A slew of controls cover the FZ18's body, including several variations for focus that are initially confusing but ultimately useful. For example, one of the two AF buttons toggles between auto and manual focus, while the other toggles between macro and standard focus. Together, they trigger One-Shot AF, which allows you to prefocus for a given distance (rather than subject, which may be moving). Oddly, however, that supposed bump you can see on the AF/MF button, which would be helpful for operating by feel, is solely visual and not tactile.
In addition to providing a single custom preset slow on the mode dial, the FZ18 has an Intelligent Automatic mode, which turns on the image stabilizer, uses Intelligent ISO, face detection, automatic scene mode detection, and continuous AF.
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CNET Reviews staff
/ Photo by CNET Networks