Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 Review
Simon Joinson, March 2006

Review based on a production Panasonic DMC-FX01

The original FX7 was announced in July 2004 and went on to be one of the best-selling cameras of the year thanks to its winning combination of cool styling, compact dimensions, big screen and image-stabilized Leica lens. This, the fourth incarnation (the FX7 was followed in fairly rapid succession by the FX8 and FX9), is on the face of it another minor facelift, but it does offer something still pretty unique in a camera in this class - a true wideangle zoom, covering a useful 28-102mm (3.6x) zoom range. It is, in fact, the world's smallest camera with a 28mm lens. Other changes (detailed below) include a high sensitivity mode (offering sensitivities of up to 1600) and a new 16:9 widescreen movie mode. What we haven't worked out yet is why it's the FX01, not the FX10 (I suspect a typo early in the production process that was too expensive to fix).

• 6.4 megapixel CCD
• 28-102mm equiv. (3.6x) Leica DC Vario-Elmarit optical zoom
• 4x digital zoom
• Advanced Mega Optical Image Stabilizer
• New 16:9 840x480 pixel 30fps movie mode
• 2.5-inch, 207,000 pixel LCD with high viewing angle option
• 16 scene modes
• New High sensitivity mode (ISO 800-1600)
• Venus Engine PLUS
• Color options: Silver, Black, Pink, White (not all available in all areas of the world)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9 vs FX01 (main differences)

Although the changes are fairly sparse, they are pretty significant - especially the wider lens range.

28mm vs 35mm

It may not sound a lot, but the difference between 28mm and 35mm equivalent lenses is significant, and allows you to fit a lot more of the scene into the frame (around 10 degrees more diagonal field of view). This makes the FX01 ideal for landscapes, interiors and group shots.

28mm (75.3° diagonal F.O.V at infinity)	35mm (63.4° diagonal F.O.V at infinity)

Panasonic DMC-FX01 Key specifications

* Supplied accessories may differ in each country or area

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

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