Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX33

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By Edvarcl Heng, CNET Asia
Aug 24, 2007

Point-and-shoot cameras are just that--fuss-free picture-taking without the complicated snags that come with manual controls. But most of the time, that convenience comes at the expense of indifferent image quality.

Click. Mum has blue teeth.

Click. She's frantically waving six hands at the camera all at once.

Yes, automatic cameras are generally not terribly brainy. Under tungsten lights, white often turns out to be blue and the shutter setting is usually not fast enough to track mum's sign language. In fact, there are very few cameras that can take photos with the correct focus, exposure, white balance and shutter speed without having to do more than pressing the shutter button.

For more details on the FX-33's design, click on the image.

The new Panasonics claim to measure up differently. Instead of having just one hero feature (such as Fujifilm's notably high ISO), the Japanese firm has cobbled up a meta-hero-feature that it calls the Intelligent Auto Mode. This approach works by automating and simultaneously coordinating several features like face detection, scene selection, light sensitivity and optical image stabilization to capture an image. In non-geek speak, the camera is trying to make an educated guess.

Features

Just a year ago, a wide-angle lens was considered a premium for compact cameras. Today, it's a little less so. But still, the FX-33's 28m wide-angle lens coupled with a 3.6x optical zoom still places it among the leaders.



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For a camera marketed for its independence in taking decent pictures with minimal user input, we were not expecting many features. So while we were not surprised that there wasn’t any shutter or aperture priority modes, we were mildly pleased that we could set the custom white balance and determine the light sensitivity.

However, oftentimes, you would be relying on the 22 scene modes if you decide not run the Intelligent Auto Mode.

For potential buyers, do note that the Intelligent Auto Mode allows you to tweak only the aspect ratio, picture size, image stabilizer, burst and color mode. For stuff like white balance, ISO, image quality and autofocus area, you will have to switch back to the normal camera settings.

There's also an Intelligent ISO mode that caps the maximum permissible ISO level (400, 800, 1,250) which is good for maintaining minimum noise speckles in your pictures. And while the maximum sensitivity setting on the FX-33 is ISO 6,400, that's accessible via the high-sensitivity mode and not selectable through the normal ISO menu.

What about its design, performance and image quality? »