5. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX35

Here we have another camera whose reputation precedes it: the FX33 made a good impression, and the FX35 definitely should do the same. An excellent exterior finish and a rather plain design hide relatively good handling and this camera’s very reasonable weight. It’s also been reduced in size.

Although the menus aren’t the model of clarity, on the whole they’re still navigable and understandable without having read the manual (though there are a few exceptions). A good point for the FX35 is that the iA mode (auto intelligent) works well: it analyzes each image to choose which scene mode fits it best. We tested it in many conditions (ocean, sporting events, etc.), and it turned out to be effective and responsive.

There’s not much to report on this high quality lens. Its focal range starts at 25 mm (one of the widest angles in our list). Unfortunately, Panasonic only pushed the camera to 100 mm, which means an effective 4x zoom.

It’s difficult to find fault with this FX35 under normal use: color rendering is very faithful and optic flaws, distortion, and vignetting are relatively well contained. If the noise at 800 ISO isn’t as unnoticeable as on the Fujifilm F100fd, it’s at least very well managed. Of course, the most anticipated new feature is the video capture in 720p format (generally called HD Ready). Unfortunately, we can’t help being a little disappointed by the quality here. The format is certainly practical for an HD television, but the fact remains that the digital noise is very intrusive.