge camera market yet, the FZ82D was announced in July 2024, and is a direct replacement for the existing FZ82. As you might expect from the simple addition of just a letter to the title, there's not a huge amount of difference between the two, despite seven years having elapsed since the FZ82's initial release in 2017.

We've got the same sensor and lens setup as before, but the screen and viewfinder have been upgraded. Meanwhile USB-C functionality is now included for the first time.

Features

The FZ82D has really quite old-fashioned sensor tech by modern standards. You get an 18MP 1/2.3in sensor, which is pretty tiny - in fact many smartphones even have bigger sensors these days. It's also the same sensor as found in the FZ82, which is a bit of a shame.

Of course, high image quality isn't necessarily the point of a bridge camera like this, and one thing we can guarantee your smartphone doesn't have is 60x optical zoom.

The lens again is the same as in the FZ82, with an equivalent focal length of 20-1200mm and a maximum aperture range from f/2.8 at the wideangle end up to f/5.9 at the tele end. It's worth noting that 20mm is quite wide compared to the usual start point of 24mm for zoom lenses, which makes it potentially appealing for landscape and architecture work.

There's also 'Intelligent Zoom', which gives you up to 120x reach, and a further 4x beyond that with Digital Zoom. Optical image stabilisation is included for keeping shots stable when shooting at the telephoto end of the lens. Macro focusing gets you as close as 1cm to a subject.

Video up to 4K is available, which is also what's used for the 4K Photo functionality which is found across most Panasonic cameras. This essentially works by recording video clips and giving you the option to extract stills from the video. It can work well for moving or unpredictable subjects such as pets or children.