A review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX-07 digital camera
Panasonic specialise in making great washing machines, televisions, microwaves and they also knock up a few digital cameras too. The Panasonic Lumix FX-07 is just one in the long line of the Panasonic digital camera range and we believe it is one of the best with an impressive list of features including a great 28mm wide-angle lens and 7.2 mega pixels just to name a few. Design |
| With a super slim body, which is just under an inch thick, the Panasonic Lumix FX-07 can go anywhere with you and will quite happily slip into any pocket or purse. The front of the camera has a strong, retractable 28mm wide-angle Leica lens, which elegantly slides from the body when the power button is pressed. The front also has a finger grip, which is located on the left side and is a nice shiny chrome finish with a gold strip through the middle. The rest of the body is a matt silver finish, but is also available in sexy black. The top of the Lumix FX-07 has a power button, shutter release button, which has the mode dial surrounding it and an anti-shake button. Also at the top of the camera is the mode dial, which slightly protrudes from the body so that it can be rotated easily with your thumb and viewed from the top. The back of the camera has a lovely bright 2.5” LCD screen, which is on the left side with minimal controls to the right. These controls are the menu panel, display and delete buttons. The Panasonic Lumix FX-07 feels very strong, solid and comfortable in your hand and is perfect to take everywhere with you. However, we would recommend getting a good case because scratches are inevitable and as it will be your new best friend from now on you really should treat it to a bit of extra special care. |
| Features |
| Not only does the Panasonic Lumix FX-07 have a fantastic 7.2 mega pixels it has a 28mm wide angle lens with 3.6x optical zoom with the most important Optical Image Stabilisation, which for a camera of this calibre is an absolute must. You can forget about those blurry, shaky photos and you will see fantastic results that are clear and sharp. The 28mm wide-angle lens is great for taking group shots at a wedding or when squeezing all your relatives onto the sofa for a group shot as they will all be in the frame. There are great scene modes, which become a great help in certain shooting situations. There are modes such as the ‘Beach’ mode, which assists in strong sunlight or ‘Aerial’ which assists when taking a shot through a plane window. When you need to take a picture of a moving subject there is a ‘High Sensitivity’ mode which will totally reduce the blur and ensure that you achieve clear snaps. We were particularly impressed with the ‘Simple’ mode, which will automatically pre-set the camera making it completely easy for beginners to take beautiful shots without the need to worry about setting the camera up. The 2.5” LCD exceptionally clear with 207,000 pixels and can be set in high angle mode so that taking pictures over a crowd becomes simple and can then be accessed without bother by pressing the dedicated button. The Panasonic FX-07 can be transformed into a digital camcorder and will record movies at 30fps VGA and can be played back on a wide screen TV at 16:9. |
| Performance |
| The Panasonic Lumix FX-07 digital camera keeps up with the rest of the class pretty well with a start up to shoot time of only 1.5 seconds and only 1.3 seconds between each shot. The shutter lag was the most impressive result at an eyebrow raising 0.6 seconds and these speeds have got to be a huge selling point for this camera along with the great list of features. Panasonic are famous, unfortunately, at producing great digital cameras with poor image results, and the Lumix FX-07 is no exception. There was significant image noise at the lowest ISO setting of 100, which is very rare, and although images were usable, they were still disappointing. As you raise the ISO setting the image noise is also raised and images began to appear as unusable. It is so frustrating to see as the Lumix FX-07 is a great camera and if Panasonic could nail the noise issue their cameras would be up there with the best around. |
| What's In The Box? |
Battery Charger, Battery Pack, Battery carrying case, SD Memory Card (16 MB) AV Cable, USB Connection Cable AC Cable, Strap, CD-ROM software |
| Overall Opinion |
| The Panasonic Lumix FX-07 started off as a very impressive, richly featured digital camera that we thoroughly enjoyed using as it was extremely quick and the menu’s were very user-friendly and the LCD screen was great, however the results were a little disappointing when it came to image noise. Although colours were accurate and images were sharp, the image noise was a great let down for Panasonic. |
| By Hayley Malyon |
|
Pros + 7.2 mega pixels + 2.5” LCD screen with 207,000 pixels + Image Stabilisation + Great Scene Modes + Quick start-up to shoot time |
Cons - Image noise even at low ISO settings |
|
Picture Quality 6/10
|
Battery Life 8/10
|
|
Setup Simplicity 9/10
|
Build Quality 9/10
|
|
Ease of Use 9/10
|
Overall Rating 
|
15/12/2006
at 11:48:00am
Read Panasonic Reviews
