Panasonic DMC FS20 Review

The Panasonic DMC FS20 is a 10 megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens. It has a wider than standard 30mm lens. There is also a large 3 inch LCD screen.

The DMC FS20 is just about small enough to slip into a pocket. I like the simple, but effective design of the camera. It is easy to use and picture quality is towards the top end of the market. There are also a few extra features thrown in such as widescreen movies, an intelligent automatic mode and image stabilisation. All in all it is a very impressive package.

It also has a feature that increases the amount of zoom available when you shoot at lower resolutions.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
The combination of sharpness and brightness produces a pleasing photo. The camera handles glare from the sun well and the level of detail on the lighter areas of the boats is impressive. The colours have also remained true to the scene on the day.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
I like the way the colours complement each other in this picture. The blue of the sky and the water work well with the greens of the foliage. There is some noise in the picture and this stops the photo from really hitting the mark.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
This is a better effort than the second outdoor shot. It is another bright shot and demonstrates how well the DMC FS20 uses the light. Sharpness levels are good.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
With all the brickwork in this picture it makes it a good test for sharpness. This Panasonic digital cameras does well and there is only a small amount of sharpness lost as you move towards the edges of the shot.

Outdoor Portrait
The outdoor portrait has a bit of an orange glow to it. This is due to me selecting the white balance setting of shady to match the shooting conditions. Without using the shady setting the picture look on the dull side, so although the warmth is a bit overdone here I prefer this result.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
This is my favourite portrait shot. The main reason is the colour in the photo. The flash unit provides plenty of even lighting without swamping the colours.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
With just natural light the DMC FS20 produces another good portrait shot. Once again the colours are about right.

Colours
As with other cameras in this range the DMC FS20 is capable of producing strong colours. On occasion these can be a bit over the top for my own personal taste.

Macro
I am very happy with macro test result. It is above average and suggests that this Panasonic digital cameras should be able to produce decent quality close up shots in most situations.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
When using higher ISO settings the current batch of Panasonic digital cameras perform fairly well. Noise inevitably kicks in, but Panasonic handles this as well as any other brand apart from perhaps Fuji.

Overall
Overall I am very happy with my test pictures. The DMC FS20 is able to take a decent shot in most situations.

Shutter lag times are more or less standard for this type of camera, although I would have liked to have seen a faster time for the single photo without flash. The times recorded were 0.48 seconds for a single photo without flash, 10.49 seconds for five photos without flash, 0.55 seconds for a single photo with flash and 12.38 seconds for five photos with flash.

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

The rounded ends of the camera stop it from looking plain and ordinary. The DMC FS20 has an unfussy design, but a design that works well in my opinion. It just about slips into most pockets.

94.9 x 57.1 x 22.9mm

132g

Lithium Ion. Panasonic supplies both a battery and charger as standard with the DMC FS20. They suggest you should be able to take in the region of 280 photos before the battery needs to be recharged.

50mb of storage has been built in to the camera. This is a generous amount compared to the norm and gives you enough space to test out the camera. I was able to take 13 photos before the storage was full. The DMC FS20 is also compatible with SD and SDHC memory cards.

Click here to save money on SD memory cards..

Very Good. I find the menu system used by Panasonic to be one of the most straightforward of any brand. The easy zoom button on the top of the camera gives you immediate maximum zoom.

Ease of use - design and build quality - automatic features - overall picture quality - wide screen movies

Shutter delay could be that little bit faster

A slightly larger camera that also offers excellent quality is the Canon IXUS 970 IS.

The Panasonic DMC FS20 is a high quality point and shoot camera. It has a few extra features included that make it a clear step up from the more basic, entry level models. I found the camera easy to use and it is well worth adding to your shortlist.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

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 FS20