Introduction
Product Tour
Overview
The Panasonic DMC-FS25 is a generic point-and-shoot with a boxy design. It will be available in silver, black and gold — as seen here, we had the chance to work with a pre-production version of the silver model at the PMA show.
Front
The thin metal bump on the left side is a tiny grip.
The lens is the largest feature on the front of the FS25. The flash is located above the lens and to the left, while the autofocus illuminator is off in the top right corner. There's a speed bump-like grip on the left side. This grip is the only unique feature on the FS25's face.
Back
The back of the FS25 is basic, but we liked the joystick in lieu of a four-way pad.
The back is dominated by a single feature: the 3-inch LCD screen. To the right of the screen is a panel of controls. The first button is a switch to alternate between playback mode and capture mode. Below this is a speaker, then the mode button, display button, and menu/set button. The four buttons arranged in a cloverleaf pattern provide access to exposure compensation, self-timer, flash and macro mode settings. The button in the middle is actually a joystick; navigation doesn't use the four control buttons at all.
Sides
No excitement to be found on the camera sides.
Like most of the cameras we've seen at PMA, there are really only two noteworthy features on the FS25's sides: the wrist strap loop and the USB connection port.
Top
The top of the FS25 doesn't have many features. Beneath the holes above the lens is a microphone, followed by the power switch. Next is the shutter button and the zoom ring. The final button launches automatic mode.
That little red button on the right will automate every option.
Bottom
That black disk on the right is a security device; we were looking at a show floor model. As such, you can't see the camera's tripod socket. On the left is the battery/memory card hatch.
The tripod socket seems to have wandered towards the camera's outskirts.
Hardware
LCD
The Panasonic DMC-FS25 provides a 3-inch LCD with a 230,000-dot resolution. It has both an Auto Power LCD mode and a manual Power LCD mode, which boost brightness to allow for enhanced visibility in overly bright environments. There is also a High-Angle LCD mode, which lets you hold the camera far above your head and see through the viewfinder despite the extreme angle.
The High-Angle LCD mode looks washed-out seen straight on (as shown here), but appears clear when the camera is held overhead.
Flash
The flash is located on the front of the FS25, just above and to the left of the lens. Since the lens is so close to the lens, you might notice more red eye in your portraits. Fortunately the camera features some red-eye correction tools.
Pop-out or raised flashes are less likely to cause red eye.
Lens
The FS25 uses a Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens with 5x optical zoom. It has a focal length from 5.2 to 26mm (35mm equivalent of 36-216mm). Its aperture ranges from f/3.3 to f/5.9.
The FS25's 5x optical zoom isn't anything spectacular.
Jacks, Ports & Plugs
The FS25's only port is located low on its right side, under a little hatch. It's a standard mini USB port for data transfer and video output.
Standard ports, like this one, are definitely preferred to proprietary ports.
Battery
The FS25 uses a lithium-ion battery pack (3.6V, 940mAh), which is located underneath the camera. Panasonic says battery life is 330 shots, a respectable figure. An optional AC adapter is also available.
FS25 battery life is a reasonable 330 shots.
Memory
The FS25 has about 50MB of built-in memory. It can also record to SD/SDHC cards and MultiMediaCards, however only still images can be recorded on the latter.
Design & Layout
Design & Appearance
The Panasonic DMC-FS25 has the look of a basic point-and-shoot, with no particular aesthetic flair. This being said, it isn't made out of brightly colored plastic like some flashy models we've seen, so it's far more professional than many other point-and-shoot options. The FS25 will be available in silver, gold and black.
Size & Handling
The FS25 is small and portable. We aren't big fans of the shutter button being indented so far from the camera edge, but we do like the zoom ring as opposed to a zoom toggle switch. The controls on the back are located a bit low, requiring you to shift your grip while shooting.
The FS25 controls make changing settings while shooting a bit clumsy.
Menu
The FS25's menu structure is very basic, although the use of two different menu systems might be slightly confusing. The main menu, which is accessed via the Menu/Set button, is a standard two-page affair. One page deals with capturing options, like picture size and quality, and the second is a general settings menu.
The FS25 relies on on-screen menus instead of a control dial.
Instead of a control dial to select shooting mode, you are given two controls: the capture/playback switch and the Mode button. If you set the switch to capture and hit the Mode button, you'll gain access to scene modes, movie mode, automatic mode, and a few other shooting modes. If the switch is set to playback, the Mode button will give you various playback options.
Menu choices have icons, but also clear text descriptions..
There is also a quick menu, a handy way to access key settings in one convenient location. You access it with the Q. Menu button, and can then set the image stabilization, burst mode, autofocus mode, white balance, ISO, contrast, picture size, or enable Power LCD mode.
The quick menu offers fast access to key settings.
Ease of Use
The FS25 appears to be an entry-level point and shoot in terms of its feature set. It also had a few beginner-friendly touches, like a readily available demo mode that provides instructions for just about every menu item. The one flaw we found with ease of use was the lack of a separate control dial, which is more intuitive for a true beginner than wading through a wide variety of on-screen menu options.
Modes
Auto Mode
The FS25, as an entry-level point-and-shoot, has a few automatic modes to help beginners. In addition to its full automatic mode, you can set image stabilization, ISO, white balance, and flash to automatic. You can also set up an automatic bracketing mode, which takes pictures at three different exposure levels.
Movie Mode
The FS25 can capture QuickTime Motion JPEG videos in 4:3 or 16:9. The 4:3 options are VGA (640x480) and QVGA (320x240) at 30 frames per second. The wide options is WVGA (848x480) and only available at 30 fps. The camera's optical zoom is not available in movie mode.
Drive/Burst Mode
The two methods for taking quick, sequential captures are Continuous Shot Mode and High-speed Burst Mode. Continuous Shot will capture full-resolution images at 1.8 frames per second for 5 images in standard mode or 3 images in fine quality. High-speed Burst will take pictures at 5.5 frames per second, but its largest resolution option is 3 megapixels. Other High-speed Burst Mode options include a 2.5MP 3:2 setting and a 2MP 16:9 setting.
Playback Mode
Flipping the switch from capture to playback and hitting the Mode button brings up different playback options. There are a few basic editing features available, such as cropping, rotating, and red eye fix. The camera can also print via direct connection to a PictBridge printer.
The FS25 also has Panasonic's category selection mode, which is an interesting way to facilitate album navigation. In category mode, you can filter pictures by a few criteria, such as 'pictures you took in portrait mode.'
The FS25 also has a dual picture playback mode, where two images are displayed on screen at once.
Custom Image Presets
The FS25 offers a wide variety of tightly defined scene modes. You can choose from portrait, soft skin, transform, self portrait, scenery, sports, night portrait, night scenery, food, party, candlelight, baby 1, baby 2, pets, sunset, high-sensitivity, high-speed burst, flash burst, starry sky, fireworks, beach, snow, aerial photo, pin hole, film grain, and photo frame.
Controls
Manual Controls
The FS25 lets you manually choose the ISO level, set up a custom white balance, set exposure compensation and choose an image stabilization method. You also have minimal shutter speed control: in Starry Sky Mode, the shutter speed can be slowed down to 15, 30, and 60 seconds. Regardless, this is still a small set of manual controls. Some point-and-shoots will offer a few more manual controls, like aperture- or shutter-priority shooting.
Focus
The FS25 has a quick autofocus mode, which will pre-autofocus whatever is in frame. The range for the autofocus is from 5.2 to 26mm (29-145mm in 35mm equiv.). In macro mode, the focusing area tightens to 5cm for wide and 100cm for telephoto.
ISO
You can set ISO to automatically adjust, or manually set it to somewhere between 80 and 1600. If you enable high sensitivity mode, you gain access to ISO 3200 and 6400.
White Balance
In addition to the automatic and custom white balance modes, there are only four presets available: daylight, cloudy, shade, and halogen. This is pretty bare bones for a point-and-shoot, though we were pelased to see the option to set a custom white balance settting, a feature often missing from cameras in this class.
Metering
Metering defaults to Intelligent Multiple mode, which will attempt to automatically balance out the light levels across the image. There are no manual controls for metering.
Shutter Speed
The FS25's shutter speed runs from 8-1/2000 sec. If you turn on Starry Sky mode, you can slow shutter speed down to 15, 30, or 60 seconds.
Aperture
The maximum aperture settings are f/3.3 (wide) and f/5.9 (telephoto).
Image Stabilization
The FS25 has an optical image stabilization system that lets you choose from automatic implementation or one of two special modes. Mode 1 will stabilize the picture to insure a smooth viewfinder picture and mode 2 will attempt to achieve the most stable finished photo.
Picture Quality & Size Options
The FS25 offers multiple picture sizes in 4:3, 3:2, and 16:9 aspect ratios. The largest image size is 4000x3000, the smallest is 640x480, and there's a wide setting that's 4000x2248.
Picture Effects
There are a few different color effects available: Standard, Natural, Vivid, Black & White, Sepia, Cool, and Warm. There is no custom color effect mode.
Conclusion
Meet the tester
Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.
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