Alan Ernst
Well-known member
Equal or better image quality is available within the Lumix stable and for far less money! The only benefit of buying this camera is the waterproof housing, so unless you really plan to dunk your camera, think again...
Considering the miniscule lens, the zoom range, sharpness and macro capability are pretty good and even the way it handles contrast is commendable. Metering and exposure are reasonably good. Features are adequate and user interface / menu, as with most Panasonics, is easy and the camera does most things one would expect from a compact, as long as you don’t need manual settings (other than exposure comp., which is available, and in combination with the bracketing feature, very easy to set / use).
Problems:
The camera is quite heavy and will sink like a stone if you lose your grip in the water. I bought it because I needed something fast, to do some underwater photography on a recent trip to Hawaii. Unfortunately, I found that both metering and AF were challenged under water.
General image quality would be far better, if the sensor was 8 or ten megapixels only – cramming 14 MP into such a small sensor is idiotic and shows again that Panasonic is more interested in pushing sales to the general consumer who thinks megapixels are THE solution, rather than going for the best image quality on any given device (They did the right thing on the LX3, which is a great little camera and sells well, despite a lesser pixel count). You don’t want to use anything other than base ISO, which underwater is often insufficient, as light levels drop rapidly. Resulting noise is a real problem.
From an ergonomics point of view, I do not like the proximity of the shutter button and zoom button, which are too close to each other and constantly lead to pressing one instead of the other. Also, the camera without the silicone protection is relatively slippery.
What bugs me most about this camera, apart from the ridiculous pixel count, is the pricing policy of Panasonic. Prices were dropped significantly, shortly after this model was introduced and this is not the first time / model they are doing this. It is still overpriced, but not as bad as when it hit the market. I certainly feel I have been cheated out of my money on this one...
Considering the miniscule lens, the zoom range, sharpness and macro capability are pretty good and even the way it handles contrast is commendable. Metering and exposure are reasonably good. Features are adequate and user interface / menu, as with most Panasonics, is easy and the camera does most things one would expect from a compact, as long as you don’t need manual settings (other than exposure comp., which is available, and in combination with the bracketing feature, very easy to set / use).
Problems:
The camera is quite heavy and will sink like a stone if you lose your grip in the water. I bought it because I needed something fast, to do some underwater photography on a recent trip to Hawaii. Unfortunately, I found that both metering and AF were challenged under water.
General image quality would be far better, if the sensor was 8 or ten megapixels only – cramming 14 MP into such a small sensor is idiotic and shows again that Panasonic is more interested in pushing sales to the general consumer who thinks megapixels are THE solution, rather than going for the best image quality on any given device (They did the right thing on the LX3, which is a great little camera and sells well, despite a lesser pixel count). You don’t want to use anything other than base ISO, which underwater is often insufficient, as light levels drop rapidly. Resulting noise is a real problem.
From an ergonomics point of view, I do not like the proximity of the shutter button and zoom button, which are too close to each other and constantly lead to pressing one instead of the other. Also, the camera without the silicone protection is relatively slippery.
What bugs me most about this camera, apart from the ridiculous pixel count, is the pricing policy of Panasonic. Prices were dropped significantly, shortly after this model was introduced and this is not the first time / model they are doing this. It is still overpriced, but not as bad as when it hit the market. I certainly feel I have been cheated out of my money on this one...