Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX100

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Superslim cameras, such as Casio's Exilim EX-Z75 or Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-T20 get a lot of attention on morning TV shows and in slick print magazines, but some people find their ultracompact bodies difficult to use. For those people, a camera with a bit more to hold on to makes more sense. Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FX100 is a perfect example.

Design
It also happens to be their entry into this year's 12-megapixel compact camera derby, joining the likes of Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-W200 and Casio's Exilim EX-Z1200. This Panasonic distinguishes itself from those other two by including a zoom lens with a wider wide-angle setting--28mm (equivalent) instead of 36mm or 37mm. While it doesn't look as impressive as a larger telephoto zoom number, it'll be more useful when you're out shooting with your back to the wall.

For more details on the FX-100's design and image quality, click on the image.
Panasonic follows the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it logic by keeping the body design essentially the same as that of their other FX-series cameras. The 3.6x optical, 28mm-to-100mm (equivalent), f/2.8-to-f/5.6 zoom lens extends from the front of the body when you turn the camera on and the zoom control takes the form of a ring around the shutter button with a nub on front that you can operate with your forefinger.

The mode dial is built into the upper-right corner of the camera back, putting it out of the way but still convenient to use. Five small buttons, located to the right of the 2.5-inch, 207,000-pixel LCD on the camera back, double as menu controls and quick controls for functions including exposure compensation (plus or minus 2EV in one-third-stop steps), self-timer, flash, and review (in case you don't want to switch to full-on playback mode on the mode dial).

Below these buttons are two small, round buttons for display controls and function/trash. The only other hard controls are the on/off slider and E.Zoom button, both on the camera top. This last one brings you to the far end of the optical zoom with the first press, adds digital zoom to bring you to a 7x zoom on the second press, and back to the widest angle on the third press. Of course, if you start at the far end of the zoom, then the first press will bring you to the 7x (with digital) zoom, and so on. Be careful though, since this button will cycle through the digital zoom even if you have it turned off in the menus.

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