Panasonic DMC FS6 Review

The Panasonic Lumix DMC FS6 is a straightforward point and shoot, pocket camera. It has an attractive, unfussy design. It has 8 megapixels and the 4x optical zoom can be increased to a maximum of 6.4x when shooting at lower resolutions.

Looking at its features, picture quality and build I think the Lumix DMC FS6 offers excellent value for money.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
We are off to a good start. Sharpness is very good for a camera in this price range. There is very little drop off in sharpness towards the edges of the photo. A common problem with this photo is the glare from the sun can cause problems is the lighter areas of the photo, but the Lumix DMC FS6 handles this well. There is a slight purple tinge to the blue lines of the boat, but overall I am happy with the photo.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
The colour of the sky is very vivid. This was the first warm day of spring, but I must admit I cannot recall the sky being quite so blue. Focusing is good again and you should be able to produce decent landscape snapshots.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
Here we have the zoom fully extended. As with the first two test shots sharpness is commendable for what is a relatively inexpensive digital camera.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
My final outdoor shot at distance produces another good result. The brickwork stands out well. Once again there is only minimal fall off in the sharpness of the photo as you reach the edges. When I test digital cameras I always use multi point focusing when it is available for this type of shot. This helps to bring as much of the shot into focus as possible.

Outdoor Portrait
I like the warm feel to the colours in this shot. It is rare for me to come across any serious problems with this shot and you should find most compact digital cameras are able to knock out this sort of shot.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
The Lumix DMC FS6 controls the amount of flash light very well. There is very little light reflecting back off the face into the lens. The photo is bright enough and the light is even too.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
This photo suggests that you should be able to produce window light portraits with the camera. The light used is not perfect but the Lumix DMC FS6 is able to show plenty of definition in the shot. Overall the photo is sharper than many cameras manage.

Colours
Colours with the Lumix DMC FS6 can be stronger than you find with other brands. Overall the colours are well balanced.

Macro
This is another good effort when you consider this is not one of the most advanced digital cameras. As long as you are not looking for perfection you should b able to produce decent macro shots.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
Over time Panasonic digital cameras have had a reputation for being on the noisy side. With this camera I found noise to be controlled relatively well up to and including ISO 400.

Overall
I am impressed by the quality of my test shots. They are certainly on par with a number of more expensive digital cameras I have tested over time.

Shutter lag times were roughly standard. A single photo timed 0.4 seconds while five timed 7.48 seconds. With flash times were 0.55 seconds for a single shot and 10.23 seconds for five.

The time taken to turn the camera on and take the first picture was slower than standard at 3.82 seconds.

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

When it comes to pocket cameras if you have seen one you have seen most of them. Panasonic try to offer a different angle by making the Lumix DMC FS6 available in black, silver, blue, pink and red.

97 x 54.4 x 21.2mm

115g

Lithium ion. Panasonic estimate you should be able to take up to 400 images before the battery needs to be recharged.

Panasonic has built 50mb of memory into the camera. That is enough for around 18 shots. The Lumix DMC FS6 is also compatible with SD and SDHC memory cards.

Click here to save money on SD cards..

Very good. The menu system is bright and clear. A quick menu is available to speed up access to key features. There is an intelligent auto mode. When you use this setting the camera still makes all the key decisions, but tries to match scenes against those built into its memory banks.

Picture quality - simple design - value for money

Start up times could be a bit faster

Other cheaper, small cameras include the Olympus FE-5000.

If I was looking for a small snapshot camera I would happily buy the Panasonic Lumix DMC FS6. It is quite a simple camera, has a good quality feel to it and takes a good snap in most situations.

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 FS6