Panasonic DMC LS60 Review

The Panasonic DMC LS60 is a simple, easy to operate, entry level digital camera. It has six megapixels and a three times optical zoom lens. With many digital cameras now offering ten megapixels and even more you may think that six megapixels does not sound all the much. In fact this is plenty if you are looking to produce 8 x 11 inch photos. Panasonic have priced the DMC LS60 so that it is one of the cheapest digital cameras from a known brand and I can see this being a very popular model.

The camera includes optical image stabilisation. This is a feature rarely found on a digital camera in this category.

Taking into account the price tag for the DMC LS60 I was delighted with the set of test photos I was able to produce. They are inline in terms of quality with those produced by much more expensive digital cameras.

Looking at my three outdoor scenic shots focusing is above average in each shot. In fact for an entry level camera I would suggest these photos are superior in terms of sharpness to those taken by most similar models. This is true for each of the test photos.

In the first outdoor shot there is a slight tendency to show blue lines on the boats with a purple ting. Sun glare is handled well and very little detail is lost from any of the photos.

You may notice that outdoor test shots two and three are darker than those taken with the majority of other cameras I have tested. This is partly due to the early time of the day these shots were taken. This was because there was very little bright weather available around the time of my tests. Even so the photos are darker than I would like to see and this suggests that the best outdoor shots are likely to be taken when the light is bright.

I like the colours the DMC LS60 produces. Taking into account my specific test for colour as well as all the other test shots the depth of colour certainly suits my own personal taste. There is just enough life and vividness to the colours without them becoming overbearing.

One of my favourite shots is the outdoor portrait. This shot shows the colours off perfectly. There is a warm glow to the shot that I like. The photo was taken in the shade and I used the shady white balance setting to give a bit of a boost to the shot.

Moving on to the lower light tests I was happy with the quality of the images produced. Despite the conditions both my indoor portrait and photo of beer bottles are well focused and also light enough. There is the smallest suggestion of red eye in the indoor portrait.

The macro test shot could also be a bit brighter. Otherwise I am happy with the levels of sharpness that show up in the shot.

Pushing the ISO levels up causes picture quality to deteriorate in the same way it does with all digital cameras. At ISO 400 picture quality remains acceptable, but after than quality falls away. At the top level of ISO 1250 pictures are only worth taking when there is no other way of getting the shot.

I was able to take a single photo in 0.37 seconds and five photos in 13.82 seconds. With the flash turned on there was not a great deal of difference with times of 0.39 seconds for a single photo and 15.18 seconds for five photos. These are average times. Using the camera's internal memory instead of a memory card appeared to slow the camera down.

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

The DMC LS60 is a fairly typical entry level model. It is two large to fit into a pocket, but has a small grip on the front to help hold it steady.

93.7 x 62.0 x 29.7mm

181g

Two AA batteries provide power. Panasonic estimates you should be able to take around 260 photos before a standard set of batteries need to be replaced.

The DMC LS60 is compatible with SD and SDHC cards. A card is not supplied as there are 27mb of memory built into the camera. In my tests I was able to take 10 shots before the memory was full.

Click here to save money on SD cards.

Very Good - Menus are quite straightforward and the buttons and dials do not take long to master. A larger LCD screen would help to read the menu.

Ease of use - indoor photos - value for money - image stabilisation - wide screen movies

Small LCD screen - best in bright light

In this price bracket the Panasonic DMC LS60 is more or less as good as you are likely to find. I could find no major faults with the picture quality and the camera was able to perform well indoors when within the range of the flash unit. There are not a lot of really good cameras around for under £100, so this one is worth very close inspection. Recommended.

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 LS60