Panasonic DMC-FX550 Reviews: Digital Compact Camera

Photo of Panasonic DMC-FX550 Digital Camera

21 Real Customer Reviews - In Summary

This digital camera is a good all rounder. “Starting off with this camera, out of the box, without reading the instructions,…” Louise, London View all 21 real customer reviews

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Product Details

3" Screen, 5x optical zoom More »

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Real customer reviews

21 verified purchasers have reviewed this product.
100% of people recommend it.

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All purchasers (21)

Build Quality	9.0
Ease of use	8.9
Features	9.0
Image quality	9.2
Value for money (at time of purchase)	9.1
Overall rating	9.1

Keen amateur (4)

Experienced amateur (2)

Point & shoot (2)

Other (13)

*not all purchasers provided a score or review

Louise, London , “Keen amateur” More like this »

Score 9.0/10

+ Starting off with this camera, out of the box, without reading the instructions, and never having used a panasonic camera before, I found this was relatively intuative to use. Love the screen show with music you can set up in the camera and the various ways of viewing your photos like by date.
It is a great size for popping into a handbag or pocket.
Overall really pleased with this little camera I have a canon digital SLR which I can't take everywhere so I wanted a pocket sized point and shoot and this has been great so far.

- Still haven't worked out how to get the face recognition to work and although the touchscreen is mostly useful I found that if you do not swipe just right in play mode it magnifys instead.

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5 of 5 people found this review helpful

purchased 29 May 2009

Andrew, Surrey

Score 9.0/10

+ Easy to use with many excellent features which help to produce good quality phtographs even when one uses it as a 'point and shoot' like me!

- Reviewer left no comment

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3 of 3 people found this review helpful

purchased 29 May 2009

Gadget, Lancs , “Experienced amateur” More like this »

Score 9.0/10

+ Compact, easy to use, excellent features, Apateur & Shutter priority and full manual controls, excellent quality lens with 5 x optical zoom, touch screen

- Paint finish on rear is not very resilliant to scratches. Cable for HD playback has to be bought separatley.

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3 of 3 people found this review helpful

purchased 18 Jun 2009

Frank, Darmstadt , “Experienced amateur” More like this »

Score 8.0/10

+ 25 mm optic
combination touchscreen/ key pad
HD video
wide zoom range (factor 7)

- display not easy to be viewed in case of sun shine - but:
this is true for all cameras with a display only

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2 of 2 people found this review helpful

purchased 22 May 2009

Martin, Andover , “Keen amateur” More like this »

Score 9.0/10

+ Lots of features and quality of pictures.

- Removing battery to charge and confusion over what features are touch screen or button operated.

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2 of 2 people found this review helpful

purchased 01 Jun 2009

hennebert, Bbruxelles

Score 9.0/10

+ light,litle.asy to use

- zom to small

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 15 Mar 2009

Laura, Newcastle , “Keen amateur” More like this »

Score 9.0/10

+ Excellent Picture Quality, endless amount of features and possibilities.

- Possibly too many features for somebody wanting an easy to use camera, however ideal for anyone interested in learning complex camera features.

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 11 May 2009

David, Nottingham

Score 9.0/10

+ Simple to use. Good quality pictures. Face recognition.

- None that we have found yet.

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purchased 05 Jul 2009

Este, London

Score 10.0/10

+ As a novice the fx550 Is very easy to understand and navigate the tounch screen, zoom and user interface is brillient, not forgeting the 2 seconds boot/power up!

- Can't think of any yet and probebly never will!

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purchased 30 May 2009

Anonymous verified purchaser

Score 9.0/10

+ Easy to use. Like the touch screen. Haven't had it long enough to go into great detail but so far found it good for my use. Will have to get to know it better before I can make further comments.

- Haven't found any yet!

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purchased 16 Sep 2009

Bill, Preston

Score 10.0/10

+ This is Quality in a small package.
I was looking for a camera that I could slip into my pocket that would take first class pictures and also have a wide range of features that are only found on S.L.R.s This is it Plus!

- Cannot Find Any. Maybe a reasonable size SD card would help!

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purchased 20 Oct 2009

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Product Features

Camera Type	Compact
There are 2 main types of camera: The SLR and the Compact. SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. SLR cameras use a prism to reflect the exact image as seen through the lens and so offers a more accurate viewfinder. SLR cameras have detachable lenses offering greater flexibility if you wish to take a variety of different photographs. Compact cameras have a built in lens and an ‘above lens’ viewfinder which is less accurate but they are often cheaper, more sleekly designed and easier to carry anywhere with you to capture that moment perfectly without having to fiddle with complex settings or a bag full of lenses.
resolution (Megapixel)	12.1

Optical Zoom Ratio	5
The amount by which the camera optics (lens) can bring the subject closer.
Screen Size in Inches	3
Screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner.
Digital Zoom Ratio	4
Not to be confused with optical zoom, digital zoom enlarges a portion of the image thus simulating optical zoom. In doing so, some image quality is lost.
Face Recognition	Face Detection
A function for automatically detecting peoples faces and correctly adjusting the focus and exposure to take the best photo
Image Stabilisation	Optical Image Stabiliser
If a photo is taken at a slow shutter speed, or at a long focal length, the effects of ‘hand shake’ will be amplified. Some cameras come with built-in image stabilisation which is designed to act against this to produce sharper images. It’s great for low light shots without a tripod, like at a gig.
PictBridge	Yes
An industry standard allowing images to be printed from camera to printer, without needing a computer. CIPA PictBridge Standard Website
Weight (g)	145
The weight of the product in grams.
Flash	Yes
Whether or not your camera has an in-built flash. Flashes are essential for fully capturing a low light image.
Longest Shutter Speed	60
This is the longest exposure your camera will take. The longer you take a photo for, the more light is let in and the more motion is captured. Long shutter speeds can give fantastic, artistic results. Try photographing the night sky at 30s or longer to see how the rotation of the Earth causes the stars to curve through the scene.
In-Built Memory (MB)	40

WiFi	No
Wifi allows you to connect your device to wireless routers or modems which allows you to connect to broadband internet.

Also known as: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX550, Panasonic DMC-FX550EBS, Panasonic DMC-FX550EBK, DMC-FX550, Panasonic FX550, PANASONIC DMCFX550E

Digital Cameras Buyers' Guide

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Manufacturer's Description

Hybrid Touch-Screen Interface with 3.0-inch Large LCD, 25mm Wide-Angle LEICA DC Lens and iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode

The FX550 features an intuitive hybrid interface using both the cursor keys and touchscreen for full manual controls and Touch AF/AE. While shooting, AF/AE can be set by simply touching the subject on screen. The camera will then automatically track the subject as it moves. In manual operation, aperture and shutter speed can be set to the desired value by moving the slider. While playing back, an Easy Organisation menu is provided to simplify image organising.

The DMC-FX550’s touchscreen LCD features a large 3.0-inch, 230,000-dot resolution, and a wide-viewing angle that lets you frame your shot in a variety of ways for both shooting and viewing. LUMIX’s acclaimed Intelligent LCD function also automatically adjusts the brightness in 11 steps according to shooting conditions. This LCD provides sharp, clear images in virtually all shooting situations, ranging from nighttime to bright daylight scenes and from low-angle to high-angle shooting.

In iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode, 6 detection functions work automatically and simultaneously to optimise your settings. The Touch AF/AE is integrated with iA Mode to make it even easier to use. iA Mode includes MEGA O.I.S., Intelligent ISO Control, Intelligent Scene Selector, Face Recognition, Intelligent Exposure and AF Tracking. The new Face Recognition function memorises faces automatically and works to optimise both focus and exposure settings by prioritising on the registered person’s faces.

The 12.1-megapixel high-resolution DMC-FX550 features a 25mm ultra wide-angle 5x optical zoom f/2.8-5.9 LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT lens (35mm film camera equivalent: 25-125mm). The 25mm wide-angle lens has about twice the shooting area of the standard 35mm lens allowing you to capture breathtaking landscapes. Despite the ultra wide angle, DMC-FX550 features a 5x optical zoom, letting you capture distant subjects without degrading imaging quality.

The DMC-FX550 can record motion picture in high-definition (1,280 × 720 pixels at 30 fps) in Motion JPEG format. The pixel mixed readout method enables bright motion-picture recording even in low-light settings. When viewing, these high-resolution 16:9 motion pictures will provide a remarkable effect on large-screen HDTV. With HD component output capability, you can enjoy watching still and motion pictures in stunning HD quality taken by your DMC-FX550 by simply connecting the camera to an HDTV via an optional component cable DMW-HDC2.

The advanced image-processing engine, Venus Engine V with its dual CPU processors, enables the camera to identify and recognise faces in your scenes with high accuracy and speed. Its advanced signal processing gives beautiful images even at high ISO sensitivities. Venus Engine V has low power consumption, being 15% more efficient than its predecessor.

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