Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 Review

The all-glass Lumix DC VARIO ELMAR 4x zoom lens is equivalent to a 30-120mm zoom on a 35mm camera. It has a F3.3 (wide) to F5.8 (tele) maximum aperture. The lens retracts into the camera's body and is protected by a built-in shutter whenever the camera is powered down.

Shaky hands is the one of the biggest causes of blurry shots. LUMIX cameras help solve this problem with advanced MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) technology. A built-in gyro-sensor detects any hand-shake and a signal is relayed to a high precision control circuit built into the Venus Engine IV, which instantly calculates the compensation needed. A linear motor then shifts the O.I.S. lens as necessary to guide incoming light from the image straight to the CCD. Panasonic's highly evolved Venus Engine IV LSI makes this process even faster and more accurate. This helps extend the MEGA O.I.S. correction range more than 3 steps below (slower than) the shutter speed that is generally considered to be the limit for handheld shooting.

The TTL contrast-detect auto focus system has selectable 1 point, 1 point high speed, 9 points and Face detect options. It has an AF-assist lamp for low light focusing. The normal focus range is 50 cm (1.6 feet) - infinity (W), 100 cm (3.3 feet) - infinity (T). Macro closeup range is: Wide 10 cm (3.9 inches) / Tele 100 cm (3.3 feet) - infinity.

The built-in speedlight features AUTO, AUTO/Red-eye reduction, Forced ON and Forced OFF modes.

The flash covers an approx range of 1.97 feet (0.6 m) – 20.7 feet (6.3 m) at Wide angle, 0.98 feet (0.3 m) - 10.2 feet (3.1 m) Telephoto, using ISO Auto.

The large 3.0-inch color LCD has 230,000 pixels of resolution and is used for framing, review and menu operations. It offers 100% frame coverage, and is a high-quality "Intelligent" LCD, which detects the lighting condition and adjusts brightness (11 steps) accordingly. It also features Panasonic's High Angle mode. There is no optical viewfinder.

Controls on the back:

The Play/Record mode switch.

The Mode button takes the place of the Mode dial found on many FX series models. In record mode you can select Intelligent Auto, Program (Normal Picture), Scene mode 1 & 2, and Movie. The DISPLAY button toggles the amount of overlay information shown on the LCD. The 4-way "joystick style" selector in Record mode toggles the flash mode when pressed "Right." When pressed "Up" it adjusts exposure compensation, "Left" to activate the Self-timer and press "Down" to enable Marco focus mode. In Playback mode the 4-way selector is used to select images and in both record and play is used to navigate the menu screens. The MENU/Set button calls up and dismisses the menu system as well as accepts menu selections. The Q.MENU button gives you access to the shortcut menu in record mode, and acts as the image delete option in playback mode.

On top you can see the built-in speaker, microphone, and Power on/off button. Other controls include the combination shutter release and zoom lens control ring. The zoom ring is used in playback to enlarge the image or display an index page. Lastly is the E.Zoom (Easy Zoom) button.

The A/V Out port sends the video to a television set, the video format is user selectable for NTSC or PAL standard. This is also the USB 2.0 (Full speed) data I/O port, it is Mass Storage compliant and also supports the PictBridge direct-print standard.

An optional AC power adapter or external battery pack can be connected to the DC IN port.

Still images and movie clips are stored on 27MB of internal flash memory or removable SD, SDHC, or MMC memory cards. Shown here with a fast and spacious OCZ Class 6 4GB SDHC card.

Approx. Storage capacities

The DMC-FS20 is powered by a proprietary 3.6v 1000mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery. Panasonic claims that a fully charged pack will provide enough power for up to 310 frames using CIPA standard testing methods.