It's another case of camera manufacturers releasing new digicams which are merely incremental upgrades to the current product lineup. Frankly, these scenarios have been happening so often that we're beginning to predict the upcoming models fairly accurately. While the FX07 may not be as enticing to users who own a similar, but older, shooter, we feel it warrants a quick look to unearth the differences.
Upside
It's not so much of an upside but rather what the upgrades are compared with the FX01 which the new FX07 is modeled on. Size-wise, the FX07 bears the same dimensions, which should appeal to the ultracompact and fashion-conscious crowd. It also helps that there are a variety of colours (black, blue, gold, red and pink) to pick from.
Panasonic has introduced a new feature known as the Intelligent ISO Control (IIC) which it claims as a world's first on the FX07. While the name is new, the mechanism isn't. What the IIC does is to automatically adjust the ISO setting (to a maximum of ISO 800) and shutter speed in order to compensate for subject movement. On previous models, you had to manually change those settings. Now it's all left to the camera's hardware to decide.
There are also two new scene modes -- Beach and Aerial -- on the FX07, which we reckon won't be strong reasons for you to upgrade but are nice additions to have.
Downside
Though the FX07 uses a new engine, the camera is still rated to last for only 320 shots based on the CIPA standard, which is similar to the older FX01.
Outlook
If you already have the Lumix FX01, the new FX07 won't much interest you unless you're looking to add an extra megapixel to your camera. But it's still worth a second look if you're out looking for an ultracompact.
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toshiba camera
24/05/2008, 07:43 PM
rating
8/10
Panasonic lumix is such a great mobile. I want to purchase any camera which fulfill my requires. I read these all reviews about this camera and want to buy it. Because i this camera has great features.
Pros: Stylish design.
Graceful color.
Seems to be hard body with stainless steel included.
Cons: Nothing when i use it than tell you.
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bacchaebabe
14/04/2007, 06:50 PM
rating
9/10
Just bought this camera after our older Canon A75 died after about three or four years of very good service.
Decided to change to a smaller camera that was good for snapshots, parties, whatever. Saying all that, I still like to buy the best. Read every review on the net available and although the features looked good on paper, some reviews spoke of noise at higher ISOs and other issues. I had my choices down to the Lumix FX07, the Canon Ixus 65 and the Canon Ixus 850. On paper, it looked like the Ixus 65 was going to give the best photos, but it didn't have wide angle (or a viewfinder, which the lumix also doesn't have).
I wasn't convinced by the reviews as they were quite technical and I wanted to know what that meant to me and if I could discern the issues raised in a photo so I went to my local shop and took two photos on each camera and got them developed at 6x4 and 10x8. Very interesting results indeed. I took the same photo (or from the same spot) on each, one at widest angle and one at full zoom, both with a flash.
On the wide angle, obviously the Ixus 850 and the lumix performed very well and got plenty of the shop in. The Ixus 65 showed its limitations here as it really got about half as much in the frame. All three pictures were nice and clear in the foreground and towards the back of the shop. The colours on all were great, especially using the flash.
It was the zoomed shots that really displayed the most difference. There was a black and white advertising poster at the back of the shop and with the Lumix is was crystal clear with very sharp edges and very black and white. Both the canon cameras made this poster a bit fuzzy, the white wasn't so white and the edges weren't anywhere near as sharp. My partner and everyone else I've shown the photos to immediately picked the Lumix photos as the clearest and the best. The sharpness of the images was just superb and the deal clincher.
Bought the Lumix and have since taken it to the V festival where I was ASTOUNDED with the quality of the photos, from a distance, in the dark with just stage lights. The video is amazing. Under the conditions or otherwise, the colour, that clarity and even the sound is stunning. We are VERY happy with this camera.
Pros: Crystal clear photos. This lens rocks.
Great range of 'scenes'.
Quick start up.
Easy to use.
Very good results with flash and at night.
Amazing video.
Very small and light.
Robust, good looking design.
Cons: No Viewfinder.
No AA batteries - have to use the rechargable one - seems to last well though.
Price not so negotiable as not many around at the moment - worth finding though.
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Tim Millea
28/08/2006, 10:51 PM
rating
9/10
Not just a sight to behold but a 'hold' to behold!
Experience
I have been a photography enthusiast for over 25 years and have owned eight digicams from Canon, Casio, Fuji, Nikon, Pentax and Sony as well as countless film cameras.
Most people associate O.I.S. with action and hand-held long telephoto shots but my experience is that O.I.S. has much greater value by giving an extra 2 to 3 stops of exposure latitude to play with under anything but ideal lighting conditions.
Sub-compacts, with necessarily tiny CCD sensors have much to gain from O.I.S.. Small, high-resolution sensors are inherently noisy due to the correspondingly small amount of light reaching each pixel. An extra 3 stops of exposure effectively means 8 times as much light can reach the sensor without blur spoiling the shot - or put another way, a small sensor with O.I.S. can have the same noise performance as a sensor up to 8 times as big.
Does such a camera yet exist? Enter the Panasonic DMC-FX01 and DMC-FX07. At the time of writing, there are no reviews whatsoever of the FX07 to be found on the net. I therefore took a calculated risk to buy the unproven FX07.
Overall minor gripes and some positive critisism do not detract from the fact that for my purposes, there is nothing better currently available. Oh, and did I mention? It takes beatuful photos.
Items Recomended
4 or 8 GB SD card for movie capture, otherwise 1 or 2GB, spare batteries, soft case.
Pros: 1. The value of a 28mm wide angle compared to the regular 35-39mm wide cannot be overstated.
2. For any given feature set and quality, the practical value of a camera is inversely proportional to its size!
3. The Leica lens is at the top of its class in terms of quality for a sub compact, despite that wide-angle [as reported in the reviews of the FX01]
4. Optical image stabilisation on a sub-compact! Noise performance comparable to sensors up to 8 times the size and it can also save a shot that would have been lost through motion-blur. 'Mode 2' (active for exposure only) works practically without fault, 'Mode 1' (continuous) is less effective.
5. 848x480, 30 fps movies! Currently limited to 2GB, regardless of card size (about 33 mins max size/frame-rate). The results show just noticeable M-JPEG artefacts but the data rate is a good compromise for quality vs. storage. A tiny camera producing big movies!
6. One of the very first cameras to support the next generation SDHC cards.
7. Fantastic night photography with long shutter settings up to 60 seconds combined with noise cancellation.
8. Exemplary ergonomics with all the most common controls being accessed through button presses rather than buried in menus. It has the feel and design of a photographer's camera.
9. There are superimposable patterns for aligning and centring subjects and a live histogram to assist with exposure compensation.
10. Large (2.5") and high-resolution LCD (207k pixels) with gain-up and extra mode for viewing off-angle. Excellent in all conditions except when catching the sun's reflection directly on the LCD.
11. 'Intelligent ISO' mode automatically alters the ISO up to 800 to obtain a higher shutter speed when there is a fast-moving object near the centre of the fame. e.g. sports, you get the minimum ISO rating required to stop-the motion, and therefore the best possible noise performance continuously adjusted to the live scene the camera is pointing at.
Cons: 1. A little too easy to scratch the chrome banding around the sides of the camera - get a case if looks are important.
2. I don't like proprietary batteries (but a look on Ebay reveals they are available for around $7 each, shipped).
3. No exposure lock for taking a grid of photos to stitch together later. This is the biggest negative for me. Second only to...
4. Poor quality mono sound during movie recording - I would prefer stereo 44.1Khz/16 bit mp3 or AAC to make a truly awesome pocket camcorder.
5. In a similar vein, I would prefer more control over the movie mode - quality, frame rate and aspect ratio combinations (how about a World's first 2.35:1, 24 fps 'Cinamascope' mode? After all 30fps is a US/Japenese TV standard, not a movie standard) AE lock, sound level auto/manual level control, 'film effect' filter, use of zoom during a movie etc.. Now
with support for 32GB SD cards, these features are the natural evolutionary path for digicams.
6. Hopefully a firmware fix will remove the 2GB movie file size limit at some point just for neatness. I accept that very few single shots last 33 minutes.
7. Take away the mode 1 and 2 O.I.S. selection for still photography. It adds needless complexity when mode 2 is so much more effective.
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