Compact, stylish, and oh yeah, takes good pictures!

With so many digital cameras out there, I wasn’t sure where to begin when looking for a new camera – but a key feature of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX30 quickly narrowed my search. I’ve now had this camera for a couple of months, and I would absolutely buy it again if I had to re-do my decision.

What I like:

28 mm lens. This is what sold me on the camera. Most cameras have roughly a 35mm equivalent lens. With the 28 mm wide angle lens, I can include more of the subject in the shot. No more having to step back to fit a large group of people in the shot, and perhaps best of all, you can take a self-portrait by holding the camera at arm’s length and actually get a shot of yourself with some objects in the background and not a close-up of your nose. This is great when your traveling alone and don't want to have to ask strangers to take a picture of you with the scenery in the background. Of course, there's a 3.6x optical zoom, so if you want a closer-up photo, that can be done, too.

Size & Appearance. This was my #2 reason for choosing this camera -- I couldn't resist it! It is a beautiful camera, and I’ve gotten many compliments on it. I chose the brown color, which is really a very light taupe/champagne color with a metallic finish. The camera itself is about the size of a deck of cards and fits easily in a pocket or purse. I love that I can tuck it in my coat pocket and have it ready in an instant.

Battery life. Lasts a long time -- I can take hundreds of photos before the battery wears down. I also can leave the camera sit for a couple weeks and the battery will still have a decent charge. While I used to be a big fan of cameras that use AA batteries because they’re cheap and both regular and rechargeable ones are readily available, this battery is a much better performer.

Picture quality. No complaints. With 7.2 megapixels, I can easily crop and make larger-size prints without worrying about quality issues. The colors are accurate and sharp, although they can be a little grainy when you magnify the image to 400 or 800%, but I don't think that's uncommon. The camera manual boasts about an anti-shake image stabilizer feature, and while I don’t know how it works, I can tell you that I don't have that many blurry photos -- even nighttime shots turn out better than with my older camera.

LCD display. Big (2 ½ inches) and bright -- I don't feel I have to rush home to view them on my computer (ok, I might be a little biased here, because my previous camera had the tiniest screen). There are menu settings that can be changed to make the screen even brighter in sunny conditions or easier to view if you're holding the camera above your head… but I generally don't bother with those.

Internal memory. There's 27mb of internal memory – not a lot, but great for when your memory card unexpectedly fills up. One thing I've noticed is that you can’t access the photos on the built-in memory unless you remove the memory card, which means you might easily overlook the photos on the internal memory.

Quick start up time. This camera only take a second or two to get ready when you turn in on, so you don't lose much time. And the down time between photos is pretty quick.

What I don't like:

No optical viewfinder. I guess it boils down to the fact that small cameras don't seem to have room for a viewfinder. Most of the super-compact cameras like the FX30 don’t have viewfinders, so I reluctantly opted to do without one. It's a definite tradeoff, but I felt at the time (and still do) that the compact size is more important than the viewfinder. For the most part, it's not a big deal, as I usually use the LCD screen to frame my shots, but sometimes you just need that viewfinder (in very bright sunlight, for example). The FX30 does have a setting to manually brighten up the LCD screen when conditions warrant, but it’s a hassle.

Quicktime Movies. My old camera recorded movies as MPEG files; the FX30 uses Quicktime (.mov) format. I think the MPEG is a more versatile format, but since I don’t do that many movies, it’s not a big deal for me. Also, the sound quality of the movies could be better.

Size/Ergonomics. OK, this is a pro and a con. I love the small size, but it’s so small that I have to wrap my fingers around it to hold, and sometimes I realize I’m covering the flash or the autofocus sensor. (at least the lens extends out from the camera so I don’t cover that!) Compared to my older camera, which is larger and heavier, I find that my hands tend to shake more when I hold this camera because it’s so small and light.

Expensive/hard to find battery. The FX30 uses a special lithium-ion rechargeable battery, which means buying a replacement is expensive and it's not readily available if you’re on the go. I've seen generic batteries that claim to work with this camera for $8-15 online, but I feel much safer using a genuine Panasonic, which would cost $35 to replace. But, as noted above, I'm pleasantly impressed with the FX30's battery life, and I don't feel I need to have a spare battery to make it through the day -- I was not so confident with AA batteries.

Menus. There are only a few buttons on the camera (plus a rotary dial), so many of the settings are accessed through on-screen menus. Especially when you're getting the know the camera, it feels like you can get lost searching for the right menu and waste a lot of time doing so. It's easier now that I know where things are, but still can be a hassle trying to set the right setting and then reset that setting to the original mode.


A few other notes:
-there are about 20 scene settings, which can be helpful if you’re taking photos of dimly-lit scenes, fireworks, parties, babies, pets, ocean, snow, etc.
-uses SD memory cards
-comes with battery charger. You have to remove the battery from the camera to charge it.
-also comes with cables for viewing your photos on the computer and on your TV, and CD-ROM software
-other camera colors available include blue and black
-one year warranty