Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX50

Viewfinder (0.0)
The Panasonic FX50 uses its massive LCD screen’s live preview as its viewfinder. With its compact form and big screen, there’s no space for an optical viewfinder. And with a 100 percent accurate view on the huge screen, no one would want an optical viewfinder. In the setup menu, users can choose to add composition guide lines to the view. There are two patterns: the standard tic-tac-toe-type lines and another that adds two diagonally crossing lines. The live view has several viewing modes that can be controlled by the button directly right of the screen and above the multi-selector. When pushed quickly, the display changes to show shooting information, composition guide lines, and a live histogram. When pushed for a full second, users can choose from a High Angle viewing mode and a Power LCD mode. The High Angle mode works well for those occasional shots above the head, but is impossible to see when shooting at the hip. The viewing angle is so specialized to shooting above the head that when viewed straight on, the screen looks washed out in this mode. The Power LCD mode adds contrast and a backlight to the screen so that it can be more easily viewed outdoors. Amazingly, it actually works. Lots of compact digital cameras have backlight features that supposedly make them simple to view in daylight, but none of them are as impressive as the FX50’s Power LCD function. Overall, the large live view is a big plus on the FX50.

LCD Screen (8.5)
The viewing modes described in the previous section are effective in both recording and playback modes on the LCD screen. The display is enormous: 3 inches takes up nearly the entire back of the camera. The resolution is also great at 230,000 pixels. The polycrystalline TFT LCD’s brightness can be adjusted up or down by three steps in the setup menu. When pictures are taken, the screen blacks out for about a quarter of a second – or longer for extended shutter speeds like in the Night Scenery mode. After the shot is snapped, the FX50 can be set to automatically display the picture for 1 or 3 seconds, or to display the zoomed center to check the focus. Overall, the screen’s size and resolution make it easy to view and provide a fine interface for menus as well.

Flash (6.25)
The FX50’s built-in flash is small and centrally located on the front of the camera. Well, almost centrally located. The flash is slightly left of the center, and that shows in the pictures. Subjects just right of the center of the frame will be brighter than the left portion of the frame. The flash’s light can illuminate from 1.97 to 13.1 ft at the widest focal length and using an auto ISO setting. Users can control the flash with the right side of the multi-selector. Pushing the joystick to the right while in recording mode will display the flash options: Auto, On, Off, Auto with Red-Eye Reduction, and Slow-Sync with Red-Eye Reduction. The flash’s coverage may not be beautifully even, but it does a good job of eliminating red eyes (although it takes its time). The red-eye reduction flash settings send out a single pre-flash about a quarter of a second before the actual flash and accompanying exposure. The flash takes about a second and a half to recycle for the next shot. Overall, the flash is decent for a compact digital camera but it isn’t anything extraordinary.

Zoom Lens (7.25)
The camera is equipped with a nice Leica 3.6x optical zoom lens. The length of the zoom is just okay. Most compact cameras still have a 3x lens, so this is just slightly longer and this lens is much wider. Most lenses have a widest focal length of 36-38 mm. The Lumix FX50’s widest focal length is 28 mm; this makes fitting extended family into a group portrait much easier! The Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens has a focal range from 4.6-16.8 mm, which is equivalent to 28-102 mm in 35 mm format. The lens is controlled by a zoom ring that surrounds the shutter release button. The control is quite sensitive, as it allows users to stop at about 21 different focal lengths within the 3.6x range. More stops are available in the extended zoom. This is impressive, as most compact models still only allow for about six focal lengths in a 3x range. The lens makes a tiny audible sound as it zooms in and out. It is at the telephoto end of the lens that the noise is a little strange: it sounds like something rubber inside the lens barrel is being squashed.

The lens is built from 7 elements in 6 groups with 4 aspherical lenses and 4 aspherical surfaces. It does have some color fringing in its images, along with a slight pincushion effect noticeable only in the macro mode. The lens is nicely complemented by two cool features: extended zoom and image stabilization. The extended zoom feature works only when the image size is not at the top resolution; it works like a digital zoom but without degrading image quality. In the 4:3 format at the 5-megapixel image size, the FX50 can zoom up to 4.4x. For smaller sizes in 4:3, 3:2, or 16:9, 5.5x optical zoom is available. (Just to note, there is true 4x digital zoom but image quality deteriorates so much that it isn’t recommended to ever use it) Like other Panasonic Lumix digital cameras, the FX50 comes with Mega optical image stabilization. It has its own designated button atop the camera on the right edge. The button is tiny, and accesses two modes. The first mode operates continuously, while the second mode activates only when recording a picture or video. The image stabilization system can be turned off too, but it works so well that users won’t want to do that. Indeed, the difference between having the system on and off is definitely noticeable. It can keep videos from looking like they’re on a caffeine buzz and keep still pictures nice and clear. The lens is not compatible with conversion lenses.