Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX33 review

Macro option of 50mm from your close-up subject isn't bad. There is a choice of 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 aspect ratios.Video mode allows you to shoot 848x480-pixel resolution widescreen movies at 30 frames per second, with sound. Intelligent ISO mode caps the ISO sensitivity level to ensure that noise doesn't creep into your pictures while you're not looking. ISO levels go up to a maximum of ISO 6,400, which is pretty high for a compact.

There was no loss of focus towards the edge of the image, thanks to the Leica-branded wide angle lens

In playback mode, text and dates can be stamped onto photos, with the original saved or overwritten. Another useful feature is category sorting, which sorts images into categories like portraits, scenery, date-stamped images or movies, so you can review or make slideshows of a particular type of image. The last image taken can also be reassessed at any time with one-touch review.

If you're short on memory (and with only 27MB onboard you will be, without an SD card) the 'Clipboard' function allows you to take around 70 photos and preview them onscreen, without saving them to the memory card. It's an unusual feature, designed to keep information to hand, for example, by photographing a train timetable. How useful it will be will probably come down to personal taste.

Performance
Start-up time is OK, although a logo telling you what mode the camera is in is annoying more often than it is useful. In single-shot mode the FX33 respectably captures images with half a second between pictures, or two seconds for the flash to cycle. Autofocus is also fast, utilising several focus point options and an autofocus assist lamp.

Continuous shooting modes are disappointing, however. The FX33 has two continuous shooting modes. Unlimited mode would probably have continued shooting forever, but was so arthritically slow we certainly couldn't wait that long. In one test the camera managed a painful 60 frames in an interminable two and a half minutes.

By contrast, normal continuous mode is lightning quick, but only captures four images at maximum resolution and even then has to pause a moment to process the pictures. Lower image sizes allow for more pictures to be taken.