Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX580 Digital Camera Review

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX580 takes all the manual controls that power users so adore, combines them with an effective touch-screen augmented interface, and packs it all into a relatively small camera. Unfortunately, as much as we love some of the implementation, the camera is still plagued with a bevy of issues. The primary problem is that it tested almost universally poorly, and in just about every facet we examine it was a let down. While we love the amount of control the camera gives you, the problematic performance and $400 price tag are major black marks against it. The FX580 shoots 12-megapixel still images, 720p video, and a 5x zoom 25mm wide-angle lens.

The Panasonic's claim to fame is the extensive manual control you have over the shooting experience. It has a number of settings that usually are only found on SLRs. It's not very common to see a point-and-shoot camera with manual shooting mode, aperture priority, shutter priority, bracketing, Kelvin-entry white balance, and various noise reduction levels. The only function missing that would make it a pro's dream point-and-shoot is the ability to shoot in RAW.

Traditionally, we haven't been huge fans of touch screens on cameras, as they tend to be inaccurate, easily smeared, and not a strong replacement for button controls. Sony and Nikon are both prime offenders in this category. Panasonic, on the other hand, has decided on the obvious (yet brilliant) path of combining the touch screen with a traditional button-based interface. The vast majority of settings can be altered with either control method, as you prefer. Exposure controls are just about the only options that require you to use the touch screen. On top of that, the touch screen provides the ability to tap anywhere, and have the camera focus and meter off that point. It's a handy feature, and one we ended up using frequently.

Performance (read in-depth performance coverage at DigitalCameraInfo.com)

While the FX580 may have handled like a dream, it had major performance issues. Its color accuracy was low, the images were soft and had high chromatic aberration, and the image stabilization was ineffectual. The only vaguely bright spot in the testing gamut was that pictures weren't too noisy. All told, it was a significant disappointment, and ranked far below even very low-priced pocket cameras in terms of performance. While some of these results could be improved by altering the in-camera settings, our testing is based on shooting in the camera's default mode, and the FX580 was a significant let down.

Comparisons (read in-depth comparisons at DigitalCameraInfo.com)

As we mentioned above, the FX580 falls short when compared to most other cameras in terms of performance. However, it still had far more control than most, which provides an interesting conundrum. We compared it to the Canon PowerShot SD970 IS, Samsung HZ15W and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-900. It performed worse in our lab testing than all of them, but had more useful shooting controls. If you utterly crave manual settings, and are willing to put a significant amount of time in post-processing, then the FX580 has some appeal. If you're looking for a compromise, the Samsung HZ15W has the majority of control options of the Panasonic, but much better image quality performance. If you don't care about granularity of control, then something sleek like the Canon SD780 or Sony T900 may be more to your taste.

For a more in-depth review, visit the Panasonic DMC-FX580 Review at our partner DigitalCameraInfo.com