I purchased this because I was very unhappy with the new Canon A3300 that I also purchased just a week before this one. I did extensive photo tests with both cameras because I felt the Canons overall sharpness was bad. Both cameras are 16mp and although i'm a Canon fan I have to say they failed on the A3300. Even with setting custom sharpness, contrast and saturation, the normal straight out of the box settings on the Panasonic were way better.
The two big problems with the canon were most photos even bright outdoors had way too much noise. The other problem was no matter what setting and focus type, only the center areas were in ok and i mean ok focus. All four corners of the photos were on the blurry side and that's just unacceptable. Compared to this Panasonic...wow, much better and much sharper. When fully zoomed in there was a bit of noise but its expected. Night shots depending on how you take them also have noise but again depending on how and what you can work around it a bit.
There are minor differences with the two cameras like the zoom smoothness was a bit better on the canon and the user interface and menu screens were also a bit better on the canon. Not a deal breaker at all because I'd rather have quality over cosmetic things. The other minor things i found were that the Panasonic has the af assist light very close to the top corner of the camera where you put your fingers. Also the on off and photo/play aren't buttons they are switches which i'm a little worried about breaking so we'll see how they last.
One of the biggest differences is that this camera is faster. I found that saving photos is almost instantaneous on the FH25 but on the canon it was about a 4 sec pause to save before you could take another (a "busy" icon shows up. Most of all the functions on the FH25 are faster and i like being able to grab the camera and take photos quickly.
One of the not so great things about this camera is the battery situation. The battery does last pretty well but I like having a spare especially when on vacation. To get a new battery you have to purchase it direct with Panasonic because they must have a chip inside it so if its not an original panasonic the screen says this battery is not compatible with this camera, which means no cheap no name brands for 7 bucks. You have to buy direct and with tax and shipping its $63 bucks. YIKES....that's a bit much, i can see 25 or 30 but 63? the camera itself is now $139 was $179. Amazon now carries the extra batteries at $49.00
Overall i'm all about quality and sharp photos and this camera does that. If you don't care about the spare battery cost or that the user interface and menus look like 20 years old, i think you'll be happy with this camera.
Photos for the most part are well exposed and using the full Ai seem to always come out perfect. There will be a slight bit of noise in certain shots but sharpness is never an issue. The whole thing about higher mega pixels is better isn't completely true, its all about the sensor size. Do some research about that as I did but believe me, this camera really does a great job. I've posted a few sample photos.
UPDATE 8-17-11
Still loving the picture quality of this small camera. I even tested out the new Canon SX230 and again this FH25 was sharper and photos were exposed better. The batteries are available on amazon for 49.99 at the time I got my camera they were only available direct from panasonic. The full iAuto setting is amazing and it really does a great job, I've taken photos with it that I will be publishing in my second book next year. That's how good I feel the quality is. Panasonic DMC-FH25A 16.1MP Digital Camera with 8x Wide Angle Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Blue)
Lot's of positives for this camera:
Advertised as 8x optical zoom but that's video. It's 10x in photo mode, 22.5x if you employ the digital zoom as well.
16.1 mp is amazing for a camera in this price range. I actually used the max digital zoom and still got good resolution photos.
About 2 dozen scene modes (portrait, beach, sunset, etc) that work well and are easy to select. Text scrolls across the screen explaining its use as you you move from mode to mode.
Very easy to use. About 1/2 hour with the manual and camera and you can understand and begin using all the features.
Image stabilization sems very effective. I shot every thing hand held even at max zoom and liked the results.
Great battery life. I chrged it 1x on a week vacation but that was just in case. Could have gone all week with 100s of shots.
Like most digitals the camera has very little built in memory so you need to buy a memory card. I chose the PNY 16 GB that has more room than I think I'll ever need.
One negative this camera shares with most point and shoots: you miss a viewfinder in very bright sunlight. But the screen is bright enough to make it manageable so I still rate this very highly.
I am a novice photographer and basically wanted an easy to use point and shoot to take pictures of my family and friends. One reason I gave the camera 4 stars instead of 5 was because the camera does NOT zoom while taking video. I was a little upset b/c I thought that this version, unlike the FH20, was suppose to have this feature. I wish I purchased the ZS5 model instead. Besides that fact, everything about the camera is great. It takes very good quality photos fast. The video is also good quality. It does well in low light and in fast moving action. I have only had the camera for a few weeks, but so far so good.
I haven't had this camera for very long before writing this (only 1 week), so I'll update in about a month. So far, however, it's exactly what I expected. I was going to get the Nikon Cool Pix, but that had too many bad reviews. So I bought this one. I tested it just once by taking photos INDOORS under flourescent light. Photos came out better than I thought they would. Digital screen is bright, and has settings that even allow you to change the angle of view in case you're holding the camera above your head.
The other reason I bought this is the size and ergonomic design. I need a small, decent camera to take around w/ me for misc parties and such. I have another, much better Canon SLR, but that one is big, bulky, heavy, and as such difficult to keep inconspicuous. In the past, when on vacation or in another country, I was often the center of attention when I pulled out the camera or traveled on public transportation. That could be quite dangerous. So, I opted to buy this camera. Has a nice, attractive design, nice blue color, but not so nice that it looks like it's $1000 bucks. And if it's stolen or I'm robbed, I'll be mad, but it's not as if it'll take $1000 bucks to replace! And I could hide it while traveling. It's small enough to put in your pocket. It would bulk up your pocket, but it's much safer than carrying around an SLR around your neck.
Some of the cool features is face recognition technology. It actually puts a square around people's faces! It will focus on those faces. That feature I did test and it works. The few photos I took were very clear, focused, color was as true to the real scene as I could tell. And I only used a setting that saves 5m of information.
Most features are easy to get to quickly, using the menu buttons and such. There's even a feature that allows you to set a "normal" scene setting if you know you use it a lot. This allows you to go back to it quickly if in a different scene setting.
One con is that some features aren't available depending on the scene you're using. That would be fine, except that it will take a few months of using the camera to really get familiar w/ what you can and can't use depending on the scene setting. The instruction manual is unfortunately on CD-ROM in pdf format, so if you're away from your computer and you need to look up a feature to remind yourself how to use it, you're out of luck.
But those are cons I'm willing to live with. I didn't expect this to be as good as my SLR, and indeed it's not. There is no manual focus, for instance, the flash is somewhat limited. But I didn't buy this camera to have manual focus and a good flash. I bought it to be able to hide in my pocket, travel w/ it, get quick, high quality-in-focus pictures, and not worry about replacement value. My initial tests confirmed I can do all of that and even more.
So far, so good. - Panasonic'
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