Manual Controls
There are few manual settings available on the FX5. The user can control focal length, ISO, White Balance, Color, Saturation, and shooting methods, but can’t control such things as aperture or shutter speed or even focus directly, leaving the user with a predominantly automatic model, with some slight manual control options available.
Focus

Auto Focus (7.0)
The FX5 focuses automatically in both normal and macro modes. The digital camera has a spot auto focusing system that can be turned on or off. As with many cameras, the shutter release button pressed halfway will trigger the auto focus and/or focus lock option. Some cameras will provide more AF settings for the user to select from and will provide control to the user through these options.

Manual Focus (0.0)
There are no manual focus settings possible on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX5, which is not surprising, considering the size of the camera.

Metering (7.0)
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX5 has two metering settings available to the user: Intelligent Multiple, which meters the entire scene's lighting; and Spot, which focuses on a smaller portion of the scene to garner its meter reading. This will grant the user the needed flexibility to control the camera's automatic metering methods without it providing anything beyond.

Exposure (7.0)
The FX5 automatically controls the exposure unless the user intervenes. In the shooting menu, the user can adjust the exposure +/- 2 EV in 1/3 increments.

White Balance (7.5)
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX5 is equipped with six separate settings: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Halogen, Flash, and White Set. To use the White Balance settings, the user must enter the menu and highlight the White Balance feature by scrolling the up and down keys on the four-way keypad. Once highlighted, the user presses the right/left buttons on the keypad to highlight the appropriate setting.

ISO (5.5)
The ISO for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX5 has four settings. These settings are Auto, 50, 100, and 200, and can be accessed through the LCD screen menu by depressing the Menu button, then scrolling with the four-way controller until the ISO sensitivity category is highlighted in the selection bar. This is a limited range without the typical ISO 400 inclusion found on most competing models. This will impair the FX5's low light performance when a flash is not used; however, the FX5 compensates for this flaw by including an ISO 50 setting. Many cameras include an ISO 400 rating but do not drop below the ISO 100 rating. Therefore, what the FX5 lacks in regards to low light capabilities, it is equipped to compensate for on the other end of the spectrum, enabling the camera to succeed most when abundant light is available.

Shutter Speed (0.0)
The shutter speed for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX5 is automatically set, and cannot be controlled by the user manually. The shutter speed can vary from 8 seconds to 1/2000^th of a second, allowing for a variety of lighting situations. However, longer shutter speeds will need a tripod or other steadying device, as even casual hand motion can blur the image. Luckily, the camera does come with a Mega Image Stabilization function that can be activated to reduce camera shake.

Aperture (0.0)
The aperture settings for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX5 range from f/2.8-f/4.9. There are no manual control settings for aperture on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX5.