Panasonic Lumix FS33

Panasonic’s digital cameras of late have been very strong performers with very little bad apples to be found across their entire line up. The Lumix FS33 part of Panasonics latest compacts for 2010 that launched this January brings some exciting new features to the table and solid performance to boot.

The Lumix FS33 is solidly built and looks rather sexy with its brushed aluminium facia. It’s available in no less than five colours to suit pretty much anyone out there: silver, black, red, blue and violet. In terms of size and weight, its right in line with what you’d expect, fitting nicely in ones hand and weighting just 140g minus its Li-ion battery.

One of the most interesting features of the FS33 has got to be the 3.0-inch 230,000 pixel touch-screen with anti-reflective coating. You can select focus and metering areas by simply tapping the screen, or flick your finger across the screen to shuffle through your various shots. It all feels very iPod-like and rather intuitive. You’ll also find a 14.1 megapixel sensor and 8x image-stabilized optical zoom 28mm wide angle Leica lens – great for keeping snaps on the move blur free. Rounding of the specifications is its HD video recording capability, allowing for excellent quality images and sound at 720p and 30fps.

The Lumix FS33 is brimming with features and luckily its performance certainly matches the spec sheet. Shutter time is measured at just 0.06 seconds and ISO modes that range from 80 right up to 6400 indicate excellent potential here for low light conditions. When taken as a complete package the Lumix FS33 is certainly a worthy model for a 2010 refresh bringing a touch screen, higher ISO modes and a 14.1 megapixel sensor in a good looking body and at an affordable price. What’s not to like? If you don’t care for the touch screen, save yourself some cash and get the Lumix FS30 which is pretty much the same camera bar the touch screen LCD.