Micro review... Lumix DMC FX07

Seven megapixels, 28mm wide angle 3.6x optical zoom Leica lens, optical image stabilization, very reasonable price if you shop around and while it's not the very smallest compact camera out there it's still about 2/3 the size of a deck of playing cards and the lens sucks in almost completely flat when turned off.

My prime priority was getting a wide angle lens, it's really quite surprising how much wider an expanse you can capture with a 28mm (35mm film camera equivalent) versus what is the fairly standard 35mm equivalent lens on most compact cameras. Second priority was lens and image quality, Leica is up there with Zeiss for lenses. Third priority was price and since the FX07 is last year's model without face detection it is going for quite a steep discount over retail list price. I got mine used in excellent cosmetic and perfect functional shape for under $100 shipped from ebay.

I've only had it four days so I'm still learning how to get the most out of it.. Has a high sensitivity mode that gives ISO 3200 which makes pretty nice 4x6 prints but noisy enough you wouldn't want to crop them much or make them much bigger.

The image stabilizer is effective enough that I've taken clear handheld shots at 1/2 second when at the 28mm wide angle setting.. Not every time, but enough to make it worth trying if you can't get the shot otherwise. 1/8 second handheld is doable at the full zoom setting too..

At ISO 3200 and 1/2 second exposure it's rather surprising how little light you need.

The sensor really does have a fair bit of noise when you get above ISO 100, I'm probably going to invest in Noise Ninja for critical shots where I have to use ISO 400 or above. You can force any ISO you want up to 1250 or have auto ISO or intelligent auto ISO which looks for movement in the frame and raises the ISO to allow shorter exposures to help keep motion blur down.

One nice thing about the FX07 is that it does very clear 848x480 widescreen 30 fps Quicktime video with surprisingly good low light performance, would be great for concerts.

Both of these shots are slightly less than full res..

Grandma and our middle grandchild:



One of our two long haired miniature Dachshunds:

So here it is again..

Grandma and our middle grandchild..

Got a few more images:

A cropped full res shot of Trixie, the images come out of the camera a little soft, I haven't sharpened this one but they sharpen up fairly nicely:



This shot in a dimly lit bar shows the benefit of the OIS, the partially transparent woman was illuminated by the flash while the rear of the bar was captured in a 3/4 second exposure at ISO 100 while hand held by my wife who is too energetic to be the world's steadiest photographer.

It's nice to be able to put such a capable camera in your shirt pocket and particularly so at such a reasonable price.



For comparison here is a shot in the same bar at 1/30 ISO 100, note how the background is very dark.

Here is a 60 second ISO 100 shot of Orion through cirrus clouds illuminated by the full moon last night.

I'm very pleased with the low noise levels shown by the FX07 in this mode, the camera automatically does a dark frame subtraction in starry sky mode.



And here is a full res crop of the image, stars are an excellent way of lens testing, any chromatic aberration shows up as colorful halos around the stars, the lens on the FX07 is quite good, IMO.