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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20

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By Rich Trenholm, CNET.co.uk
Apr 23, 2008

Panasonic may not be one of the major names traditionally associated with photography, but a shrewd partnership with Leica and commitment to accessibility have given us a number of excellent cameras. The 10-megapixel DMC-FS20 is the latest Lumix compact to cross our desk, and based on previous form, we had high hopes for this point-and-shoot.

Editors' note:

This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.co.uk. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia.

Design and Features

The metal body comes in silver, pink and black. Panasonic can be relied on for attention to detail, such as a hinged door to protect the USB socket. The design is classic rather than inspiring, with a bland-looking silver bar where the right hand grips. It is raised enough to grip solidly, however.

The screen is a large 3-inch LCD. A power-boosting feature makes the screen visible even when the camera is held at near right angles to your eye.

Controls include an easy zoom button which makes the zoom telescope out to its full extent in around 2 seconds. Other controls are accessed via a flat joystick nipple which we found very easy to use. A quick menu button calls up handy shooting options. Our only gripe with the controls was the switch to transfer between playback and shooting mode, as we prefer a button to toggle between the two.

Panasonic uses Leica technology in its lenses. The FS20 has a wider-than-average 30mm lens. It also sports a 4x zoom, with a 35mm film camera equivalent maximum focal length of 120mm. The extra zoom range is great for taking wider pictures or zooming in for portraits and close-ups. Panasonic's Mega O.I.S is one of the better image stabilization systems around to combat the blurry effects of camera shake. Other features include the intelligent auto mode which selects all the shooting options for you.

As accessibility and ease of use appear to be Panasonic's watchwords here, we were puzzled by its decision to make only slow sync flash mode available in night portrait, party and candlelight scene modes. We'd have preferred the option to use slow sync with the settings of our choice and didn't even discover the feature until we'd had a good long play with the camera. This, at least, is a reminder that it always pays to read the manual.

Playback mode features a wealth of options, such as cropping and resizing an image or viewing thumbnails in a calendar. There isn't a histogram included, but the target market for this accessible point-and-shoot probably won't miss it.

 
Performance and Image Quality »