Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 First Impressions Review

Manual Control Options
Manually, the Panasonic FX01 has some surprises and some disappointments. It’s not as resplendent with offerings as the Canon A-series is, but the FX01 does give beginning point-and-shoot users a good base to work from. Manual controls are easily accessed through either the dual functions on the external four-way control or through the menus entered via the menu/set button. Manual control options provided with the FX01 are: ISO, white balance, white balance adjustment, exposure compensation and AE bracketing. All other control options are automatic.

Focus
Auto Focus
Auto focus control on the FX01 is accessed by entering the camera’s rec. menu and then selecting the AF Mode submenu. This menu lists the following AF options: 1 point, 1 point high speed, 3 points high speed, 5 point and spot focus. The auto focus reacted speedily, which is good considering the lack of manual control over this feature. The camera snapped quickly into focus although a lag in time began to be noticeable when the camera was shooting in lower light situations.

In addition to the AF modes menu, there are two auto focus systems that can be chosen from, normal or macro AF. These two controls are moved between by turning the mode dial in the upper right corner on the back of the camera.

Manual Focus
With a primarily point-and-shoot structure that has minimal manual control options, the FX01 does not provide a manual focus option. With that said, the camera has a number of auto focus options that the user can select to partially tailor the camera to their shooting style and the demands of the scene.

Metering
Unfortunately the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 does not provide the metering options often found on cameras within this price range, even those that are primarily point-and-shoot models. The only metering option for this camera is multi-pattern metering, which gauges lighting for the entire scene and an acceptable overall exposure. This is fine when lighting is either consistent or subjects are front-lit, but without a spot or center-weighted option, the user can’t properly compensate for backlit subjects or high-contrast scenes.

Exposure
Control over exposure compensation and bracketing is possible when shooting with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01. The exposure compensation control is accessed through the up arrow on the four-way control. When this arrow is pressed, a live view screen with a horizontal exposure scale overlay appears. When this scale is open the user can make adjustments to the setting through the right and left arrows on the four-way. The exposure compensation scale is a standard +/-2 EV with 1/3-stop increments throughout.

To access control over the auto bracketing AE feature the user must press the up arrow twice in succession, thus displaying a scale which allows selection of either +/- 1/3 EV, +/- 2/3 EV, or +/-1 EV. All options record three frames to memory.

White Balance
To access control over the white balance settings of the Panasonic Lumix DMC FX01, the camera’s rec. menu must be entered by pressing the menu/set button in the center of the four-way control. The white balance submenu has these options: auto, daylight, cloudy, halogen, flash and white set (manual white balance). The camera additionally offers a white balance adjustment scale (fine tune) which is accessible when shooting with any white balance mode besides the auto setting. The white balance for the FX01 does provide a live view option so that as changes are made to this feature, users can see how the new settings will affect the image.

ISO
Image sensitivity is manually controllable on the FX01 and accessed by pressing the menu/set button in the center of the four-way control. The ISO settings are located within the rec. menu and consist of auto, 80, 100, 200 and 400 ISO. There is also a high sensitivity shooting mode that automatically engages ISO settings between 800 – 1600 once set, although users should expect to observe an overwhelming amount of noise in the images.

Shutter Speed
Like aperture and focus, the shutter speed range for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 is automatically controlled, although it does provide a rather wide range of speeds that should suffice for both well lit and low light situations. The automatic shutter speed range for the FX01 is 8 seconds to 1/2000 of a second with shutter speeds of 15, 30 and 60 seconds available when the camera is entered into the Starry Sky preset shooting mode.

Aperture
Not too surprisingly, the FX01 does not provide manual control over aperture. If manual control over aperture is wanted, it would be wise to look at models in a slightly higher price range or by manufacturers like Canon, Nikon or Sony. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 has an automatic aperture range of f/2.8 to f/5.6 in wide angle and f/5.6 to f/11 in telephoto.