Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 Review
Review Date: February 27th 2008
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were captured using the 10M Fine JPEG image size option producing a file that is around 4.5Mb in size.
Noise
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 has 5 ISO settings which you can select in the Normal Picture mode. There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 100 and 200, but smoothing and slight loss of detail is apparent at ISO 400. At ISO 800 image quality has deterioated quite a lot as the camera blurs detail to try and hide the noise. ISO 1600 should only be used as a last resort, if at all. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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High Sensitivity Mode
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 has a High Sensitivity scene mode which promises to reduce blurry images, particularly of moving subjects indoors, by raising the ISO speed to a maximum of 6400 and therefore allowing for a faster shutter speed. This mode allows you to handhold the camera without using the flash and get more natural results, whilst at the same time freezing subject movement more successfully. There are some obvious drawbacks with this special scene mode, notably a significant reduction in resolution to just 3 megapixels in the 4:3 picture size. You also need to select the scene mode and therefore have some idea about when it is applicable to your subject. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels and obvious blurring of detail:
Original |
(100% crop) |
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Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images at the default setting are soft and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately you can't change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default results.
Original
(100% Crop) |
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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File Quality
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality JPEG option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
10M
Fine (4.04Mb) (100% Crop) |
10M
Normal (1.97Mb) (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 dealt very well with chromatic aberrations during the review, with only limited purple fringing present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations. Here are some 100% crops which show the typical chromatic aberrations that you can expect:
Chromatic
Aberrations (100% Crop) |
Chromatic
Aberrations (100% Crop) |
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Macro
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 5cms away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject in Macro mode (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
Macro Shot |
Macro Shot (100% Crop) |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 are Auto, Auto / Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, and Forced Off (Slow Sync. / Red-eye Reduction only in Night Portrait / Party / Candle Light Mode only). These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
Flash Off - Wide Angle (30mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (30mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (120mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (120mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Auto and Red-Eye Reduction options caused any amount of red-eye, although picture taken the Red-Eye Reduction was under-exposed.
Auto |
Auto (100% Crop) |
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Auto / Red-Eye Reduction |
Auto / Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 maximum shutter speed is 60 seconds in Starry Sky Mode, which is excellent news if you're interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds, aperture of f/3.3 at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Anti Shake
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the ISO speed set to 100. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here are some 100% crops of the images to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
| Shutter Speed / Focal Length | Anti Shake Off (100% crop) |
Anti Shake On (100% crop) |
| 1/8th / 120mm |  |
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| 1/8th / 120mm |  |
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Overall Image Quality
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 produced images of good quality during the review period. The 10 megapixel images were soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, as you can't change the in-camera setting. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 dealt very well with chromatic aberrations, with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. Macro performance is average, allowing you to focus as close as 5 cms away from the subject. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with a little red-eye and accurate exposure most of the time. The night photograph was very good, with the maximum shutter speed of 60 seconds allowing you to capture plenty of light. Anti-shake is a feature that sets this camera apart from its competitors and one that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS20 produces noise-free images at ISO 100 and 200, but ISO 400 shows some noise and smoothing of detail. ISO 800 exhibits very blurred detail, and the fastest setting of 1600 should only be used in an emergency. The High Sensitivity mode extends the ISO range to 6400 and allows you to freeze subject movement effectively, but does so by dramatically reducing the effective image resolution and signifcantly blurring image detail.
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