I am not a camera or photography aficionado, so I cannot offer a super technical review -- of which the electronics section here on Amazon is replete with -- however what I can say, from a layman's perspective, is that this camera is unimaginably magnificent.
I got this camera for my birthday and I simply wanted a camera that would provide a good, high-quality and affordable upgrade to my six megapixel Samsung camera that I bought three years ago - also for my birthday. Without even a modicum of hesitation, I can proudly say that this Panasonic camera more than exceeded my expectations.
The 14 MP camera takes clear and crisp photographs and has a smorgasbord of different settings to make the pictures you take precisely how you want it. You can adjust your camera setting before you snap your picture, and you can also conveniently edit it after you take your picture. So you can never really take bad pictures. I find the settings to be really great.
I also wanted a camera that would be good for action pictures. Often times, on my previous camera, I would take moving photographs and the pictures would come out blurry and you can tell that it was taken in motion. In contrast, this camera is wholly different. I tested out several moving pictures and the camera adroitly captures the moment I want captured beautifully, without any kind of visible motion blurriness.
However, I leave the best aspect of this camera till last: the unthinkably great HD video capture. When buying a camera I wanted something that could capture HD videos so I can record different moments in film and store them, and perhaps something that would be good for YouTube videos: I found it. This video camera records gloriously crisp and colorful 720p HD. As good as the quality of the photo camera itself is, I think the video capture function is remarkably better. You simply just cannot fault it.
I have never really been a Panasonic person. I know their stuff is purportedly of good quality and durable, but I have just never bought a product other than batteries. However, after buying this magnificent camera, I think I'll be investing in a lot more Panasonic products.
I went in with pretty low expectations, and came out thoroughly impressed.
Needless to say, I have been taking a whole lot of pictures on this thing.
By the way, for the record, I haven't yet read the instruction manual, yet I have no problem operating the camera. I think that speaks wonders of its ease of use. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP3 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch Touch-Screen LCD (Black)
Overall, this is a decent camera. I'm no camera aficionado, I was just looking for something simple to carry around for impromptu pictures. I'd say everything about it is okay, but I'm writing this review more for pointing out flaws for future purchasers to consider (isn't that how most reviews go these days? :)). Here goes: Don't buy this camera if you're the kind of person who wants to zoom into the picture after you've taken it to make sure the pimple on your chin isn't visible. The touch screen navigation is super slow and not exactly sensitive. After you zoom on a picture, you have to tap the screen relentlessly for it to recognize your finger and actually move to the area of the picture you're wanting to zoom in on. Secondly, and I know I'm not the only person experiencing this because I've read other reviews on the internet while I was searching for a cost-effective solution, if you drop the camera, it's pretty much done for. I'd had this camera for just shy of a month when I dropped it on the ground and the sliding lens cover malfunctioned. It's really frustrating, because everything still works, it just doesn't recognize that the lens cover has been slid open. I can still look at pictures that have been taken, etc. I sent it back to Panasonic in hopes that A. they wouldn't notice the scratch on the corner, or B. that if they did notice, it was warranty-voiding. No dice. They wrote me back with a quote to repair it, and it's actually more expensive than buying a new camera. So, in conclusion, if you have an iron grip and aren't obsessed with reviewing your pictures until you upload them to your computer, this really is a good camera for the price. Good luck to all!
I love this camera mostly because of its size, most other cameras of the same size don't take as nice pictures. Its super easy to carry around so you'll end up taking more pictures because you won't mind having it with you all the time. The Intelligent Auto works pretty well and it has face and scene detection which is great, along with really good image stabilization. Battery life on this thing is great too, You can take about 800-1000 pictures with this thing before you have to charge the battery.
My only con is the low-light capability, its pretty poor. Outdoor or indoors with adequate lighting makes for some excellent pictures, but in low light the pictures come out pretty grainy. And the flash on this camera is rather weak so that doesn't help much either. You can raise the ISO up and it has a High Sensitivity scene mode as well to try to help make the picture come out, but only adds to the grain. Now this is expected in such a compact camera so I'm not docking because of it, but its definitely worth noting if you're looking to take a lot of low-light pictures.
Overall this is a great buy, certainly not gonna take the same quality pics as its big brothers but if you want a simple, good quality compact then this is your camera.
This is a really good camera for a really good price. I was quite pleased with the quality of the photos and the overall look.
The touchscreen feature sometimes doesn't quite work as expected, but with patience it gets the job done.
The 14.1 MP resolution results in great pictures, but the functions are still a little complicated for me... There are many different combinations that can be used which becomes a little too much.
I highly recomend this camera. However, if you have issues with a touchscreen, this camera might not be the one for you, as the touchscreen on it sometimes doesn't respond.
I am really pleased with my purchase. - Lumix - Leica Lens - Digital Camera - Point And Shoot'
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