xdeb.org

In 2003 I bought my first digital camera, the then just released Pentax Optio S. It was one of the first fully featured “ultra compact” digital cameras. I can have it my pocket and forget about it until I need to take a picture. I decided to never buy a camera that was any bigger than this.

I have on and off been interested in photography. In a cupboard I still have my trusted Nikon FM but it has been many years since I have used it. It’s heavy, bulky, not digital and I’m lazy.

With the Optio S photography was fun and easy. The camera has never given me any problems and I have taken a couple of thousands pictures with it. I never felt the 3 megapixel to be a serious limitation so that was not a reason to get new camera. As with all simple consumer class cameras low light pictures didn’t come out well. You have the choice between using the flash and getting a blurry and grainy picture. A new camera that could help with this has my interest.

After four years of use I felt the time had come to replace the Optio S. This was the features I was looking for:

1. As small as the Optio S.
2. Easy to operate.
3. Image Stabilizer function.
4. Wide-angle lens, at least 28 mm.
5. Make hi-res movies, 640x480 30 fps.
6. Big view screen.

I first looked at the new models from Pentax but didn’t find what I was looking for. Canon Digital IXUS 850 IS (Asian name: IXY Digital 900 IS) looks interesting but it’s a bit bigger than I want.

I finally settled on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX30. It has all the features I was looking for and more. After a couple of hundred pictures I’m really happy with my choice.

There is a lot to like about this camera. It looks nice, I got the black modell. It feels solid with its metal frame. The buttons are well laid out. The functions are logical and smart, it’s a lot more “hey, that was clever!” than “shit, what happend now?”. The battery life is really good. I have not counted how many pictures I can take or anything but the battery certainly last a long time.

The Optio S had a lot of this also but the FX30 is even better. I have used other cameras and electronic equipment where you seriously doubt that the people who designed it had ever actually tried to use it.

The feature that Panasonic push hardest for the FX30 is “Panasonic’s Intelligent Image Stabilizer” it combines “MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)” and “Intelligent ISO Control”. A lot of fancy words but it seems to actually work really well.

I have almost never been forced to use the flash with the FX30 and pictures are still sharp and nice even in low light situation. There are limits of course but the improvement is more than noticeable.

Now I’m of to take some more pictures, for some reason it’s a lot more fun to take pictures with a new camera :-).