The Digital Camera Store

Written on the 2011-05-31

rating of 5.0

I use this little camera every day to take pictures for online auction sites and the macro focus features are just perfect. The images are crisp, clear and perfect. <br />The mode settings make it easy to set up the camera for whatever situation you find yourself in. Can't get any easier than this. Size is perfect for slipping in my purse and taking it with me wherever I go. I love it.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-05-30

rating of 3.0

Good enough performance in sunlight, poor performance in low.<br /><br />Noise is horribly noticeable at ISO 800.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-05-23

rating of 4.0

A great P&S for outdoor still and all around video at a great price. Flexible record modes and basic video editing on camera. Bad ISO performance, but the lense is fast enough that it somewhat compensates. You can cap the ISO at 200.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-05-17

rating of 1.0

I bought this to replace a Panasonic DMC-TZ5 that broke. I loved this camera and built up some brand loyalty to the Lumix series of cameras. I purchased this camera because it had a fast aperture and leica lens. I took about 50 pictures indoors and outdoors as soon as I charged up the new camera to test it out. I loaded them onto my computer and inspected the sharpness of the images. To my surprise, the images were just about on par with my camera phone's picture quality. I literally could not believe how horrible these pictures turned out. None of them were sharp when zoomed to 100%, even the outdoor photos. The photos I took of my child were even worse. Don't bother with this camera! I returned it immediately and ordered the Canon s95, which is a bit more costly but worth every penny. The s95 is fun, tiny, and amazingly sharp and fast.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-05-14

rating of 5.0

When I took it out and got to take a couple of pictures I was not impressed. It did better video than pictures which was odd. I did some research and found out that there was a firmware update for the camera. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE UPDATE!!! It made a huge difference. Overall for the price you can't beat all of the features that this camera has.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-05-12

rating of 4.0

I purchased this camera to have a point and shoot for trips and vacations. So far I am pleased with it's performance. Not too happy with the 1080i video but 720 looks very good. Battery life is excellent and the size is perfect for the shirt pocket. I believe this camera was orig. priced at [$] and at that price I would not buy it again. I purchased it for [$] & at that price I would say that the features the camera has and the quality it produces are excellent!
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-04-27

rating of 5.0

This camera allows me to be able to set up the camera to the setting i want and take a great picture. The video is awesome also. Very pleased.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-04-11

rating of 5.0

Have a Dslr but wanted something to be able to give me the qualities of my D700 but of course know not match. It has taken wonderful pictures and I love the manual settings I have. Great carry around camera for that any time moment. Also great video from such a small device. Absolutely love this camera for what I intended to use it for.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-04-02

rating of 2.0

For personal use.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-03-29

rating of 4.0

I love little point and shoot cameras like this.<br />It goes in my pocket and only comes out when I want to snap a shot of something. Under the right conditions, this camera will produce a clean crisp image, as good as any SLR can produce.<br />I have used Casio point and shots for years so getting used to the positioning of buttons and the location of settings has been fun. <br />This camera has all the functions you would expect from a point and shoot.<br />I love the touch screen, although you have to be careful to not touch the screen unless you're making setting adjustments.<br /><br />The video is outstanding. It uses a .mtv compression and you have to have the included software to view it on your computer. This file type works in my video editing software (Magix) although I'm still working with the export quality.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-02-24

rating of 5.0

For mi bussines and personal
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-02-21

rating of 5.0

I was hesitant to purchase this camera after reading some of the reviews by customers but am more than satisfied. I used it this weekend to take pictures at my grandson's 1st birthday party & got some fantastic movies & still shots even in low light. The burst feature was particularly helpful since it is often hard to photograph children.<br /><br />I would absolutely recommend this camera!
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2011-02-17

rating of 5.0

We bought this camera to take on an upcoming Disney Cruise. We wanted something small and fast that takes great pictures. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX700 fits the bill. It takes great pictures in the automatic mode for those fast shots, but I can also adjust everything manually for those "have to get it right" shots. I especially love the touch screen LCD panel on the back and the Leica lens. It's an amazing camera for the price.
(Source: www.jr.com)

Written on the 2011-01-07

rating of 5.0

Camera works great and is easy to use. Many features for the typical shutterbug. A better optical zoom (say 10x) would have made this a perfect camera.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2010-12-30

rating of 5.0

This is one of the Best camera's i have owned..For a point and shoot camera, it's takes photos as good as a proffessional SLR Camera..The colors are full, deep and rich..The focus is sharp and clear..I've used this camera for an auto show and portraits, the quality of the photos are very proffessional and magazine ready.This camera does not disappoint.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2010-12-29

rating of 4.0

Great camera. However, just as the other reviews said this camera is not great in low light. The photos are blurry when not using the flash in a low light situation. Also, the LCD screen is VERY difficult to see in bright sunlight, which we have a lot of in CO!<br />Beside the two issues listed above, we are happy with our purchase.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2010-12-24

rating of 5.0

Mostly I use this camera to make photos of my family and friends. I have big SLR camera but it's not comfortable to have it everywhere so I decided to get this one - small. I was amazeg how many new technologies are inside such a small camera. It's so comfortable to use it! Possibilities of Auto and Manual settings are cool. Big touch screen makes operation fast and easy. The most surprising for me was optical stabilization for video shooting - I never though it is possible to shoot such a steady video on such small cameras. Also wide angle and lucid lens are important for me because it's always a problem when shooting inside.
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2010-12-22

rating of 5.0

This is one of the Best Cameras i have ever owned.Takes beautifull full rich color shots with little effort from the user..I would recommend this camera to anyone interested in a pro point and shoot camera..
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2010-11-01

rating of 4.0

I got this camera because I wanted a small compact full HD video camera mainly for home and Youtube use. I own a Cannon MV700i with a 18x optical zoom which records on DAT cassettes but it is bulky to carry around for ad-hock shoots and it records in 4:3 ratio screen size. <br /><br />The Panasonic Lumix FX700 records perfectly in good light. In poor light it suffers a bit. I recored some footage in a rain Forrest in the Blue Mountains (near Sydney Australia) which is full shade conditions and it look good until you zoom in to full 5x optical at which point you can see digital noise in the darker areas. (When viewed on HD TV) You don't want to use it for a "indie" style TV movie in the shade at full zoom but if you are mindful of that short-coming then this camera will give results that you can be proud of. <br /><br />I also recorded a short movie of the train that goes up the side of the cliff at Scenic World. At several points I panned the camera across to my wife, seated next to me, and then panned back to cover the front of the train again. The train also enters a dark section of tunnel for about 5 seconds. I shot the entire scene with the camera on "automatic" which means the camera selects the best settings for the circumstances. On playback I noticed that one of the pans to my wife was out of focus. It seems as if the camera focused on some other part of the scene. There are plenty of setting you can choose from to affect the focus area so perhaps if you have patience enough to pre-asses what you are going to record and then set the camera accordingly, then you might get better results. For example, had I set aperture priority and select the maxim F6 setting, I probably would have had more success with keeping the focus correct in the above example. One can't really blame the camera in this instance. <br /><br />The recording of the train in the 5 seconds of tunnel showed the noise artifacts in the dark areas. This camera has a MOS sensor rather than the CMOS sensor used by most cheaper digital cameras and it is supposed to give superior low light performance than CMOS, so I can only assume that the movie would have had worse low light artifacts with a cheaper digital camera. <br /><br />We all wish for a camera that gives perfect results in all circumstances but I doubt that such a camera exists. Certainly not below the $400 mark anyway. <br /><br />Regarding results of normal photographs, this camera certainly gives me MUCH better low light results than the $150 digital camera I own. The Leica lens also gives fantastic results compared to the $150 camera which shows a lot of lens glow around the edges of bright objects. The Panasonic Lumix FX700 does not show any such problems. <br /><br />In my opinion, if you want something better then you need to be look at cameras costing $800 or more. Reducing the low light noise even further would be nice but it would require a bigger MOS sensor as mentioned by another reviewer but don't let that put you off unless you were hoping to use this camera to shoot TV commercials in near darkness. <br /><br />This camera also has face recognition and it works well for photographs. If it recognizes a face it will choose to focus on that which means you family snaps should always be in focus. I believe that this feature also works in movie mode. The out of focus movie shot I mentioned earlier was more of a side view of my wife which makes it harder for the face recognition/detection to function. <br /><br />Something to watch out for, when playing back movies on your TV using the provided TV out cable, the color-detail quality is poor because of the digital to analogue to digital conversion process involved with that format. Buy yourself a mini HDMI cable and rather use that for playing back on TV and you will see a huge difference in picture quality. Using the provided TV-out cable actually hurts this camera's reputation and Panasonic should have given a HDMI cable with the camera, if only to ensure that people see their movies at the same high quality as they were recorded with. If you are going to download your movies to a PC for editing and creating a DVD then the HDMI cable is not necessary. <br /><br />For more details about this camera, try this link [...] <br /><br />I rated this 4 out of 5 because the advertising hype about this camera's low light performance makes it sound perfect. It is certainly better than a similar CMOS sensor camera but it is not perfect. It more like 4.7 out of 5 stars. Put in a bigger MOS sensor, even if it adds $50 to the price and it would be almost perfect. <br /><br />For what I'm using it for, I can't really complain and I am happy with my purchase. <br />
(Source: www.amazon.com)

Written on the 2010-10-20

rating of 5.0

I did three thousand photos and they are more beautiful than the simple and intuitive to use. Thanks B & H
(Source: www.bhphotovideo.com)

Written on the 2010-09-28

rating of 5.0

After reading some of the negative reviews on this camera I decided to test it out for at least two weeks before writing my review. I'll not bore you with lots of technical information. There is plenty of that available in Camera Review Blogs online. The following is my opinion on the performance and features of the FX700. <br /><br />* No ..... The FX700 does not shoot great photos in bad lighting. Neither does any other camera that I am aware of. Lighting is everything when it comes to photography. Ansel Adams would wait for days for the perfectly lit scene before recording his masterpieces. We have become consumers that seek miracles from new technology ... The magic pill that will make you lose weight, feel great and stop all of your joint pain, the titanium driver that will fire a golf ball over 300 yards with accuracy and consistency; a cell phone that will make clear un-dropped calls from anywhere in the country; a powerful lightweight vacuum cleaner that will clean the entire house with very little effort; and yes "a camera that always shoots great photos in bad lighting". I don't believe that such animals exist. <br /><br />If you are lucky to have a camera that takes great photos in poor lighting .... God Bless You! You are living a supernatural life. I am quite sure however, if you try to enlarge such photos you will find them to be quite fuzzy and grainy when blown up. The FX700 does a fairly good job in poor lighting if you are able the keep the ISO setting below 400 ISO, slow the camera exposure down, and have your subject remain perfectly still. The best strategy however is to do like the pros. Don't take photos in badly lit scenes. <br /><br />* The video quality is really one of the highlights within the FX700. I found very little camera shake, easy controls, smooth zooming and spot on focusing. A quality memory card is essential. I use a SanDisk 16GB Extreme - SDHC Class 10 High Performance memory card (SDSDX3-016G-P31). It more than satisfies my needs and is extremely fast. <br /><br />* The touch screen controls on the FX700 make quick programming changes a snap. This is the best upgrade on any new camera that I have seen recently. No more spin dials, toggle buttons, awkward menus, etc. The touch screen also assists in face recognition, subject focus, and many other easy to set functions. <br /><br />* The camera is very solidly built. It is similar in size to my FX55 which also sports a 3" LCD screen. But that's where the similarities end. The FX700 has many great new features that render my FX55 as a hand-me-down to one of the family members. <br /><br />* The "panorama assist" and "hand-held night photo" features are another great bonus with the FX700. I was able to shoot a 360° panorama perfectly on my very first attempt. The night time photos are the best that I have experienced without the use of a tripod. <br /><br />If you are looking for a small pocket-sized camera with loads of features, the FX700 is worth considering. There are many great options in the market. I am very happy that I made this purchase. The FX700 certainly has fulfilled my expectations. <br /><br /><br />David Perez <br />
(Source: www.amazon.com)

Written on the 2010-09-25

rating of 3.0

If you read the specifications for the FX700, and even if you read the product manual, you come away with the impression that video shooting can be performed in the PASM modes. <br /><br />However, the manual 'fine print' says that in these PASM modes you can "Record motion pictures by automatically setting aperture and shutter speed" (Operating Instructions, page 88). <br /><br />In other words, the video aperture and shutter are controlled "automatically" even when you have set the camera into the manual PASM control modes. You have no control over shutter or aperture of the video, as you do on the LX5 or the FZ100, for example, cameras which were released by Panasonic at the same time as this FX700. <br /><br />I was hoping that the MOS sensor in the FX700 would complement the CCD in my LX5, and also produce decent, manually-controlled, HD video. However, not having any manual control over video makes the FX700 a non-starter, IMO. If it is a big deal for you, then please read the operating manual very carefully before buying the FX700... <br /> <br />
(Source: www.amazon.com)

Written on the 2010-09-17

rating of 3.0

Before I go into my impressions, allow me to share some quick information with you. I bought this camera for a number of reasons, which include: <br /><br />- Leica Lens <br />- Fast 2.2 aperture <br />- Full HD video <br />- VIdeo records in AVCHD <br />- 10 FPS burst @ full resolution and up to 60 burst at 3.5 MP <br />- Size and weight <br />- Wanted to try out touch screen camera <br />- Wide, 24mm lens <br />- Cool features such as motion blur and intelligent burst, which chooses the burst speed based on the amount of movement occurring in the frame <br />- Manual controls (actually has PASM) <br />- MOS Sensor (which is huge for me, see below) <br />- Four different aspect rations (1:1, 3:2, 4:3, 16:9) <br /><br />I have been a long time SLR/DSLR user, and have always had a backup camera. Up until a few months ago, I was happy lugging around super zoom point and shoots as backups. Then, I got tired of not being able to take a camera to dinners, events, concerts, etc. since I was unable to lug around a large SLR format camera or super zoom P&S to certain places and often times did not want to carry around something so obtrusive. Recently, I have been researching some of the newer point and shoots, including the FX700, SD4500IS, S95, ZS7, and LX5. This is the second of the bunch I have tried. The other was the LX5, which I will briefly touch upon below. <br /><br />As stated, there were numerous features about this camera that caught my eye. So, why not buy it!!! Well I did and I am VERY disappointed with the image quality. Tonight I had a chance to test the ability of the camera to capture shots in a low to medium light setting. Of the 140 or so pictures I took, all but a dozen or so were soft and many had a very hard time focusing properly, even on IA (automatic) mode which I tried using a for a few shots. For the average person, the pictures may cut it but for me, they were really unimpressive. Additionally, the few pictures I took of people with the flash were awful. The people were wearing black and white but the entire picture had a nasty, red hue. The placement of the flash is very awkward as it is right by the hand grip (if you hold with right hand) so your index finger could easily cover the flash. At first, I thought the red hue was caused by my finger accidentally being placed over the flash but after being very careful to avoid that, the same result(s) occurred. Truly disappointing. On the plus side, however, the camera performs moderately well in well lit situations but unfortunately, that is not what makes a camera good in my eye. This is because I feel as though every camera (especially in this price range!) should do at a decent job in well-lit situations... I should also let you know that I have tried to camera on an overcast day, a clear and sunny day, in an artificially lit room, and in moonlit environments. I was hoping I just had a few crappy outings but I just didn't get the quality I wanted and expected... but maybe I expect too much from having used SLRs and the new LX5. <br /><br />As for ISO performance... I really thought the camera suffered greatly at any ISO level above 200. In addition to the aforementioned subpar low-light image quality, the inability for the camera to offer good high ISO performance (in my opinion), really makes shooting low light more frustrating and unappealing. A cool benefit of this camera, however, is the ability to choose between four different aspect rations, which are 1:1, 3:2, 4:3, and 16:9. This feature really gives the photographer more "creative control" when taking pictures. Standard cameras generally offer only two or three of these aspect ratios, so keep that in mind! Another plus side is that the camera can utilize shutter speeds of 60 - 1/2000 sec, which is pretty good, but nothing new for a compact camera. Obviously the ability to use 1/3200 and 1/4000 shutter speeds would make the camera better for certain situations but it is pretty good as is. Also, the burst mode works well manually and with intelligent burst so if you want a super fast compact camera and don't mind sacrificing image quality, this may be to your liking. <br /><br />Now onto video.... Another big selling point for me was the Full HD video capability. I was able to test the camera in well-lit and poorly lit situations and both did fairly well for a compact point and shoot. I was pretty impressed by the quality and the sound was actually pretty amazing for a camera of this size. The MOS sensor was especially appealing to me because the CCD sensors of the LX5, s95, ZS7, etc. really bother me when light sources produce vertical blue/violet lines as a result of the CCD sensor overload. This camera DOES NOT do that since it uses a MOS sensor. For many people, this is a huge selling point so keep it in mind... The only downfalls about the video capabilities is that it cannot record 720P @ 24fps (unless I missed this somehow) for the "film like" look that many people seek or 1080p at any FPS. Please note that some reviews/comments have stated that this camera is 1080p capable but it is not. Also, the product page says it is 1080p capable but I believe that is erroneous. From my observations, it is capable of 1080i. Moreover, I do have and do love the ability of the LX5 to take super crisp 720p/24fps HD videos but really disliked the CCD overload. An LX5 with a large MOS sensor would be the perfect set up... maybe the LX6 to LX7 will make this wish come true. <br /><br />Another small, and relatively insignificant issue I have is the relatively low resolution of the screen. Since it is a touch screen camera in at a fairly high price point, I expected a nice, crisp, high-resolution screen. Much to my dismay, the screen only had a resolution of 230k. I would have much rather liked to see 460k, which has become relatively standard on point on shoots. Please note that I am saying that it COULD be better and not that it is bad as is. The screen it has is fairly good and gets the job done. <br /><br />In summary, the camera is WONDERFUL on paper but in action, it really doesn't do a great job for what I needed and expected. If you are looking for a camera that does a good job in low light situations with great image quality, perhaps consider an LX5 (love it!) or S95 (which I am yet to try). Or, if you want a cheaper option with better (or at least better known) results, check out the ZS7. My friend swears by his and I am going to try one soon. If you, however, only shoot in well-lit environments, then this may be a good option for you! But remember... you may not be getting what you are paying for! <br />
(Source: www.amazon.com)

Written on the 2010-09-17

rating of 4.0

I was very impressed by the number of features this camera has. I like the ease of use the touch screen adds. My previous camera does not have a touch screen, and while it was not difficult to use, the access to the menus was enough of a barrier to discourage usage - especially when I was in a hurry to capture a picture.<br /><br />The full automatic mode allows very little adjustment compared to the other modes which offer a great deal of control over the camera. While an "automatic" mode is supposed to "do it all" for you I would have liked just a little more input to the camera. For example, in other modes I can specify the maximum ISO that can be used. That allows me to stop the camera from using the higher, noisier, ISO values.<br /><br />The HD movies look great! Movies are easy to take - they have their own shutter button. With my old camera I would have to switch to movie mode to take a movie. Sometimes I would forget to switch back and miss a good still picture. <br /><br />The camera is small and light. There is minimal shutter lag. The flash seems adequate with the zoom at wide and/or with the camera in auto mode. Pictures taken in lower light are not very sharp and clear. Flash pictures are iffy - some look sharp, others are not sharp. Outdoor pictures are generally sharp and clear. The camera is advertised as 14 Mega Pixels, but if you set it to the 3x2 format (which is the form factor of 35mm film)it is only 12 MP (it is 14 MP in 4x3 format).<br /><br />I was looking for a small, light weight camera that fit easily and comfortably in my shirt pocket and had the capability to deal with all the photographic issues that my previous camera could not (like zoom in movie mode, good image stabilization, HD movies, great wide angle lens, and ways to deal with difficult exposure conditions (via bracketing) and people blinking (burst mode)). This camera does it all - and then some. If the picture quality were a bit better it would definitely get 5 stars.
(Source: www.jr.com)

Written on the 2010-09-15

rating of 4.0

I've had it for only a few days, so here's the initial review. I love this camera! The two major features I was looking for are fast shutter speed and no blur taking moving photos. I have a 3 year old and previously had the canon sd1200, which was crap at taking pictures of a kid unless they stood perfectly still. This one takes photos quickly, especially in burst mode, and she's always in focus. Last weekend I had a girl's weekend with 8 women, we used the camera a ton for 3 days straight-and just now it's showing the battery as 2/3 full. Also we used the slimming feature, slight slimming works great,we all looked fabulous! but the more slimming feature made it look like a funhouse mirror. We also tried the softening effect, made your skin look a bit better but not showing obvious editing. <br />As far as the picture quality goes, outdoor light and bright lights looked fantastic, inside not as much. The indoor or nighttime shots were a bit soft, not as sharp as I would have liked. That, so far, is the only downside to the camera. Also, the instruction booklet with the camera didn't say much about the other features, the software might but I haven't made it that far yet. <br />
(Source: www.amazon.com)