dmc-fx30
Latest
Panasonic's wide-angle Lumix DMC-FX30 gets reviewed
Panasonic's 7.2-megapixel Lumix DMC-FX30 doesn't hold any world records in terms of size or amenities, but the point-and-shoot does manage to offer up some fairly decent innards for a relatively modest price -- none of which matter if performance suffers. To find out just how worthy Panny's wide-angle, OIS-equipped snapper is of your cash, DigicamReview took it for a spin and threw in its two cents (er, pence). Interestingly, the device was generally hailed as an excellent choice for those in the market for a pocketable camera, as the highly-regarded Leica 3.6x optical zoom lens, effective image stabilization, versatile 2.5-inch LCD, logical menu structure, and respectable image quality all took home praises. The only real digs on the shooter came from high amounts of noise when shooting with a cranked ISO (and even some at ISO 100) and the inclusion of red-eye in some snapshots, but both negatives aren't strangers to the handheld camera realm. Overall, reviewers seemed overly giddy about the FX30, and while we'd certainly give Canon's SD800 IS a glance before plunking down on this wide-angled digicam, the low price of the Panasonic just might help make up your mind.
Hands-on with Panasonic's line FX12, FX30, FZ8, LS70, LZ7, and TZ3
Although their SDR-S10 wasn't really doing it for us, we were more than happy to catch up with the rest of Panasonic's 2007 US camera line, including the eversexy FX series (the FX30 really caught our eye), and the workhorse FZ8. As you might expect, we didn't have nearly enough time to really learn the ins and outs of all these cameras, but we did get some gadget pr0n to satisfy you until all the digital camera sites start posting their full length reviews.%Gallery-2038%
Panasonic's DMC-FX30 wide-angle 7.2 megapixel shooter: not quite the world's slimmest
Panasonic is also unveiling their Lumix DMC-FX30 this morning which Panny claims is the "world's slimmest" to pack a 28mm wide-angle lens. Ok, but at 22-mm (0.87-inches) it's a full 0.2-mm thicker than the listed specs for Samsung's new 28mm wide-angle L74 which packs the same 7.2 megapixel CCD and 3.6x zoom but a bigger 3.0-inch touchscreen LCD around back. Thing is, the L74 has an irregular shape so who knows what to believe at this point -- it wouldn't be the first time Samsung fudged its numbers. So... hyperbole aside, the FX30 is thin and features a 3.6x LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT optical zoom lens, 7.2 megapixel CCD, Mega OIS optical image stabilization, Venus Engine III image-processing for shooting at ISO 1250, and a 2.5-inch 207k pixel LCD (the L74 throws down 230k pixels) with "Power LCD" to boost brightness by 40% (at the expense of battery life) when outdoors. It also records 848 x 480 video to SDHC cards at 30fps and shoots with a shutter release time lag of 0.005 seconds and a 2 frames per second burst mode at full resolution for a maximum of just 5 images. Rounding things out are a 280 picture battery and $349 price tag when these ship sometime in February. [Via LetsGoDigital, Thanks David]
