The bottom line: If
you absolutely must have a 12-megapixel compact camera, the DMC-FX100
isn't a bad choice, but you can find better performing cameras with
lower pixel counts for the same money.
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. It also
happens to be their entry into this year's 12-megapixel compact camera
derby, joining the likes of Sony's Cyber-shot DMC-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.
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.
Like a lot of compact cameras, the FX100 doesn't have manual exposure
controls, though it does include 20 preset scene modes to help you deal
with tough--or just plain unusual--shooting conditions. A pair of
features helps you deal with blur. Panasonic's Mega OIS lens-shift
stabilization helps combat hand shake, while Intelligent ISO control--a
separate shooting mode available on the mode dial--analyzes motion in
your subject and automatically raises the ISO to a limit you select in
the menu to help prevent blur caused by a fast moving subject. This can
come in handy if you don't want to manually set ISO to boost your
shutter speed; the camera will keep the ISO as low as possible if your
subject is still, thereby minimizing noise in your images when the
lighting is suboptimal. Like past FX models, you can also choose from
4:3, 3:2, or 16:9 aspect ratios in case you prefer to view your images
on a TV or a digital photo frame instead of making prints. You can also
select 4:3 or 16:9 ratios when capturing movies, though you're limited
to 15 frames per second if you opt for 1,280x720-pixel video.
The DMC-FX100 showed good shutter lag times but was otherwise no more
than average in our lab-based performance tests. The camera took a
slightly sluggish 2.4 seconds to start up and capture its first JPG
image. Subsequent JPGs took 2.3 seconds between shots with the flash
turned off, slowing a bit further to 2.9 seconds with the flash on.
Shutter lag measured 0.6 second in our high-contrast test and 1.1
seconds under low-contrast conditions, which mimic bright and dim
shooting conditions, respectfully. At 12 megapixels, the burst mode
clocked an average of 1.3 frames per second, but rose to 4.4fps when we
lowered the pixel resolution to VGA.
Image quality is generally good, with sharp images, accurate-looking
colors, a healthy amount of shadow detail, and consistently accurate
white balance and exposures. However, noise remains one of Panasonic's
weakest points. Even at the camera's lowest sensitivity setting of ISO
80, I saw noise in our test images. The noise is minimized in prints
but is readily noticeable when viewing images at full size on computer
monitors. The noise is less obvious on subjects with texture, such as
the plush ape in our test scene, but creates a mottled look on dark
colored smooth surfaces, such as the navy-blue toy car in the same
scene. Panasonic's noise reduction algorithms manage to keep noise
under control through ISO 200 with only very slight falloffs in
sharpness and shadow detail. At ISO 400, noise bumps up, colors start
to wash out, and shadow detail begins to decline, but images are
definitely still usable. At ISO 800, conditions worsen as both
sharpness and shadow detail deteriorate, though you'll likely still be
able to get pleasing 4x6-inch prints. At both ISO 1,250 and ISO 1,600,
noise becomes very heavy and sharpness and shadow detail take a nose
dive. I suggest staying below ISO 800 whenever possible and below ISO
1,250 altogether. That said, Panasonic is doing a much better job at
combatting noise than it did even a couple of years ago. Given that
this is a 12-megapixel compact camera, I was surprised at the results
it produced.
Considering the usefulness of the 28mm wide-angle lens, the convenience
of the Intelligent ISO mode, and the FX100's impressive white balance
and metering, this camera is a good choice if you feel you absolutely
must have a 12-megapixel compact camera. However, you probably don't
need so many pixels. If you don't plan on cropping heavily or making
extremely large prints, you'd be better served going for a camera with
a lower megapixel count and better noise results, such as the Canon PowerShot SD850 IS or if you don't mind ultracompacts, Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-T100, both of which cost around the same price as this Panasonic.
