Panasonic has a flair for designing stunning cameras, and the FX01 is a fine example. The petite, curved metal body feels particularly robust, and although the 2.5" 207,000-pixel screen doesn't leave much room for controls on the back, the camera still manages to be easy to use.
The price is fairly high for a 6-megapixel camera, but the FX01's lens has a couple of unusual features to justify the expense. One is optical image stabilisation, which counteracts camera shake for sharp images at slow shutter speeds. This is now a standard feature across Panasonic's camera range but it's an extremely welcome one that works very effectively. The lens is also wide-angle, ranging from 28-102mm (35mm equivalent). High telephoto zooms may be more common but a wide angle lens is just as useful, allowing you to capture bigger scenes or to get closer to the subject to increase the sense of perspective.
Battery life is reasonable at 363 shots from a single charge. Performance is respectable, too, with a two-second start-up and around two seconds between shots, rising to three seconds with the flash. Browsing pictures is a little slow, though. It's possible to zoom out to show 25 thumbnails at a time in order to locate a specific photo, but these thumbnails are slow to generate so it's not a great timesaver.
Photographic controls are straightforward, with ISO and white balance options and exposure compensation but no direct control over aperture and shutter speed. However, it is possible to set the maximum shutter speed from one to 1/8 seconds. The latter is a sensible minimum for avoiding blurry pictures, but those with a tripod or exceptionally steady hands might want to increase it for better exposures in low light. Scene presets are plentiful and come with clear instructions as to when and how to use them. The High Sensitivity preset is a waste of time, though. It boosts the ISO setting to 1,600, but the resulting images are woefully lacking in detail.
In normal use, ISO speeds from 80 to 400 are available. Higher settings are prone to noise, particularly in low light, and Panasonic's aggressive noise reduction can do more harm than good, giving a painted appearance to photos. The underpowered flash further hinders low-light photography. In brighter conditions, however, image quality is pretty much flawless, with sharp focus, smooth, natural-looking colours and reliable auto-exposure.
The FX01's noise reduction artefacts are no more troublesome than grainy, blurry or under-exposed results many of its competitors suffer in low light, but we believe that a point-and-shoot camera should perform admirably in all conditions. So despite the FX01's beautiful design and great lens, Sony's DSC-W30 is a better buy.
System Specifications
DIGITAL CAMERA 6 megapixels (2,812x2,112 pixels), 3.6x optical zoom, 16MB SD card, lithium ion battery
Author: Ben Pitt
Computer Shopper Online