The Panasonic Lumix DMC FS15 is a good quality, mid priced, pocket digital camera. It has 12 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom lens. The lens has wide angle capabilities. I like the extra zoom that becomes available when shooting at lower resolutions.

There is a good range of features for this type of camera. These include image stabilisation, a 2.7 inch LCD screen and extra zoom when shooting at low resolutions. Picture quality is good and the camera is easy to use.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
The Lumix DMC FS15 certainly handles sun glare very well in this picture. There is very little detail lost. Another point worth a mention is how well the name on the boat on the left hand side of the shot shows up. The name is in the shade and many digital cameras find it very difficult indeed to show this level of clarity in shady areas of a photo. Overall sharpness in the shot is good too.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
Digital cameras with wide angle lenses can find it that bit harder to produce a sharp shot when the lens is zoomed all the way out. This is because it is hard to squeeze high quality into such small lenses. The Lumix DMC FS15 does a pretty good job here though. The colours are strong in this shot. This suggests you should be able to capture plenty of vivid, blue skies on sunny days.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
With the lens zoomed in to its full capacity sharpness is about average. Some of the sharpness is lost as you move away from the centre of the shot.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
With around half to two thirds or zoom power used the Lumix DMC FS15 finds a point where the lens is able to focus very well. In general I am happy with the levels of sharpness in my test shots so far.

Outdoor Portrait
There is plenty of warmth showing in the colours. I think this helps to produce a pleasing looking shot. There are no problems with focusing with the face detection setting being used.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
You can barely tell that flash has been used in this shot. The upside is there is very little light reflecting back off the face. The downside is the shot is darker than I would personally like to see.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
If anything this is a better effort than the indoor portrait taken with flash. Noise levels are kept low and this helps to bring out more detail in the shot. You should be able to produce window light portraits with the Lumix DMC FS15.

Colours
Colours are stronger than some brands produce. You will either prefer this more vivid feel or you may prefer a more natural look you get from other brands such as Nikon.

Macro
For close up shots the Lumix DMC FS15 is able to focus in from 5cm. This should be close enough for most macro shots. Panasonic digital cameras are strong in this area and you should be able to produce good quality close up shots.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
The Lumix DMC FS15 handles higher ISO levels better than most compact digital cameras do. Yes there are increasing levels of noise in the shots as you step up to higher levels, but colours remain fairly true.

Overall
The Lumix DMC FS15 does just about everything you can expect a mid priced point and shoot camera to do. Picture quality works well in most situations and my only negative point is the amount of brightness in my indoor portrait shot.

The Lumix DMC FS15 was slightly slower than I had hoped for. A single photo timed 0.43 seconds and five took 16.09 seconds. With flash on times were exactly one second for the first photo and 18.29 seconds for five.

The time taken to turn the camera on and take the first photo was fast at 2.69 seconds.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

The Lumix DMC FS15 looks like many standard pocket cameras. It has an unfussy, fairly plain design. You can buy models in silver, black and blue.

97 x 54.4 x 21.7mm

116g

Lithium ion. Panasonic estimates you should be able to take up to 330 shots between charges.

Panasonic has built 50mb of storage into the Lumix DMC FS6. This is enough for around 12 shots. The camera is compatible with SD and SDHC memory cards.

Click here to save money on SD cards..

Very good. There are enough buttons on the back of the camera to give you access to most standard features without becoming confusing. The menu system is bright, clear and easy to read.

Picture quality - simple design - value for money

A bit more light from the flash unit

If you do not need this many megapixels or a wide angle lens you can save money by looking at the Panasonic DMC FS6.

The Panasonic Lumix DSC FS15 does most things well. If you are looking at mid priced, pocket digital cameras then this is certainly one for your shortlist.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

Description:	12 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom lens
Ease of Use:	8
Features:	8
Colour:	8
Macro:	8
Indoors:	9
Value for Money:	9
Style:	8
Movie Mode:	8
Image Quality:	9
Build Quality:	8
Total:	83
Verdict:	This camera does a good all round job. It is a mid priced pocket camera offering good value for money. It has a few extra features tucked away and I like the extra zoom that becomes available when shooting at lower resolutions.
Review Date:	March 2009
Related Pages:	Panasonic DMC FS15 Specification Panasonic DMC FS15 Sample Images Panasonic DMC FS15 Features

	GBP 119.99
	GBP 136.99
	GBP 144.06
	GBP 149
	GBP 152.75
	GBP 159.99
	GBP 184.99
Click a flag for prices from other countries:

Camera	Rating
Panasonic DMC FX60	86
Canon IXUS 120 IS	86
Sony DSC TX1	86
Canon IXUS 110 IS	86
Canon IXUS 100 IS	86
Panasonic DMC FS62	85
Samsung ST550	85
Nikon Coolpix S570	85

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Panasonic DMC FS15