The crops are taken from the original images, saved as High Quality JPEGs in Photoshop CS2 and presented here at 100%. Each number represents 100 lines per picture height (lpph), so a figure of 20 means a resolution of 2000 lpph.

In terms of resolving power, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 at 15mm f4 delivers 2150 lpph of horizontal and vertical resolution. This is a small but measurable step-up from the 2000 lpph of the FZ18 before it, and roughly equivalent to the resolution of its arch rival, the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS.

We shot the chart at each of the FZ28’s aperture settings and found f4.0 to deliver the best result, although f5.6 was very close; indeed it also scored 2150 lpph, but with fractionally less crisp edges. This will come as some relief to anyone concerned by the FZ28’s automatic selection of f5.6 in Program mode for the outdoor tests on the previous page, although f4.0 would ultimately have made more sense on Panasonic’s Program line.

Beyond f5.6 though, diffraction quickly kicks-in at smaller apertures, with the FZ28’s resolution dropping to 1750 lpph at its minimum of f8. Diffraction seems to hit the SX10 IS worse at smaller apertures though, scoring 1600 lpph in this test when closed to f8.

One big advantage the FZ28 has over the Canon SX10 IS is the ability to record files in the RAW format. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the boost in resolution it delivers. Alternatively if you can’t wait to see how it performs at higher sensitivities, head straight over to our Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 High ISO results page.