Many owners thought the FZ18 was a near-perfect digital camera. It isn’t. The main kinks should be a concern for photographers who do a lot of low light photography. I should point out that I experienced no blue banding.

Blue banding

When taking photos in low light, some FZ18 cameras produce images with a fairly large blue colored band. The banding runs along the left-hand side of an image and may not be seen until you lighten an image when editing.

Raising the ISO to over 400 seems to reduce this problem, but then you must deal with noise. The problem may not occur after the camera warms up a bit. The banding is present in both JPEG and RAW files.

It should be pointed out that the banding does not appear in all images taken as described above.

It is important to note that not all FZ18s have this problem (mine does not).  But when buying a new FZ18, check if it exhibits this problem during the time you can still exchange or return it. Otherwise, contact Panasonic. In the U.S. call: 1-800-272-7033 weekdays 8:30 a.m. - 8 p.m. EST.

In January 08, Panasonic announced a fix for the Blue Band problem. If a customer experiences the symptom “in low light with natural use,” send the FZ18 in for repair.

For up-to-date info on the Blue Band problem, visit Ruud Abeln’s FZ18-site.

FZ18 Noise

The presence of noise has improved in newer Panasonic digital cameras such as the FZ18. However, there is still visible noise at all ISO numbers; ISO 800-1600 are barely useable. On the positive side, many images respond well noise reduction and often sharpen nicely.

Yellow splotching

One of the most disappointing things about the FZ18 is the yellow blotches that can appear in photos shot in low light at high ISO numbers. The blotching is particularly visable in shadow areas, though can expand into lighter areas in a photo.

The blotching is visable even when an image is reduced in size. Unfortunately, the yellow blotching does not respond well to noise reduction.

The crop on the left was photographed at ISO 800.

Participants at dreview have shared some techniques for removing yellow splotches.

Crop of photo with blue band courtesy of Peter Frailey.