Customer Reviews

Panasonic DMC FX-150K 14.7MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Is interesting how many people make a review about , in this case, a little and portable camera making his judgement like if they are handling an SLR.
Im a profesional photographer and i like to have a nice and portable camera "just in case", and i found this camera ( i had first the 12 megapixel fx100) almost perfect. wonderfull design and remarcable results. everybody knows about noise in this cameras over 400 iso. ALL THE CAMERAS in this range have the same limitation about noise;the small size of the sensor and the "race" of megapixels make this. You can bet that the next step in this class of cameras (2009 generation) will be increase the size of the sensor.
So you should consider the differences between them. Color rendition of the panasonic: beautifull...quality lens.. leica,and deserves the name. video in hd.. love it.. options of settings: a lot... construccion: excelent... easy of use control.. cant beat it, and... RAW format.. oh yes!! the first one in this range with this privilege. if you consider what are you buying (and what for) and how much are you paying (!!) i recomend this camera with out reservations.
Update. Well i still recomend this camera but... with reservations. After some time and many pics i must agree about the noise. More than usual and more than the previous model fx100. If you want to take pictures under a good day light is ok, and the quality of the balance of the flash is excelent, but under low light.. hmmm.. just for the monitor or (nice)"pictoric efect"..





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I purchased this camera for three main reasons its RAW capablities the 14.7 megapixels it offers and the Leica lens. It has a few nice options, one which I particularly like is the SCN mode for low light portraits. It has a delayed double flash which allows you to balance ambient light with the flash for a more pleasing look. The one dissapointment I've been able to discern is its low light capabilities. Anything past iso 400 is virtually useless on this camera. The noise is so pronounced I would steer clear of anything higher than iso 200 if you want to print larger than 8x10. Other than that it should suit my needs. I would not consider this any kind of replacement for a good digital SLR but if you happen to need something small and discreet which allows you to enlarge you pictures beyond 8 x 10 this should fit the bill.

Camera has all the bells and whisles-I don't think the manual is sufficient enough to help u distinguish between all the really good features. it's my fourth Lumix so u probably guessed I like the mfg.-has a good mega pixel rating at 14.7- get the case it sometimes turns on in my pocket with other junk nudging it. If you have large fingers, the camera may be cumbersome to use especially in the one handed mode. Screen always needs to be cleaned because the camera is so small with the screen taking almost all the back side. Screen is good in all except facing bright sun. I believe there is an adjustment for such, but I have not got around to that in the manual. Just came back from Caribbean and the electronic markets down there have not seen this model yet. I believe the pricing thru amazon was competitive. The face tracking recognition feature is cool. I'm a click and shoot photographer and do not want to wait to change settings or go to manual mode to get the perfect picture. I'll shot 10 picts to get one good one and maybe fix it up in PhotoShop. Flash seems better than other comprobables. Batter last a long time on one charge. Charger is compact and takes almost no room in the luggage. Shot over 500 picts in this last week's trip. A lot of good features more than the average Joe or Jill would want.
I like it and would recommend it. Get the case!

I have a full review on my website: http://technewsmadesimple.com/2009/01/16/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fx150-review/

To sum it up really fast: This portable point and shoot camera has a lot of features, even I was impressed. It has very fast start up times and the auto focus is pretty fast and good. It is very compact and small which is perfect for traveling. The only down side to this camera, as many others have mentioned is the weak flash and low quality of pictures in dim lighting or above ISO 400.

This camera has the capability to be a legend. The lens is tack sharp (besides the fact that it only has two aperture settings), and pictures look great in the day time. The auto white balance performance is better than my LX3, and the RAW capability is very cool (now with support in Adobe Photoshop Raw!). The 720/24p video is more than excellent, although it would have been nicer if it were H.264 video. The camera looks great in silver (it is actually a bit of a gunmetal color).

That's where the good ends.

You can see noise even at the lowest ISO setting, and chroma noise renders even ISO 800 images unusable for anything except thumbnails. Before you solely blame the minuscule sensor, remember that Ricoh Caplios have a smaller size sensor that they have been packing more pixels on for a few years now. The high ISO output from a Ricoh Caplio may be lacking in detail, but it doesn't have awful chroma noise infecting every inch of your photograph. Yes, I know the Caplios top out at 10 megapixels, and this camera tosses 15 insane megapixels, but still the density on the Caplio R10 is nearly identical! There's no reason the FX150 should be so underperforming.

The RAW capability is nice to have. However, Panasonic saw it fit to make sure you can't EV bracket in raw. Speaking of bracketing, you can't do +2 and -2 EV bracketing either, which I feel shames both the FX150 and the LX3 (and I'm not the only one who feels this way). Another issue with RAW is that the dynamic range of the camera is so narrow that it really doesn't matter that it is there.

This camera could have been a classic, and I really want to like it. But unfortunately, it doesn't win my heart.

Many reviews point to the limits of this camera.
Yes, a reflex is better in extreme condition,
but for the everyday usage, this 14.7 mega pixel,
wide angle lens compact camera is superb... at this price
and size. Even the movie features are outstanding.

Recently, I wanted to upgrade my 8 megapixel point-&-shoot, a Sony Cybershot which I loved (it had a large touch screen and was very compact, especially amazing since it originally came out in 2005). But as the PhotoGuru, I needed to keep my street cred, so I began the search.

When I saw Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FX150, 14.7 megapixel compact camera about the same size of my Sony (possibly a tiny bit smaller at 2.12'' x 3.8'' x .98'') my mind said "dope!" and my late 90s lingo said "no you di-ent!". It's almost the size of a business card, just under an inch thick (non-chunky-style), and weighing in just over 5 ounces. Wow.

It wasn't easy to find one in stock, but after searching the web, and making a few calls (with pain-in-the-rear reps tryin' to fake the "in-stock" sales pitch), Amazon.com's third party company provided me with one in stock (even Panasonic currently lists the camera as "backordered").

I'm still getting to know my new little friend, just having it for less than a month, but I'm diggin' the RAW capability (that's right, RAW files, rarely seen in point & shoot cameras today), the massive 14.7 MPs (sure it's packed into a small 1/1.72" CCD image sensor, but what would anyone expect for the great price and compact size?), as well as all of the quick menu options (giving me the ability to change flash option, ISO, as well as other features on the fly).

For some reason, the auto rotate function isn't working, so I have to rotate any vertical shots to review them larger, taking up the entire 2.7" LCD screen (hope to fix that or figure out why), but in general I'm very pleased with this compact beauty - the sleek black body very stylish and functional (I like to roll GQ style).

I also feel the f/2.8 wide-angle Leica mass-produced lens (28mm to 100mm) is of quality, and I dig the new auto-focus tracking feature (focusing for you without touching the shutter button).

The 8 GB SDHC memory card (I picked up after the fact - made by SanDisk) gives me over 300 images on the highest file size (RAW + JPEG, which is what I use on my 35mm DSLR)- more than enough as long as I download every so often (which is best to do anyway since you never want to trust your memory card to store your memories for too long). Plus, with the Lithium-ion rechargeable battery draining down after 330 snaps, I simply recharge the battery while I download the shots (hoping to pick up an extra battery as a backup). The camera even has 50MB of built in memory if you jam up with an extra card- thanks for caring Panasonic.

The Lumix DMC-FX150 also has a nice ISO range from 100 to 6400, with many exposure functions = Manual, Program AE, Movie/ Motion Picutre, Intelligent Auto mode, along with many Scene modes. I always love the Manual exposure mode option, giving me full control of my camera when the meter is fooled. The metering mode options even include Spot metering. Sure, it doesn't offer an HD movie mode as other Lumix compact cameras do, but I wasn't looking for HD in a compact digital camera personally - what am I, movie-boy?

To see a few shots I captured with this camera this past month, go to: http://the-photoguru.blogspot.com/

For more on all the technical specs, click here: Lumix DMC-FX150 tech specs

For more on the camera in general, go here: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX150

I highly recommend it to anyone- sure the digital noise increases with a higher ISO over 100 (mainly due to a small image sensor), but you can't expect everything in such a beautiful small package. All this in a price range around $250. Well played Panasonic, well played- nice idea for my photo life.

I bought this camera to replace my TZ5. The TZ5 is a great camera: awesome lens, easy to use, HD video, 3in high-res screen. The problem I had with the TZ5 is that it wasn't portable enough to `carry on me'. I finally made my rounds with the FX150 and got rid of my TZ5. No regrets!

The FX150 fit the bill as a 'carry on me' camera. The extra megapixels are great for printing big photos. I've actually printed large fantastic photos, but find my self often shrinking photos for standard 4x6in prints. I don't find the photos more or less 'noisy' than my TZ5 (equivalent with the same ISO settings). The lens is great and the distortion is minimal (equivalent to my TZ5).

The HD Video is only at 24fps, which shows a lot more artifacts (than the TZ5 at 30fps) if you're taking video of children or moving vehicles. I do wish it had the zoom feature in video, but after a while I got used to no having it. HD video output uses the same cable as the TZ5 (Panasonic DMW-HDC2) at 1080i. On bright days outdoor video looks great.

I did carry a FX55 (great camera). The FX150 is substantially better in capabilities, but I do miss the 3" screen on the FX55 and TZ5. I do wish the FX150 did have the 3" screen high resolutions screen, as the 2.7" screen is substantially smaller. The camera is `chunkier' than the FX55. Not a big problem, but more noticeable when in the pocket. I use a Timbuk2 carrying case that the camera fits perfectly into. It feels like a chunky flip phone on my belt waist.

This is probably a bridge camera with features that will be 'standard' on Panasonic's next run of cameras. The focus tracking is good for things that move around a position. It looses track of running kids or fast moving vehicles.

Before I bought this camera I just bought a Sony t300. It was a crappy camera the pictures was so bad. The Sony T300 camera with the extras cost 400. So much money for so bad pictures.If your looking for a camera with smile ang face features and very nice GUI then buy sony. But dont expect good quality pictures. So Sony never again! So, i was thinking of buying a Canon SD990. But before I buy it I checked the net for some reviews on it. It was not a bad camera but for a 14mp it wasnt what the reviewers expected. The macro was bad and also when you use high ISO. Then I decided to get this Panasonic FX150. After few tests of the camera I was amazed on the cameras crisp pictures. On Macro shots youll be amazed this camera does.

So, Overall this camera is the best buy for me. And it only cost much cheaper than Sony and Canon. And teh best thing is the 4gb memory is free.

An absolutely wonderful camera with awesome video quality and picture quality. very compact and discreet.