Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic DMC-FX01BS Digital Camera - Silver [6MP, 3x Optical Zoom]

I have put mine through its paces this summer, taking it to Ireland, France and Norway. These are three very different places, with different scenery and lighting conditions. In all of the locations I have had great photos with brilliant detail and colour.

It is well worth getting a high speed card. I'm using a 1GB Sandisk UltraII card and it's great. (I did notice much longer write times on standard / lower-end cards).

The battery goes a lot further than Panasonic let on.

It's very well built, looks great, takes great photos, & is very compact, yet easy to handle. What more do you need from a compact? If you want any more, go for an SLR. It doesn't have any annoying or battery sapping `gimmicky' features that some companies add to falsely win you over. Anyone who can take a decent photo doesn't need them.

This camera does its job perfectly and I would highly recommend it.

This is my first digital camera, and I couldn't be happier with it. I'm not an expert and I can't give you a sophisticated comparison with other models, but I can say it's easy and fun to use, gives lovely clear photos, and as far as I'm concerned is worth every penny. Although it has lots of sophisticated settings which are not hard to get to grips with, it takes perfectly good pictures even in the point-and-shoot "simple" mode. The wide-angle lens is also a real plus. A delight.

First things first- well done Amazon on dispatching my camera with accessories way before the estimated date! Arrived in great condition and within 4 days of ordering! The camera is really good- took snapshots and movies with no problem. The navigation is also easy to use and go through.

One big limitation (depends if you really use it for this purpose) is that you cannot use the focus during movie mode. This is a bit strange since I know the Canon Ixus 50 can do this and it is cheaper! Makes me think what I paid the extra money for- I was even thinking of returning it at one stage.

However, the compact size, together with tonnes of features and ease of use make it a great buy! I would however think about other cameras that have similar specs and that don't cost as much. If however you are going to use this primarily as a camera, I would definitely go for it!

Superb is only one superlative I would use for this wee camera. Sorry Amazon, I managed to get this one from a rival for £99 and what a bargain I got! The stand out features for me are the build quality, lens quality and wideangle abilities. The fact that it is made in Japan speaks volumes, it is put together with such precision and care. I can't overstate how the wider-angle-than-normal lens can add a touch of magic to your pictures, I am a professional photographer and I find this lens gives me images to rival my Pro gear. The battery lasts for ages and charges in a jiffy, the controls are really logical and it all works with a minimum of fuss. Shutter lag is minimal and although I thought I would miss an optical viewfinder, I have not missed it in practice as the LCD that it comes with is a thing of beauty. Some people have criticised it in the past for high noise levels compared with the latest Canon Ixus, but I use mine at 80 ISO rather than AUTO ISO and so I find it more than good enough for big blow ups (15" x 10"). All in all, a fab camera that I take with me everywhere enclosed in the gorgeous Napoli 10 case from LowePro.

So far the pics have been great - i had a Pentax Optio S4i and really liked the menu layouts etc - this will take a bit of getting used to - shutter lag is better than the Pentax and i love the big LCD - look forward to purchasing the Underwater Housing for this to take it diving! feels good in the hand - not to big or small - so far so good!