Digital Cameras Ratings: Panasonic DMC-FX75K 14.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 3 inch LCD (Black) Review

Average Reviews:
3.8 out of 5 stars

(More customer reviews)This is my 3rd Panasonic pocket sized Lumix. The first was 5 megapixels and had a 3X zoom. It still works great but I wanted a longer zoom and more resolution so I bought the DMC-FS15 about a year ago. The FS15 has 12 megapixels, a 5X zoom, but no touch screen.

Despite having more than double the supposed resolution, the FS15 delivered similar real-world resolution to my old 5 MP camera. This is because for a given size sensor, more pixels means more noise. So the camera has to apply more noise reduction which softens the image. It's sadly more about marketing (and perhaps bragging rights) than image quality.

I really liked the FS15 until the lens jammed one day while trying to turn it off. So I bought the FX75 expecting it to be a big upgrade given it's more than twice the price. It's really not. Panasonic really should stop the marketing game with megapixels because more isn't always better. This camera has more noise at any ISO than my older (much cheaper) camera. And professional reviews, and my own test shots, back that up.

That said, most of the other brands are doing the same thing. They're all trying to raise the resolution of each generation of new models. But image quality, in many cases, is actually getting worse. Again, I suggest reading the reviews (i.e. steves-digicams, dpreview, etc.).

The touch screen is the "big" new feature of this camera. It's no iPhone, but it works fairly well. Panasonic mostly took the old menu system and just adapted it to work on the touch screen. With less room needed on the back of the camera, the display can be a bit larger which is nice. I suspect most will find it easier to use than the old button method.

You need a fairly accurate touch to do things like force the flash on, or off, adjust the exposure compensation, etc. If you were in a moving vehicle, have really big or clumsy fingers, or poor vision, you might prefer conventional buttons where you can somewhat run the camera by "feel".

Users who just leave their camera on "auto everything" all the time, will likely love this camera. Panasonic has done a good job building a lot of intelligence into the full "iAuto" mode and it works suprisingly well for most shots. But there are still situations where, for example, you don't want the flash. For those you'll need to use the touch screen.

Another big advertised feature of this camera is the f2.2 "bright" or "fast" lens. For those of you not up on f-stops and other photo jargon, that means the camera can generally use a faster shutter speed which can make the difference between a blurry or sharp picture. It helps, but a caution is in order. This lens is also wider than the cameras it replaces (24mm vs 29mm effective). It's only f2.2 at 24mm. If you zoom in a bit to get to 29mm it's f2.5 vs the old f3.3--not a huge difference when you're comparing apples-to-apples. And at full zoom, it has no advantage at all. Because it starts wider, it doesn't zoom in as close as the older 5X models. Still, at full wide, shutter speeds are about 50% faster.

Panasonic also touts their "Sonic Speed AF" which does focus a but quicker than my older Lumix cameras, but not dramatically so. Like the faster lens, this might help with a few shots but it's not a huge deal for most pictures.

Finally, this camera has 720P (but not 1080) HD video and can record in the older Motion JPEG (Apple .MOV) format, or the newer AVCHD Light format. This is a significant upgrade if you like to shoot higher quality video. But for typical You Tube clips, etc. it's not a big deal. And HD formats take a lot more space on the SD card. In the highest quality format, a 2 GB empty card (no pics) will record about 15 minutes of video.

The build quality seems a bit better than my previous models (as it should be for twice the price). Hopefully it will last longer and not suffer issues with the extending lens. If you turn your camera on and off a lot and expect to take lots of pics, I would suggest looking at one of the pocket models that don't have an extending lens. That saves a lot of mechanical wear and tear.

I've also owned, and used, assorted other brands including Canon, Minolta, Pentax and Olympus. I like the balance of size, price, image quality, Leica lens quality, feature set and user interface of the Panasonic models better overall. Canon, in particular, does a few things better with their pocket models (I own a few of their DSLRs), but Panasonic seems to have the best overall product.

Still, I'm not sure the FX75 is worth the current price. Touch screen models are getting premium prices but I suspect that will change. Also, for those wanting full 1080HD video, and/or full manual control along with apeture priority, shutter priority, etc, consider the even more expensive DMC-FX700 which is bascially an FX75 with those features added.

The cheaper FH20 has an 8X zoom and has received only meodicre professional reviews. Between the 14 MP sensor and being a "super zoom" crammed into a tiny pocket camera, image quality really suffers. But if you just want snapshots, it might be a decent, and much cheaper, option.

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Product Description:
Point. Shoot. With just one finger you'll be making magic with Panasonic's DMC-FX75 digital camera. New touch screen technology takes the headache out of operation, while a host of new features, such as Sonic Speed auto focus and Motion Deblur mode make taking pictures so much more effortless.