Reviewed by Johnny McNair

 

If you go into any electronics store attempting to buy a digital camera, there are so many options that the average person who doesn’t know the difference between a mega pixel and a SD slot can get very confused. Most people are just looking for a simple point and shoot camera that takes great pictures, offering similar features of more expensive professional devices have, but at an affordable price. This is the target audience for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20; a device in a small package that tries to compete with the big boys.

 

 

INSIDE THE BOX

 

-Lumix DMC-FS20 digital camera

 

-Battery

 

-Battery Charger

 

-AV cable

 

– USB cable

 

– CD Software

 

DESIGN AND FEATURES

 

The DMC-FS20 has a nice design, with a body measuring 2.25 x 3.74 x 0.9 and weighing 0.29lbs, it fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. Its super sharp 3.0 LCD monitor has a 230,000 pixel resolution; so viewing your photos provides instant gratification. With a 10.1 megapixel CCD sensor, a 4x optical zoom, five different shooting modes and an intelligent auto mode, the DMC-FS20 seems to be ready for all optical challenges.

 

The front of the camera has a smooth surface drawing your attention to the retracting lens, while the top of the body holds the on/off switch, zoom lever, shutter release and an E.Zoom button for swifter zooms. The bottom of the camera has a port that flips open allowing you to insert or remove the battery and a SD Memory Card. The rear of the camera around reveals its beautiful 3.0 LCD that takes up most of the real estate, allowing a small area to the right to hold the photo/menu/playback switches and the directional joystick nub that makes on screen navigation a breeze. There is no optical viewfinder, but it seems that most new cameras are eliminating this in exchange for a bigger brighter LCD screen. Those who prefer having the option of a standard viewfinder may feel cheated, but after some time with the DMC-FS20, you may not miss it as much as you think.

 

One of the highlights of the DMC FS20 is the Intelligent Auto Mode, which when enabled allows users to point and shoot without pre-selecting any specific modes. So for those who don’t have the patience for settings, the I.A.M. will deal with focusing, the ISO speed, face detection, and do its best to balance the shot via image stabilization. This feature works very effectively as long as your subject is standing in one spot next to the Eiffel Tower, but if you happen to run into Bigfoot and try to snap a picture, you’ll just get a hairy blur. Still for those who literally buy a digital camera to just point and shoot without dealing with the other complicated bells and whistles, the I.A.M. will produce some nice pictures for you.

 

For those of you who like to tinker around to get their pictures perfect, you can access the menu to set the features to your satisfaction. The five shooting modes available are Landscape, Portrait, Night Portrait, Night Scenery, and Macro for those extreme close ups like snapping a picture of a lady bug crawling on a leaf and getting every detail. One thing that users will definitely appreciate is the DMC-FS20’s super fast start up time, which from the time you turn it on is ready to take a picture in roughly two seconds. So if you’re looking to get an on the spot photo, as long as you have the camera in your hand, you’re good to go.

 

PICTURE QUALITY

 

Without question the DMC-FS20 takes excellent pictures with vibrant colors, and also gets the best out of low light situations. I took some daylight shots in various areas, and the image quality was very impressive. Obviously, the better the light source, the better the picture, so at those points when the clouds took over, colors that stood out with the sun are somewhat muted. Night photography is decent, but again it’s all about how much light is on your subject. In a dark room with at least one small light source, you can get a fair image, but grain will still be highlighted. A basic point and shoot camera will never be able to match the image quality of a SLR, but the DMC-FS20 with a lot of practice can produce some impressive images.

 

The DMC-FS20 also allows you to take video clips, (storage permitted depends on the size of your memory card), with sound at 30 frames per second, so this is a nice feature when you’re at a party and want to get some blackmail material of intoxicated friends. Again, these video clips are simple point and shoot, perfect for small fun quick time and you tube viewing, and will not look like the material produced by a video camera.

 

Captured photos and videos can be viewed in different ways right from the camera, and though nothing will ever match viewing photos on a good computer monitor, the 3.0 LCD will give you a good idea of what to expect when you load up your photos on your PC. From the menu access your pictures and view them as tiny thumbnails, displaying up to thirty at a time. Here you can use the camera’s options to zoom in to see details, using the joystick to position the photo to your liking, or do a quick slide show. You can also do simple tasks such as re-sizing, or is you’re not happy with a shot delete it from the batch. A Dual Mode within the options will allow you to display two photos side-by-side if you want to make a quick comparison. So there are a lot of goodies under the hood of this little camera, giving you both quality and quantity for the price.

 

BOTTOM LINE

 

The Panasonic DMC-FS20 is perfect for beginners or anyone looking to replace their old under 10 megapixel digital for the under $200 price mark. The camera takes great pictures and offers a variety of features, such as a nice 3.0 LCD screen, and Intelligent Auto Mode, and a plentiful selection of options to help you take better pictures. Anyone taking a trip, looking for a second camera to keep in your bag, or grandparents who just want to snap some pictures of their grandkids will find the DMC-FS20 to be the perfect companion.

 

SCORES (out of 5):

 

Features: 4.0

Ease of Use: 4.0

Picture Quality:4.0

Bottom Line: 4.0