Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5 review

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5 Review

Reviewed by: Rich Trenholm

Reviewed on: 25 March 2008

Performance
It takes 3 seconds for the FS5 to start up, and shot-to-shot time averages at one second, which is decent. Burst mode rattles off 2.5 frames per second -- but only for 5 frames. We assumed the unlimited burst mode would be at a paltry resolution, but in fact it fired at full resolution, producing fine-quality shots at 1.35fps. Dropping the resolution to 5 or 3.5 megapixels sees a marginal increase in speed, but the full-resolution burst speed is already impressive enough.

The focus is quick and crisp. Colour is accurate out of the box, with the camera's extensive tweakability allowing you to also choose from vivid, natural, warm and cool options for different situations and moods. A three picture bracketing mode is also available for adjusting exposure by increments of your choice.

The image stabilisation worked well, and although it was hard to measure the effects without manual control, it saved us two or three stops of exposure compensation. Combined with the option to limit the maximum ISO speed, which prevents the camera from ramping up sensitivity in low light, we were able to take some decent low light shots at ISO 400 and 800 that weren't pebbledashed with image noise.

Conclusion
At first glance, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5 seems more reliable than rousing, more capable than intoxicating. The more time we've spent with it, the more we discover yet another fine-tunable option, and the more we're won over by it. It may not be as stylish as cameras like the Canon Digital IXUS 80 IS, but it outdoes many of Canon and Nikon's recent offerings and matches the Ricoh R8 as an accessible and endlessly flexible camera.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday