The Panasonic DMC FX55 is an 8 megapixel digital camera. It has a wide angle lens offering 3.6x zoom. Any camera with a wide angle lens lends itself to photos where you need to squeeze in plenty of width. This includes landscape style shots and groups of people.
The DMC FX55 is small enough to fit into a pocket. It comes equipped with image stabilisation and has a large 3 inch LCD screen. It also incorporates a feature called easy zoom. This gives you the capability to increase the amount of zoom available by shooting at lower resolutions.
Image Quality Panasonic DMC FX55 test shots
Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
The DMC FX55 is off to a good start. Focusing is above average and the colours are nicely balanced. The camera handles sun glare well with only a minimal amount of detail lost where the sun strikes the boats.
Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
With the lens at its widest angle the DMC FX55 takes a photo that is roughly on a par with other wide angle cameras. There was some noise showing in the photo where the sky meets the river at the most distant point in the shot.
Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
Here the camera does well in terms of focusing when compared to other cameras with a wide angle lens. Even then the photo gets softer towards the edges. Sun glare is again handled well. There is a small amount of noise showing in the sky.
Outdoor Portrait
Panasonic put a bit of extra zest into their colours and this shot is an example of that. For me the colours stay within the limits of what I like to see. The photo is also sharply focused.
Indoor Portrait with Flash
This photo works well. Despite the use of flash plenty of colour is retained. There is no red eye showing and the DMC FX55 picks out plenty of detail.
Indoor Portrait without Flash
With flash turned off and lighting still quite bright, this dark photo is the most disappointing one of my test shots. The lack of brightness in this photo is something I have noticed with other Panasonic digital camera. This means that you will have to switch to using flash earlier than you may have to with other digital compacts.
Colours
As I mentioned above Panasonic give a little extra boost to colours. The strength of the colours is something that many people will like, while others would prefer to see them toned down a little.
Macro
The macro shot is another that is in line with expectations. The photo is bright and clear without quite making the very best category.
ISO 400
As soon as you start to increase the ISO setting noise creeps into the picture. Colours are once again handled well, although there is evidence of purple fringing in the shot.
ISO 1600
By the time you reach ISO 1600 most of the picture quality has drifted away. Noise levels mean the shot is short on detail and a lot of colour has now been washed out of the picture.
Overall
On the whole I am happy with the photos taken by the DMC FX55. Focusing in my test shots is a little above average and the colours are strong.
Shutter Lag
A single photo took 0.38 seconds. Five photos took 11.19 seconds. These are average times. Turning the flash on increased the times to 0.55 seconds for a single photo and 17.5 seconds for five. Again these are average times.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.
Style: The DMC FX55 is an unfussy looking camera. It has a slightly raised area on the front to help you take a good grip. It is available in silver and black.
Dimensions: 94.9 x 57.1 x 22.8 mm
Weight: 143g
Batteries: Lithium ion. Panasonic estimates you should be able to take around 280 shots in between charges.
Memory cards: 27mb of memory have been built into the camera by Panasonic. I was able to take 7 photos before this memory was full. The camera is also compatible with SD and SDHC cards.
Click here to save money on SD cards.
Ease of use rating: Very Good. This is a straightforward digital camera. I find the menu system Panasonic use to be one of the clearest around. This helps to make it easy to read.
Points I like:
Settings for 6 x 4 prints and panoramic shots - image stabilisation - LCD screen display - ease of use
Where it could improve:
Struggled with lower light shots - noise creeps in
Alternatives
There are lots of different pocket sized cameras on the market. A couple I like are the Canon IXUS 75 and the Sony DSC T200.
Verdict:
The Panasonic DMC FX55 has a few extra features when compared to a standard point and shoot model. Despite this ease of use remains one of the camera's strong points. Picture quality is above average in most instances, although noise starts to creep in when light starts to drop.
Front View
Back View
Top View
Sample Menus
| Panasonic DMC FX55 Summary |
| Description: | 8 megapixels and a 3.6x optical zoom lens |
| Ease of Use: | 9 |
| Features: | 8 |
| Colour: | 8 |
| Macro: | 8 |
| Indoors: | 7 |
| Value for Money: | 8 |
| Style: | 8 |
| Movie Mode: | 8 |
| Image Quality: | 8 |
| Build Quality: | 8 |
| Total: | 80 |
| Verdict: | "Easy to use, takes a decent picture and slips into a pocket. This camera also has a wide angle lens and a few extra features when compared to other simpler, point and shoot digital cameras. Well worth a look." |
| Review Date: | January 2008 |
| Click for: | Specification Sample Images Features |
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