That has changed with the introduction of the Panasonic FZ80. The Lumix FZ80 has the same 60x zoom lens, but brings a new image sensor with higher resolution, a new processor, and a number of new features, including 4K UHD video recording. Let’s take a look at how the Panasonic FZ80 performs in practice. The Panasonic FZ80 has a similar design to its predecessor, the FZ70. It’s an SLR-style superzoom camera that offers a massive 60x optical zoom range, which means it’s not a compact camera. The FZ80’s dimensions are about 5.1 x 3.7 x 4.7 inches (130 x 94 x 119 millimeters) and it weighs 616 grams (21.7 ounces) with card and battery, which is just a bit shorter and heavier than its predecessor. Given that the FZ80 is a real bargain for a 4K-capable superzoom camera, it’s hard to overly criticize the build quality of the FZ80. The camera has plenty of physical controls, which is great. Compared to the Panasonic FZ2500, the FZ80 feels more like a budget camera, as expected, and the FZ80 certainly feels less rugged in use. The image stabilization and autofocus systems both work well. Overall, the controls on the Panasonic FZ80 are quite good, and the touchscreen operation works well. The shutter release feels good and the zoom toggle switch around the shutter release works well. The FZ80 only has one command dial, but it’s pressable, which allows you to quickly switch functions. For example, in manual exposure mode, you can switch between controlling shutter speed and aperture by simply clicking the dial. You can also press it to enable or disable exposure compensation in aperture priority mode or shutter priority mode, etc. The built-in electronic viewfinder is a 0.2-inch color LCD with 1,166k dots and about 100% coverage. The 35mm-equivalent magnification of the EVF is only 0.46x – still useful, but small, as is common for this class of camera. There is no built-in eye sensor. To switch between the EVF and rear display, you have to press a button to the right of the EVF, which is annoying if you want to shoot through the EVF and view the images on the rear display.
