Customer Reviews

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH20 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 8x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Red)

5 star:		(118)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Purchased camera for an upcoming trip. Wanted a point and shoot that was pocket sized and took good pictures. I was going to get a Canon Powershot but then started looking at Panasonic. I feel like I got more for my money. Maybe because Panasonic is not yet a household name in cameras. A few clicks online will reveal they are "joined at the hips" with Leica.

Using the iA mode delivered great pictures everytime. Did not take a bad picture yet, the smarts built-in really work! Focusing time is short, but you have to let the camera focus before pressing all the way. Zoom is great for such a small package, but image stabilization is a must without tripod. Also has wide angle lens which is a plus, not readily available in competing models. Have not played with any of the scene modes, I let iA handle that. And when I'll need the manual modes, I'll be reaching for the dSLR where I can play with buttons.

Played briefly with the video mode and was happily surprised. It is not a camcorder replacement, but it is better than expected. Sreen is large and bright under all experienced conditions so far. It does have a mode that adjusts LCD brightness to ambient light automatically. I do miss the viewfinder but I would trade a bigger LCD for a poor viewfinder anytime. Great point and shoot camera so far, good optics, it does what it should. Will probably look for a second battery soon, but I am a little confused at moment on which one to buy.

First off. I'm not a professional photographer. I'm an average joe that loves to take pictures.Before I left on my trip to Jackson Hole Wyoming I knew I wanted a point and shoot camera. So, being a Nikon man, I looked at the Coolpix but when I started reading all of the great reviews on the FH20, I decided to give it a shot. The battery life, the 8x optical zoom, intelligent auto, 14 megapixel all make this camera remarkable. But it's the ease of use (I never opened the manual) and the fact that there is abosolutely no shutter delay.I shot with this camera 10 to 12 hours per day and still had juice left at the end of the day. To give it to you in a nutshell.This little camera that I carried around in the front pocket of my trek pants for 6 days, packs one hellava wallup!!!...Panasonic has done it!! And the FH20 is by far top of the line in point and shoot. I'm completely sold. Get this camera and I promise you will come back here and rave about it!! I just wish that I could somehow attach a couple of pics that I shot with this camera so as to show you just how stunning your pics will be.

There are a lot of good things about this litte camera.
1. It's little. I purchased this for a hiking trip to California, so I needed it to be easily stowable. It is.
2. Ease of use. My previous camera was a Cannon, and I did not find there was any learning curve in adapting to a different menu set-up. I love the quick menu- it is incredibly convenient.
3. Ability to switch between file sizes easily. All on the quick menu.
4. Very good picture quality. I've been spoiled by Cannon, but Panasonic did OK.

My biggest complaint: the zoom. I wanted to upgrade my zoom from the 4x I had on my Cannon to something with a little more...Ooomph. I figured the 8x would be great. Except for the fact that this camera can't seem to be able to focus between 3x and 6x. If I'm set to one extreme or the other (either zoomed all the way back or all the way in), it's fine. But as I zoom in the camera can't seem to find a spot to focus on. I've tried pushing down the button slightly, getting the zoom box and trying to show the camera where I wanted it to focus on, but that doesn't work either. I've tried other cameras with high zoom and have not run into the same issue. As the camera zooms, the focus stays true. The FH20 starts off focused, gets blurry, and then focuses again. Pretty disappointing performance when you're trying to shoot landscapes, and everything seems to be in that middle range.

All in all this camera was an OK purchase. I like the burst shooting and the video recording, although I think it would have been better to add the video feature to the quick menu.

I've used a Canon for many years, recently bought the ultra compact Canon SP790IS. My original Canon was slowly giving out. Did research and checked out the FH1,FH3, FP8 and the FH20 along with the Canon 790. Received this camera several days ago, this FH20 rocks. Pictures are really very, very good. I couldn't believe it. The size is great, ease of use is beyond belief. I'm an artist and use my camera to take pictures of lighthouses, old barns and interesting buildings. This camera gives me what I'm looking for and more. So glad I took the plunge. As the first reviewer said she read a test of the FH20 by a pro photograher, I read the same article and it's all GOOD. I'd receommend this camera above all others. Thanks Amazon, once again you came through for me as did Panasonic.

Ordered the camera and did not realize it did not come with a memory card. No big deal as it has 40mb of built in memory. Took it for a weekend trip to Dumont Dunes. It took 8 photos (at max resolution) and I simply loaded them on my MacBook, deleted, and took more. Great pictures, fair video (with limited memory we had to take short ones)but overall a great little camera. The "automatic mode" makes using it a snap. A great value, in my opinion.

We got this camera and took it to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. My daughter took hundreds of photos in the castle, which was nothing but low light situations. She also took hundreds of the village in the evening. Again, low light. I can count on one hand the pictures that didn't work out, and those happened solely with attempts to photograph 3D holograms. Everything else came out perfectly.

I bought an extra battery to be safe and it wasn't necessary - one battery took us easily through a full day of picture taking.

The camera is idiot proof: put it on intelligent auto, point and shoot, and you will get gorgeous photos. At this price, this camera is outstanding!

This is an awesome little camera. Little only in size. I have been a loyal Canon owner, and have several point and shoots as well as a Rebel D SLR. I wanted a new camera for a wedding and graduations and this camera caught my eye..mainly because it was red.
This zoom is amazing, the scene modes give the user many options, from beach to snow. The low light option was what I really wanted since I have not found any P and S camera that can handle low light situations. This camera can!! No lie. The pictures are crisp and clear.
I love the ease of the functions, I think this camera is "goof proof". Very user friendly without sacrificing the high end features.
I bought an extra battery, and a faster level 4 SD card which does make a difference with start up and rapid photography.
Enjoy this camera!!

I am a pro in photography for more than a decade. Although I mainly shoot with Slr, I do own few compact cameras handy when I am not too serious about getting that perfect shoot. Of all small cameras that I own, this one is the only one that didn't disappoint me. Most other digtal cameras have few problem such as high iso noise, low image quaility, loud zooming sound, too big, start up too slow and etc.

This one is perfect: Start up is fast & quite; image quailty is great (see photos I have uploaded); HD video quailty is great; control is simple; lens is best (it is sharp and does 8x optical zoom); outside looks great, fashionable, stylistic, price is cheap. In short, this fh20 is a great camera.

This camera can deliver dslr like image quailty, but only if you know what you are doing. As a pro in photograph, I saw a lot of photo getting bad image using high-end dslr, so photography is a skill and art, and a camera is merely a tool. For me, this is a great tool. Although it lacks controls such as changing the aperture or shutter speed manually, you can still get great result if you know how this camera react to different situation such as lighting in a particularly enviromental. It is more than pressing the shutter release to take a picture; Photograhy is all about lighting. A camera that can take Hd video is great. Still the same point, it can record clear sharp video in a controlled eniroment. Don't expect to take great video in a sunny day where the harsh light shining everywhere.

I got a 8gb class 4 sd card for $15 that works fawlessly and a great deal. I can record about 10min of HD video because max. file side per-file is 2 gb, so a 8gb card can record 40 mins of HD video. And 8gb can take 1600+ highest 14 mp photos. I use photoshop and premiere pro to edit my photo and video.

== update after some use ==

-Still some lagging, about 1.5 second for start up(the lens needs that time to come out), about 6 seconds for 8X zoom.

-Image quality drops dramatically from ISO 200-1600; ISO100 is a acceptable, but I will stay in ISO 80 all the time if possible.

-This camera is no good for light low photography.

-Changing the modes is a little painful because I change modes very often. It is complicated compared to a simple switch. Simplicity is very important experience.

-It is not easy to change the ISO which is something that I do very often as well.

-100% correct light metering hasn't invented yet, but the light meter of this camera tends to over-exposed for about 1Ev in movie mode, so I alway use -1 Ev compensation for movie, but in picture mode, I need to adjust compensation according to the scene.

-There is no auto-focus in movie mode.

-Just got a third battery 1000mah battery cheaply from ebay. Battery indicator is still full after one day of use. If you buy this camera, I would highly recommend that you get this battery as well.

-Finally, just a little personal thought, it is a little gay for a guy to have this red tiny camera. If all of your friends owns some big black camera with a huge lens, and you are using this comparatively small red camera, you will be looking a little small and gay when shooting pictures with them. It is totally like the scenario of having a small pistol or a big shotgun in the field.

Still a 5 stars pistol.

I've used both Nikon and Canon SLRs and P&S cameras for years, but was looking to replace my little Canon P&S with something that stores larger files, has better zoom, good quality, ease of operation, decent batter life, and reasonable cost. I am absolutely blown away by this camera. The image stabilization is phenomenal, the macro works beautifully, the color renditions are superb, and I was delighted to learn that I could actually INCREASE the optical zoom capability by reducing the picture file size. What a wonderful idea.

I took movies and photos of a Penn State womens' volleyball game from nearly the top of the stand at PSU's Rec Hall (perhaps 100 feet from the action) and they (team and photos) are outstanding. The movies are clear and stable, while the photos with the sports preset (no flash, of course) are amazing, considering the distance and level of zoom I was using. The automatic ISO setting work great - unlike Nikon and Canon. We tried the sunset photos last night and they are sharp as a tack with great color and very little grain. Portraits are as good as my SLR, and the exposures are spot on. The controls are amazingly user friendly for a camera with so many options. This is one well thought-out piece of equipment.

The test, in my opinion, is how the photographs print. So far I have printed ten 8x10s - half of them are scenes, one quarter are portraits, and one quarter are still life (some done with zoom macro). They are outstanding. I would have no hesitation framing them and submitting for judging in an art show.

A downside I see to this camera is that it doesn't look like a serious camera. Make it bigger, heavier, and more expensive and it will still sell like hotcakes. The other downside is that the photo handling software included with the camera is practically useless. The only thing I can find that's useful is the fairly complete properties information, though some is missing. Jeez, Panasonic, you would think you could do good software with such a great camera.

The FH20 is the first Panasonic camera I have ever owned, but I like it so much I bought an ZS-5. That too is a fantastic camera with many more bells and whistles. Way to go Panasonic.

I suggested this camera to my daughter based upon online reviews. She was extremely excited about the camera and the pictures looked really good. She used it twice within the first 6 weeks she had it. The second time using it, a piece of flimsy plastic that sits in front of the lens fell off. Panasonic / Lumix had me send it it (on my dime) and I clearly specified that it was not dropped. I sent it in and received no acknowledgement that they'd received it and / or where it may now be in their process. After waiting 2 weeks and calling them, they informed me that it was the user's fault and I could receive a broken camera back (I assume they'd return the broken camera on their nickel) or pay $128 to fix a 6 week old, never dropped $160 camera. I informed them that this is the single worst customer support experience I have ever encountered. Panasonic / Lumix, as promised....here is your review. I will never buy another product from you and hopefully I may influence a few others out there. You had a chance...