Panasonic Lumix® DMC-FX3 Digital Camera

Design

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX3 is a classic looking camera with rounded edges and the choice of black or silver. On the front there is a nice silver lens that dominates the front and a small narrow flash. There is also a silver rubber grip that assists the middle finger on your right hand when holding it. On the reverse there is a 2.5in LCD screen and next to it on the right there is a d-panel with a menu button in the middle. We think this is the best d-panel we have seen as the buttons are very spread out rather than being too close together and forcing you to press the wrong function. Also much better for those with larger thumbs. There are two buttons below this panel for instant deleting and playback and there is a function dial at the top. On the top there is the power button, shutter release and anti-shake option. The battery and media card compartment are on the underside of the camera behind a little swing door. The DMC-FX3 is a nice size to hold with dimensions of 94.1mm (w) x 51.1mm (h) x 24.2mm (d) and a weight of 153g fully loaded.

Features

This lovely little piece of work has a 6 megapixel CCD with a Leica-branded 3x optical zoom lens. It has an outstanding feature of the Optical Image Stabilisation, which as Panasonic have introduced it, it is immaculate and so easy to use. It intelligently counterbalances camera shake by shifting the CCD in the opposite direction. If you haven’t used it before, you will be seriously impressed with the results. There is a high sensitivity of up to 1600 ISO so great shots can be achieved in low lighting conditions although the images will be in captured in reduced resolution. We particularly like the ‘Baby’ mode in the cameras Scene Modes, where you can program in the babies date of birth and then it will automatically label images of the child with their age at the time the photo is taken.

Performance

The Lumix DMC-FX3 is not just a ultra compact and stylish camera but a special model having a the great combination of O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilisation) which conquers the blur due to hand-shake and High Sensitivity which suppresses the other major cause of blurred image resulting from the subject’s movement, ensuring you to take clear, beautiful and blur-free pictures. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX3 fires up in around 1.9secs, which is quite average. There are numerous continuous shooting modes, one of which is a high speed mode that takes a burst of up to six frames in couple of seconds, and an unlimited mode that can shoot at just over one frame a second until the memory card is full. After using this camera for a few weeks, we managed to get around 300 images onto a 1GB memory card and the battery was good as we didn’t need to charge it all to take these shots.

I hope this has helped you!