Panasonic's DMC-FX30 wide-angle 7.2 megapixel shooter: not quite the world's slimmest

Panasonic is also unveiling their Lumix DMC-FX30 this morning which Panny claims is the "world's slimmest" to pack a 28mm wide-angle lens. Ok, but at 22-mm (0.87-inches) it's a full 0.2-mm thicker than the listed specs for Samsung's new 28mm wide-angle L74 which packs the same 7.2 megapixel CCD and 3.6x zoom but a bigger 3.0-inch touchscreen LCD around back. Thing is, the L74 has an irregular shape so who knows what to believe at this point -- it wouldn't be the first time Samsung fudged its numbers. So... hyperbole aside, the FX30 is thin and features a 3.6x LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT optical zoom lens, 7.2 megapixel CCD, Mega OIS optical image stabilization, Venus Engine III image-processing for shooting at ISO 1250, and a 2.5-inch 207k pixel LCD (the L74 throws down 230k pixels) with "Power LCD" to boost brightness by 40% (at the expense of battery life) when outdoors. It also records 848 x 480 video to SDHC cards at 30fps and shoots with a shutter release time lag of 0.005 seconds and a 2 frames per second burst mode at full resolution for a maximum of just 5 images. Rounding things out are a 280 picture battery and $349 price tag when these ship sometime in February.

[Via LetsGoDigital, Thanks David]

[fashionista @ Jan 31st 2007 10:13AM]

I have a Lumix DMC-FX01 and it takes crap pictures. May you all burn in hell, Leica-fakers.

[rdas7 @ Mar 9th 2007 4:42AM]

The FX Series has come a long way in the four years since the FX01. I got an FX07 in 2005 when it was announced to find that it took great pictures (if a bit noisy in low light conditions), acclaimed by just about every photo review mag at the time. After a few months, however, it became glaringly obvious that battery life was a problem: a full charge would not last 1 day in typical use conditions. My wife and I found that we were always trying to "save battery", not reviewing pics often on the LCD, etc.

A few months later we upgraded to the FX09 which solved the battery issue (now lasts several days of normal usage on a single charge!), added an extra megapixel (6MP instead of 5MP) and a bunch of extra software features.

Apart from the low-light issue, which is really a physical limitation due to the size of the camera, the FX09 is just about the perfect compact camera. Small, light, long battery life and outstanding image quality.

From what I've read, the FX30 takes it up a notch with: 1 extra MP, better low light performance, wider lens and even thinner/lighter. I can't wait to get my hands on one, as in my opinion this are the best compact camera series out there!

[Darren Kolotyluk @ Mar 29th 2007 12:10AM]

The camera weighs 132g
found on Panasonic's website

[Gordy @ Jan 31st 2007 10:23AM]

Once again...every spec but the camera's weight...MAN!

Anyway, Panasonic's designs are starting to grow on me, and the Leica optics don't hurt. I need a light camera to wear around my neck, this could be it...once I know how much it weighs.

[Mike @ Feb 6th 2007 1:43AM]

All the specs (including weight with and without membory card and battery) can be found by clicking on the camera and scrolling down the page.

[Jason @ Jan 31st 2007 10:41AM]

I have an FX01 and I think it takes great pictures. They just don't pass the pixel-peeping test as well as other cameras. They need to ditch that crazy noise reduction algorithm.

By the way, the FX01 takes photos at 3fps in bursts. Not sure why this new one is slower. Looks like an equally nice camera otherwise.

[neil @ Jan 31st 2007 1:50PM]

I found the FX-01 is very good quality for its size and price tag.

[Squirrel @ Feb 1st 2007 11:19AM]

"Mega OIS optical image stabilization"
Mega Optical Image Stabilization optical image stabilization...

[EnderVR46 @ Mar 10th 2007 12:14AM]

The FX01 has only been out for about a year now.

I have one and it takes fairly good photos. At least, for it's size that is. Given there is enough light. It really looses quality as the light fades away.

[Itai @ May 2nd 2007 12:35AM]

The full-review of the Panasonic FX30 was just posted at Neocamera. See: http://www.neocamera.com/review_panasonic_fx30_more.html