The Panasonic Lumix DMC FX550 is different to other smaller, compact digital cameras. It has a great range of features. These include an extreme wide angle lens (for squeezing in very wide scenes), manual exposure and a top quality 3 inch LCD screen that is controlled by touch. The Lumix DMC FX550 has 12 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom lens. The amount of zoom available can be increased when shooting at lower resolutions.

If you are looking for extra features, a good looking camera and good picture quality then the Lumix DMC FX550 is hard to beat for its size.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
One thing Panasonic digital cameras do better than any other brand I test is to bring out more detail in some of the shady areas of a photo. In this example the name on the front boat is shaded from the sun, but rather than being badly affected by noise the name can still be clearly made out on a good sized print. Overall the picture is of a high quality. Sharpness remains true as you move away from the centre of the picture.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
Here you can see the difference an extreme wide angle lens can make. There is far more of the width of the scene showing in the shot. This will be a big plus point if you enjoy taking landscape style shots. Considering just how wide angle the lens is, the levels of sharpness are good. Most cameras with wide angle lenses produce softer shots.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
With the zoom lens being zoomed all the way in sharpness is good again. There does appear to be a slight haze around the boats as the Lumix DMC FX550 finds some difficulty dealing with such bright, reflective objects.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
As with my other outdoor test shots sharpness is above average and does not fall away to any large degree as you move out towards the edges of the shot. I use multi point focusing for my scenic shots in an attempt to get focusing to be sharp right across the picture.

Outdoor Portrait
There is plenty of brightness in this picture. The colours are about right. The pinks in the skin tones have a natural look and the picture has a warm feel to it.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
The picture is not short of light from the built in flash unit. The problem is the light is not spread as evenly as I would like it to be. There are areas on the face that reflect back too much light, losing detail, while areas of the hair could do with some extra illumination.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
I like this picture. I think it has a more natural look to it than the photo taken with flash. The Lumix DMC FX550 handles the imperfect light better than most cameras do.

Colours
The colours in my test shots look how each of the scenes were on the day. In some of my outdoor tests I would like to have seen a touch more brightness. This would have helped to give the scenes a more vivid feel.

Macro
The macro shoot is a good one. The Lumix DMC FX550 is able to show a high level of detail. Common problems such as purple fringing have been avoided. You should be able to photograph a variety of close up subjects and produce pleasing results.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
Lower ISO settings produce average noise levels, but as you step up to higher levels noise levels are very high. The good news is that you are unlikely to use the higher settings often - if at all.

Overall
The Lumix DMC FX550 produced a good set of test shots. There were very few negatives and plenty if plus points.

The Lumix DMC FX550 posted a series of decent times. A single shot took 0.31 seconds while five photos took 10.81 seconds. With flash the times were 0.51 seconds and 12.79 seconds for five.

To turn the camera on and take the first photo took 3.01 seconds. This is marginally higher than average.

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

This is a very rectangular digital camera. Apart from the corners being rounded there are a lot of straight lines. It still manages to look stylish.

94.9 x 57.1 x 26mm

145g

Lithium ion. Panasonic suggest you should be able to take around 350 shots in between charges.

Panasonic has built 40mb of memory into the camera. This is enough for around 6 photos. The camera is compatible with SD and SDHC memory cards.

Click here to save money on SD cards..

Very Good. The way that Panasonic has incorporated the touch screen is excellent. With other brands where every feature is controlled through touch I have often found the interface fiddly and can slow me down. With the Lumix DMC FX550 you select options like the shooting mode by touch with various other features controlled through a more traditional menu. To me this gives the best of both worlds.

Best touch screen setup - manual exposure - HD movies - extreme wide angle lens - picture quality

There are no areas that really stand out

I cannot think of any other digital cameras of this size with this many features. Another high class, stylish digital camera is the Canon IXUS 990 IS.

Taking the whole package into account including the features and picture quality, the Panasonic Lumix DMC FX550 is a class act. I would be very happy to own one.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

Description:	12 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom
Ease of Use:	9
Features:	9
Colour:	8
Macro:	8
Indoors:	8
Value for Money:	8
Style:	8
Movie Mode:	9
Image Quality:	8
Build Quality:	8
Total:	83
Verdict:	This is a feature packed smaller compact. It offers a manual exposure mode, High Definition movies, touch control for key features through the 3 inch LCD screen and a wide angle lens. Picture quality is very good and it is a well thought out camera.
Review Date:	May 2009
Related Pages:	Panasonic DMC FX550 Specification Panasonic DMC FX550 Sample Images Panasonic DMC FX550 Features
Comparisons:	Canon IXUS 990 IS vs Panasonic Lumix DMC FX550

	GBP 189.99
	GBP 208.99
	GBP 233.83
	GBP 249.99
	GBP 264.99
Click a flag for prices from other countries:

Camera	Rating
Canon IXUS 990 IS	87
Fuji Finepix F60fd	85
Panasonic DMC ZX1	83
Panasonic DMC FX550	83
Nikon Coolpix S630	81
Fuji Finepix F200exr	81
Olympus MJU 7000	81
Olympus MJU 7010	80

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 FX550