Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX12 Digital Camera

At first I ordered a Samsung NV3 from Amazon.co.uk, but the item they sent was not new and did not function properly. I sent it back and bought this which I am very happy with. I was mostly interested in a camera that could also do video at a DVD or above resolutions. The DMC-FX12 captures .mov video files (not quite as versatile as .avi files) at at maximum of 848 x 480 at 30 frames per second. I think this is great. Very good quality video for a camera.

The range of functions for capturing still images is also great. I like the ability to set white balance, to zoom-in and crop images in playback mode, and I really like the general appearance and feel of the camera when using it.

The acquisition software can be a bit frustrating, and although I was led to belive it had a USB 2.0 interface, the transfer of pics and videos does not seem to happen very fast.

The other small disappointment for me was that the AV outputs only send proper PAL or NTSC format signals when in playback mode. This is fine for looking at Pictures or Video on a TV screen that have already been captures, but it does not extend to a real-time display of the menus or real-time signals from the camera lens. This isn't really a necessity for most people, but I would have had fun doing that.

Overall this is very good camera which takes good pics and is useable by anybody, with any amount of photographic skills/knowledge. Ideally I would also have liked the inclusion of an mp3 player/ media player like the samsung NV3, but even so, I am glad I got a Panasonic DMC-FX12 instead.