Panasonic DMC FX10 Review

The Panasonic DMC FX10 is a fairly standard, compact digital camera. It is just about small enough to fit into a pocket. Ease of use is a strong point of the DMC FX10. Even someone relatively new to digital cameras should be able to get along with this model. It has six megapixels and a three times optical zoom lens. The camera also offers image stabilisation.

On the whole I am impressed with the quality of the photos produced by the DMC FX10. Focusing is good and the colours are strong. The only real downside I can see is that in a couple of instances I would like to have seen the photos a little brighter than they are.

Starting with the first outdoor scenic shot this is a good effort. The photo is sharp throughout, there is very little loss of detail owing to sun glare and in the main colour levels are about right. Looking closely at the colours some of the blue lines on the boats have a purple tinge to them.

The second outdoor shot is in sharper focus than most cameras manage with this shot. This is taken with the zoom lens zoomed right out and represents a tough challenge. The DMC FX10 handles this challenge well though and I would describe the level of sharpness as above average, especially for this type of camera. This is one of the shots that could have been a little brighter. On the day the sky was a very deep blue, as shown in the photo, but the scene should look a bit brighter.

For the third scenic shot the lens is zoomed in as far as it will go. The camera does well to retain the amount of blue in the sky in this shot. Many cameras wash out the colour somewhat when the lens is zoomed right in. Focusing does slide a little towards the right hand side of the shot as the distance away from the lens increases.

There is plenty of depth to the colours in the outdoor portrait. For this shot I used the shady white balance setting. This increases the amount of colour in the shot. Therefore if you find colour levels too strong you can tome them down by leaving the white balance setting as automatic.

The specific colour test produces a standard result. This confirms that no single colour is overly dominant.

Moving inside into poorer light the DMC FX10 does very well. Both my portrait shot and the extreme lowlight test produce pleasing results. Both of the photos are in sharp focus. It is also worth noting that the portrait shot is free of red eye. This does not mean that every portrait shot with flash you take will be clear of red eye, but it suggests that this camera handles the problem better than many other cameras manage.

In macro mode the DMC FX10 produces a clear, sharp shot. Its a pretty impressive effort.

At higher ISO levels the camera performs quite well. At ISO 400 there is deterioration of the photo staring to show, but the DMC FX10 produces a better quality photo than many cameras manage. At its top setting of ISO 1250 the camera is struggling badly.

I was able to take a single photo in 0.35 seconds and five photos in 9.32 seconds. With the flash on a single photo took 0.5 seconds and five photos took 9.95 seconds. All of these times are roughly average and it is good to see that using flash adds little time to the process. A word of warning, there were times when the DMC FX10 took longer to focus with the camera showing greater inconsistency than I am used to seeing.

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

The DMC FX10 is available in blue, silver and black. Apart from the colour of the camera it looks like a pretty typical digital camera.

94.1 x 51.4 x 24.2 mm

125g

Lithium ion rechargeable. (Battery and charger supplied). Panasonic estimate the camera should be capable of 370 photos in between charges.

Compatible with SD/SDHC cards (not supplied). 27mb of internal memory (enough for around 12 shots).

Click here to save money on xD cards.

Very Good - Panasonic digital cameras are amongst the more easy to use models. The DMC FX10 has an easy to use menu interface and not too many buttons and dials to get used to.

Ease of use - indoor photos - image stabilisation - LCD display quality

Photos could be brighter in places - focusing speed can be slow

When taking its low price tag into account the Panasonic DMC FX10 looks good value to me. Picture quality is above average. Add in ease of use and a solid if unspectacular design and you have a pocket sized camera well worth considering. I can't think of too many better options at this price level if you are after something to tuck into your pocket.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menus

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 FX10