# Camera Review:  Panasonic DMC-FX07 (point and shoot)



## Titanium (Oct 19, 2006)

Panasonic DMC-FX07 Review







Ive used a Minolta Dimage Xg for about two years now and it did everything I wanted it to do  video, tele, macro and the most important thing  kept itself handy! The best camera in the world? THE ONE YOU HAVE ON YOU, lol!

So in the process of looking for an upgrade I had certain criteria in mind.

1. First and foremost: WIDESCREEN! Panoramic or whatever the official term was.
Well, while traveling on the plane, I opened up the magazines. One of them had a pic of an upcoming camera from Leica that had a 16:9 picture option. Of course it was a Leica LENS on a Panasonic but I had simply read Leica, lol.
I went ahead and tore out the picture/verbage and put it in my wallet. I wasnt ready to spend $500 on a P&S but decided I was going to have a camera like that someday.

2. Good lens.
Well the Leica is a good lens so that was enough for me. Carl Zeiss lens are also good but I have only ever seen them on Sony cameras which use a proprietary memory stick and I was going to stick with the more versatile SD card.

3. Video capable at VGA with ability to play direct on TV. Widescreen video would be a nice bonus.
My Dimage Xg did not play direct out like the Dimage X20 I had before that (go figure) but did record 320x240 at 30fps (instead of 15fps) which is the reason I upgraded.
Well the Panasonic recorded 640x480 at 30fps but has the additional bonus of recording true 16:9 (848x480) at 30fps and plays direct to TV. SOLD!

4. Handiness
The FX07 occupies the same volume as the Xg, just a different form factor. Rectangular vs square-ish (Xg). I wanted to make sure I had a camera that would not be work to have with me all the time, which is why I stuck to the P&S vs a DSLR.

I ordered online thru Circuit City and in the meantime I downloaded the manual from the Panasonic website. Even printed it out and put it in a binder!

Takes great pics! In fact three ratios are available: 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 with various resolutions available at each one, eg: 5.5m or 2m at 16:9.
Takes great video! Either 4:3 or 16:9 at 30fps (or 10fps)


Cool features:
Widescreen LCD (VERY clear screen). 
Multiple brightness options: manual, regular, 3x bright and high angle. High angle is when hold the camera up above your head. This way you can still see the standard view (instead of that reverse color appearance as though you have the infrared eyesight of a Predator)
I had never had such a large screen before, it takes up about 3/4 of the back area. Options to have the grid as well as the histogram showing in real-time. The histogram helps to set exposure on the fly.

Ability to set manually set white balance. 
So far I simply point it at something close to the subject that is white (or meant to look white) and hit the set button. This is locked in until changed again, even if you turn off the camera or change to a preset white balance (such as shady)

Ability to exposure bracket a shot (three shots taken: standard, under, over). 
Increments of 1/3 up to +/- 1. This only works when set to AUTO ISO (vs I-ISO, intelligent).

Multiple focus options. 
Center, micro-center, across, full screen. The second two pick several areas to focus on. There is also fast-center and fast-across.
When set to a medium/small file size there is a 5.5x optical zoom ability (vs standard 3.6x). None of that nasty graininess that you get with digital zoom (which is also an option on the camera)

Great battery life with or without flash. 
Two days of pics and video before charging so far (which is reasonable).


Shooting modes
A Form 4 may be required for this camera . Semi, Burst and Full Auto. Burst is 2-3 frames per second for what I believe to be 6 frames and full auto is 2 frames per second up to the memory card limit.


Cons:
Pictures not as good as a DSLR, but hey 



Thanks for your attention.
Dan



Some unretouched Pics:


MACRO






DISTANCE






HI-SPEED (1/2000 ISO3200)






Package PICS:


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