Panasonic DMC-FS25

Design & Appearance

The Panasonic DMC-FS25 has the look of a basic point-and-shoot, with no particular aesthetic flair. This being said, it isn't made out of brightly colored plastic like some flashy models we've seen, so it's far more professional than many other point-and-shoot options. The FS25 will be available in silver, gold and black.
 

Size & Handling

The FS25 is small and portable. We aren't big fans of the shutter button being indented so far from the camera edge, but we do like the zoom ring as opposed to a zoom toggle switch. The controls on the back are located a bit low, requiring you to shift your grip while shooting.
 

The FS25 controls make changing settings while shooting a bit clumsy.

Menu

The FS25's menu structure is very basic, although the use of two different menu systems might be slightly confusing. The main menu, which is accessed via the Menu/Set button, is a standard two-page affair. One page deals with capturing options, like picture size and quality, and the second is a general settings menu.
 

The FS25 relies on on-screen menus instead of a control dial.

Instead of a control dial to select shooting mode, you are given two controls: the capture/playback switch and the Mode button. If you set the switch to capture and hit the Mode button, you'll gain access to scene modes, movie mode, automatic mode, and a few other shooting modes. If the switch is set to playback, the Mode button will give you various playback options.
 

Menu choices have icons, but also clear text descriptions..

There is also a quick menu, a handy way to access key settings in one convenient location. You access it with the Q. Menu button, and can then set the image stabilization, burst mode, autofocus mode, white balance, ISO, contrast, picture size, or enable Power LCD mode.

The quick menu offers fast access to key settings.

Ease of Use

The FS25 appears to be an entry-level point and shoot in terms of its feature set. It also had a few beginner-friendly touches, like a readily available demo mode that provides instructions for just about every menu item. The one flaw we found with ease of use was the lack of a separate control dial, which is more intuitive for a true beginner than wading through a wide variety of on-screen menu options.