Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX50 - Easy Camera Review

Retailing for around $330, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX50 is a relatively simple camera that has some distinguishable features like optical image stabilization on the 3.6x zoom lens, a bright 3-inch screen, and the ability to shoot widescreen movies. The digital camera has 7.2 megapixels and keeps its figure slim at just under an inch thick.

The Panasonic FX50 can slide tidily into a pocket. It’s solidly constructed with a chrome finger grip that helps you keep a tight hold on the camera. The back of the camera is dominated by the large 3-inch LCD screen, which has 230,000 pixels, so images look sharp and clear. The on-screen menus look great on this screen, and they are well laid out, making navigation easy. The different sections of the menus are divided into tabs, so it’s easy to jump to the setting that you want. Navigation is done with the small joystick to the right of the screen, and again this is easy to use. This doubles as the control for exposure compensation, flash mode, the shooting mode and the display mode. On the top of the camera is the mode dial and the shutter and zoom ring, which fall naturally under the index finger. The zoom control is a little awkward, though: we found that the finger could easily slip from the small nub on the ring around the shutter button. But apart from this issue, we found the FX50 to be a friendly and easy to use camera.

18 scene modes provide plenty of choice for shooting in different situations, and the list includes the usual suspects (such as portrait, sports, party, etc). There are also a couple of more unusual choices, such as two baby modes (which saves the children’s ages in the file info) and high sensitivity, which boosts the ISO rating to 3200 for low light photography without the flash. For the user who wants real point-and-shoot simplicity, there is a fully automatic all-purpose mode.

We found the images that the Panasonic DMC-FX50 took to be less appealing than the camera itself: although images shot in good lighting had accurate color, they lacked detail and quickly became noisy when the lights dimmed. The noise in the image was extremely noticeable, making some pictures look more like impressionist paintings than photographs.

While the optical image stabilization was effective at compensating for handshake, the auto focus of the FX50 had problems in low light. The camera often took several seconds (or failed completely) to focus in dull lighting conditions, even with the help of the orange assist light. It works well in normal lighting, though, and the camera offers a 9-spot focusing mode that is useful if you want to focus on off-center subjects.

Shooting movies is also possible with the Panasonic Lumix FX50; they are recorded at 640 x 480-pixel resolution, with mono sound. You can’t use the zoom, and image quality isn’t great, but it’s fine for shooting candid videos. As per usual with budget cameras, the sound is a problem: recorded voices are quiet and it only picks up voices from a range of a few feet. It does offer an interesting widescreen mode, though, which records video at a resolution of 848 x 480 pixels. Its image stabilization system also does a fine job of keeping the picture steady, something most cameras don’t offer at this price point.

These features aren’t enough to make the Panasonic FX50 a top pick: it’s an average digital camera that produces lackluster images, and there are several similarly priced cameras that take better images and offer many of the same features.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX50 - THE BOTTOM LINE.... Rating: 346.49

Likes

- Big, bright 3-inch LCD screen - Movies can be shot in widescreen - Easy to use, well organized menus

Dislikes

- Noisy images - Unreliable auto focus system

Canon PowerShot A710 IS Rating: N/A	Casio Exilim EX-S770 Rating: N/A	Kodak EasyShare V705 Rating: N/A	Nikon Coolpix L5 Rating: N/A	Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX07 Rating: N/A
Better	Better	Better	Better	Better
- Screen rotates for overhead shooting - Better manual controls - Longer 6x optical zoom lens - Optical viewfinder - Cooler My Colors modes - Convenient AA power	- Thinner, lighter case - eBay shooting mode for auctions - 34 Best Shot scene modes - Comes in silver, red, and blue - Designated movie button - Data Storage function allows users to view maps and documents on LCD - Cheaper $379 retail - Triple self-timer	- Dual lenses provide better wide angle and wider zoom range - Thinner; lens does not extend while shooting - Perfect Touch image correction feature - Comes in trendier body with cooler colors (pink!) - On-camera panorama stitch - 32 MB internal memory - Cheaper $349 retail price - In-camera video editing - Functional optical zoom in movies	- Face priority auto focus - Longer 5x zoom lens - Lower cost - More convenient AA battery power	- Longer 320-shot battery life - Weighs less - Cheaper $349 retail price - Comes in four trendy colors - Slightly smaller body
Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal
- Optical image stabilization - 7.1 megapixels - Same $399 original retail price	- 7.2 megapixel image sensor - Widescreen movie mode - Same 230k LCD screen resolution	- 7.1 megapixel image sensor - Same 230k LCD screen resolution - Similar 2 fps burst mode	- 7.2-megapixel image sensor - Plain design - PictBridge compatible	- 7.2-megapixel image sensor - Leica 3.6x optical zoom lens - Optical image stabilization - Widescreen pictures and movies - Same exposure modes and settings - Same burst mode
Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse
- Smaller 2.5-inch screen with 115k pixels - Thicker body - Top ISO of 800 - 100-shot battery life from AA alkaline	- Shorter 3x zoom lens - 2.8-inch LCD - 6 MB internal memory - Manual ISO sensitivity only to 400 - Battery life of 200 shots	- Smaller 2.5-inch screen - Digital image stabilization; less effective than optical stabilization - ISO sensitivity only to 1000 - No custom white balance	- Smaller 2.5-inch LCD screen with 115k - Vibration Reduction not as effective - Batteries only get 150 shots - Only 8 MB of internal memory - Slower 0.7 fps burst mode - Much thicker body	- Smaller 2.5-inch LCD screen with 207k pixels - No Power or High Angle LCD modes