Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS42

10.1 megapixels | 2.5" screen | 33 – 132 mm (4×)

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Average rating: 3.65
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aradilon
0 out of 0 users have found this review helpful
By: aradilon posted on Feb 20, 2010 UTC

Opinion: Alot of good has to be said about this camera, in
Belgium this is easly the best camera under €100, i give
u some reasons why to buy this instead of another
camera of the same pricerange.
-Lens 4x zoom 33-132mm vs 3x zoom 35-105mm this
doesn't sound much but its alot wider and alot further
than it looks.
-Widescreen video 848x480 video vs 640x480, easly
said this means is that u can view it on a widescreen
without having black borders.
-Battery; it's an accu that u get with it and i got some
pretty good results with it, 300+ photo's without
charging.
-iso and sharpness is good, good enough for this price
u get good photo's untill iso 400, iso 800 is ok.

Problems: What i miss

-No manual controls, ok i have my Nikon D90 for that
but my old compact had manual controls and it can
come in handy.(but for most people that would buy
this
camera this isn't a problem)
-no Image stabilisation though i didn't miss it yet
because iso is alot better than most camera's this
pricerange
-No AA-batteries but because u get so much shots
from the accu this isn't really a problem only if u would
take it on a trip where u can't get electricity every 2-3
days

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fdu
0 out of 0 users have found this review helpful
By: fdu posted on Nov 22, 2009 UTC

Opinion: This opinion is on FS4.

This camera is almost good for my mother in law. I did not try the A480 but I have the feeling it is a better camera. I have chosen this one over A480 for its wide filming format.

Problems: 1. Cannot set White Balance (bug?). If you select the manual white balance and then press menu/set (as explained in the user manual) nothing happens: the interface returns to the previous screen; no setting screen is displayed. I have reset the camera but I got the same result. The firmware version is 1.0. I have updated the firmware to version 1.1: the same result.

2. USB speed. I am using a 4GB SDHC card. It took more than an hour to download 2.2 GB of pictures and movies. 131 MB took 3 minutes. The speed is roughly 5MBits/s which is far less than the USB 2.0 limit. It took 12 seconds to download 54 MB from my old BENQ camera (2GB SD card). That is 36 MBits/s. 7 times faster than FS4. My SanDisk Cruzer goes turbo.

3. I cannot write back images via USB connection. The camera is Read-Only.

4. The screen stays on while connected to PC, wasting power.

5. After ~180 pictures (outdoors, day light) and ~6 minutes movies it ran out of power. This is not normal.

6. The images/movies appear washed.

7. The ISO settings seem arbitrary. I did not make any scientific comparison but my old Canon A70 is using a faster shutter with the same ISO.

UPDATE: The repair center tested the camera and said the transfer speed is normal for this model. That is 2.2 GB in more than an hour with an USB 2.0 camera. I will return it.

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