Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FS20 point-and-shoot gets reviewed

It hasn't even been a full month since Panasonic's PMA lineup was revealed, but the folks over at PhotographyBLOG have already had a chance to put the succulent Lumix DMC-FS20 through a series of paces. Upon whipping this shooter out, it was immediately praised for having a 4x wide-angle zoom and and a very pocket-friendly design, and thankfully for those looking into picking one up, the good news didn't stop there. Small niggles such as the lack of a true optical viewfinder and noticeable noise at high ISOs were overshadowed with buckets of compliments. Put simply, the cam was seen as "almost identical to the FX55" (albeit at a lower price point), and overall, it managed to snag 4.5 out of 5 twinkling stars from the powers that be.

[Pismodude @ Feb 27th 2008 11:48PM]

I'll take one or two of those sweet things!

[happy_penguin @ Feb 28th 2008 12:11AM]

That lovely little jewel is just what I need when I can't take my D70 with me.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Feb 28th 2008 1:18AM]

Well, good for them!

[harveyhanson @ Feb 28th 2008 4:07AM]

I have an FX33 (like the FX55 but with a smaller screen and slightly cheaper), awesome camera, so small and sleek, but then again, whilst it is 8MP, i was for some reason just expecting slightly more sharp photos, and now I want an FX35, which seems to be an awesome update, ah well, still a massive load smaller than an TZ3 and great for point-and-shoot

[Tony @ Feb 28th 2008 7:35AM]

Why do people still complain about digital point and shoot cameras not having an optical view finder!? its a compact point and shoot camera... not a nikon d3.

[Razor @ Feb 28th 2008 12:18PM]

In strong light (like outside) it's sometimes hard to see the LCD on some cameras, making a viewfinder nice. But granted, I agree in that they are simply not precise enough at close range to warrant my use. I've been spoiled on SLRs =P

[bebop @ Feb 28th 2008 7:46PM]

Once upon a time the LCD screens were minute, and most compacts came with an optical viewfinder. As screens got bigger, the optical viewfinder got rarer. Many dislike having to hold a camera at arms length while framing.