Panasonic DMC-FX01

Reviewed February 2006

Test Photos

STILL LIFE PHOTO

This subject is photographed in a room that has a mix of fluorescent and incandescent light, but which is not brightly lit. The camera's flash is used to add fill light. The backdrop is 1.95 m (6.5 ft) from the camera.

For the wide angle shot, a wide angle equivalent to a 28 mm, the DMC-FX01 boosts the sensitivity to 100 ISO to help the flash light the subject. Still, the image turns out a touch too dark, and to capture this shot an exposure compensation of +1 EV is used to increase the brightness further.

The resulting image is well lit, but some loss of detail due to the compression is noticeable in the areas of the images that have low contrast.

ZOOM PHOTO

Now we zoom in on a specific area. The intent is to test the sharpness of the image at the zoom's maximum setting. The camera remains at the same distance as with the preceding photo.

The telephoto end of the FX01's zoom is equivalent to a 102 mm, a short telephoto. Limited to a maximum aperture of f5.6, the camera boosts the sensitivity a bit more to 125 ISO. In addition 2/3 EV of exposure compensation is used to further brighten the image.

As can be seen below, the FX01 captures a sharp image that shows a lot detail with the exception of one area: a fold in the drop cloth, which shows signs of the compression, and has caused the texture of the cloth to disappear.

The Macro position of the FX01's Mode dial allows the camera to focus on a subject that is 5 cm (1.95 in.) from the front of the lens when the zoom is at the wide angle end. In fact, the camera is able to focus sharply on a subject that is approximately 4 cm (1.56 in.), producing a field of view that captures approximately 6 cm (2.34 in.) in the longest, horizontal part of the frame.

At this distance, with some subjects, a bit of barrel distortion can be seen.

BUILDING PHOTO

This image is our outdoor test. The architecture of the building, in particular the angled girders, immediately show the presence of jaggies. The shadowed entrance can also often reveal the quality of the exposure.

The DMC-FX01 captures a large field of view when the Leica zoom is set to the wide end. Equivalent to a 28 mm on a 35 mm format camera, the lens is well-suited to capture subjects such as the one shown here, or indoor shots, which are able to give a sense of the size of a room, or even expansive landscapes.

The metering the FX01 uses is a reliable averaging system, which handles contrasts very well.

ZOOM PHOTO

With the zoom set to the maximum telephoto setting, the FX01 still captures a large portion of the building, highlighting the fact that while the zoom offers a big wide angle view, at the other end of its focal length range it only offers a short telephoto.

Still, the image is clear and very well exposed, and even records items that are inside the building, behind the blue-green tinted glass.

For this shot, the camera was handheld, and with the help of the stabilizer, even as low a shutter speed as 1/40 second resulted in a sharp image.

NIGHT PHOTO

This camera is capable of long exposures, and an image captured late at night is presented to give an idea of its capabilities.

The FX01 is equipped with an unusual scene mode called "Starry Sky." The mode allows the user to select an exposure time, starting with 15 seconds, then 30 seconds, and up to 60 seconds, making it possible to capture bright night time shots.

As a Scene mode, however, the user is not given any control over the CCD sensitivity — the camera forces it to 80 ISO to minimize the intrusion of noise — or white balance.

While the lack of any control over the sensitivity in this case is of minimal importance, the lack of control over the white balance results in an image that is influenced by the sodium vapour lighting that is common nowadays, imparting it with a yellow cast.

Equipped with a dark frame noise reduction system, after every long exposure the camera automatically captures a second exposure of the same length without opening the shutter, and then uses the noise gathered over the course of the second exposure to reduce the noise in the first exposure.