Product Tour
The Panasonic DMC-FX580 packs in a 5x optical zoom into its compact design. The 3-inch LCD screen takes up about 3/4 of the back of the camera and has touchscreen capabilities for nearly everything. Since the camera is small and rectangular, it doesn't have the best or tightest grip, but it's light and will easily fit into pockets of all sizes. The lens automatically retracts and extends when the camera is turned on and off.
Front
The front of the DMC-FX580 is flat and silver, with the lens taking up half of the right side. The flash and autofocus-assist light flank the lens at the top left and top right.
Back
The LCD screen takes up 3/4 of the back of the camera and a collection of buttons line up to its right. At the top is a switch to go between playback and shooting mode. Beneath this are the mode and display button followed by a directional pad. Each button on the d-pad also has another function: up is exposure adjustment, right is flash control, down is macro focus, left is self-timer, and middle is menu/set. At the bottom of the back side is the quick-menu/trash button.
The LCD screen also functions as a touch screen for most adjustments and controls (except for the camera's main menu system).
Sides
The right side of the DMC-FX580 has a small bar at its top for connecting a wrist strap. Beneath this is a hinged door that opens to reveal the component-out and USB port. The door is a bit flimsy, but it doesn't feel too bad.
Only one little screw prevents the left side from being a flat, smooth swath of metal.
Top
The top of the camera has your most important controls—the on/off switch, the shutter button, and the zoom toggle. An E Zoom button, which will automatically put the camera at its maximum zoom level, is located on the far right side.
Bottom
The left portion of the bottom is a pop-out door that opens the battery and memory card compartment. The DMC-FX580 uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and captures photos to SD/SDHC memory cards. A tripod mount is on the far right.
Hardware
Viewfinder
The Panasonic DMC-FX580 doesn't have a viewfinder, so you'll have to rely on the LCD screen for all your shooting needs.
LCD
Since the camera doesn't come with a viewfinder, it's packed with a large 3-inch LCD display. The screen has a 230,000-pixel resolution and offers three brightness modes—Auto Power, Power, and High-Angle. The LCD also has touchscreen capabilities, which will likely irk and please the equal amount of users.
The good thing about Panasonic's touchscreen setup is that most settings can also be controlled using the navigation and selection buttons to the right of the LCD. This means if you absolutely hate touchscreens, you'll be able to utilize most of the DMC-FX580's features without ever laying a finger on the LCD screen. Just to note, however, manual aperture and shutter speed control can only**be adjusted using the touchscreen.
Flash
The flash is located above the lens on the front of the camera. It can be set to auto, auto/red-eye, forced flash on, slow sync/red-eye, and forced flash off. The flash is well placed and shouldn't get in the way of your fingers when you hold the camera. An autofocus-assist lamp is also located above the lens.
Lens
The lens on the DMC-FX580 has a 5x optical zoom and offers extra optical zoom at some of the lower quality settings (6.1x at 8M, 7.8x at 5M, and 9.8x at 3M). This extra optical zoom is achieved at lower quality settings by utilizing the unused pixels to increase the zoom capability of the camera.The lens has an aperture range of f/2.8 - 5.9 and a focal length of 4.4 - 22.0mm.
Jacks, Ports & Plugs
On the right side of the camera is a cluster of two ports located behind a hinged port cover. Inside are a USB port and a component-output that is compatible with the supplied A/V cable. The hinged cover feels a bit flimsy and doesn't offer the best seal to protect the two ports. On the upside, the cover closes so it is flush with the body of the camera, thus giving the right side a straight, smooth surface.
Battery
The DMC-FX580 uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, which is included with the camera along with a battery charger. The battery loads into the bottom of the camera in the same compartment that houses the memory card. According to Panasonic, up to 350 pictures can be taken with a fully-charged battery.
An optional AC adapter can also be purchased separately from Panasonic.
Memory
The Panasonic DMC-FX580 uses SD/SDHC memory cards as well as MultiMediaCards (for still image only). The camera also has a minuscule amount of built-in memory, but it's only good for 6-7 pictures at the highest quality. The memory cards load into the bottom of the camera, just below the battery slot. The hinged door that protects the compartment locks well and provides a decent seal at the bottom of the camera.
Other Features
*Touchscreen - *Panasonic touts the numerous 'touch' options on the DMC-FX580 as special features. The LCD allows for touch-sensitive control for nearly every facet of the camera, except navigating the main menu system. This opens the door for autofocus/auto exposure touch adjustment, touchscreen face recognition, and touch-operated playback. Read more about these features in the controls section of this review.
*E Zoom - *On the top of the camera is an E Zoom button, which will automatically put the camera at its maximum optical zoom with one push. Another push brings the camera's zoom even further, but this time it is digital. A third push pulls the zoom all the way back in to wide angle.
Design & Layout
Design & Appearance
When the camera is off, the Panasonic DMC-FX580 is rectangular in shape. The body has a smooth, metal surface that isn't as prone to greasy fingerprints as some glossy, plastic-coated cameras. The design is sleek and slim, so you shouldn't have too much of a problem fitting the camera into your pocket, even if you're wearing a tight pair of jeans.
The camera only comes in silver or black, so if you're looking for a colorful, flashy little item to bring out on the town the FX580 probably isn't it.
Size & Handling
The boxy design of the DMC-FX580 makes it difficult to get a good grip on the camera, but that's the case with most compact cameras on the market. The large LCD has decent touchscreen capability, but it will still surely alienate some users. Most features (other than manual aperture and shutter speed) can be controlled using the array of buttons to the right of the LCD.
Menu
The menus on the DMC-FX580 can be a bit daunting (there's five pages of options in both the camera and settings menu), but they are easy to read and are laid out very well. In intelligent auto mode, Panasonic keeps the menus much shorter and simpler with the idea being novice photographers aren't going to want to fiddle with the extra options.
The quick menu button brings up popular settings so you don't have to sift through the full menu looking for things like stabilization, burst, white balance, ISO, image size, etc. For some reason, the touchscreen LCD doesn't work for navigating through the menu system, although you can use the touch feature for selecting options within the quick menu.
Ease of Use
There isn't anything overly complicated about the FX580 and intelligent auto mode makes things rather simple. The touch system is fairly intuitive and will likely be viewed pleasurably by novice users. Panasonic does make things a bit confusing with some manual controls, however, as some settings are only labeled with ambiguous icons rather than accompanied by explanatory text.
Modes
Auto Mode
Panasonic packs the DMC-FX580 with endless amounts of scene modes so you have a variety of 'auto modes' to choose from. In every mode you can also use the touch AF/AE system that allows the user to simply touch the part of the screen they want to focus and expose correctly. There's also the intelligent auto mode that is meant to simplify the camera for beginners (by taking away most menu and control options).
Movie Mode
The FX580 includes a high definition (1280 x 720p) movie mode as well as two standard definition video modes (640 x 480 and 848 x 480). All videos are captured at 30 frames per second and use the Motion JPEG compression. The camera cannot output high definition video to an HDTV unless you purchase the optional component cable accessory (DMW- HDC2). Even with an HD option, the FX580 is definitely not a
replacement for a dedicated video camcorder, but it's still a decent
feature to include.mode is definitely no replacement for a dedicated video camcorder, but it's a decent feature to include on the FX580. In movie mode you have no control over aperture or shutter and you can't perform an optical zoom once you've started recording. Movies can be recorded at 640 x 480 (4:3 aspect ratio) or 848 x 480 (16:9 widescreen aspect ratio) sizes and are captured at 30 fps using the Motion JPEG compression.
Drive/Burst Mode
Continuous mode can be set to off, on, or infinity, but we currently have no data for how fast the camera can take these shots. The camera also includes self timer settings of 2 and 10 seconds.
Playback Mode
The FX580 has a dedicated playback mode that is accessed by flipping the switch on the back of the camera. When reviewing your photos you can digitally zoom into the image up to 16x using either the zoom toggle or the touchscreen system. You can also move and drag your image using the LCD touchscreen. Images can be rotated, trimmed and slightly enhanced using options in the playback menu.
Custom Image Presets
The camera has color effects of black and white, sepia, cool, and warm. There is also a picture adjustment option that allows for custom adjustment of contrast, sharpness, saturation, and noise reduction (each with 5 increments of control).
The complete list of scene modes includes: portrait, soft skin, transform, self portrait, scenery, panorama assist, sports, night portrait, night scenery, food, party, candle light, baby 1, baby 2, pet, high sensitivity, hi-speed burst, flash burst, starry sky, fireworks, sunset, beach, snow, aerial photo, pin hole, and film grain.
Controls
Manual Controls
The Panasonic DMC-FX580 has lots of manual controls for a compact digital camera. Aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual exposure mode each allow for a varying amount of manual control. Unfortunately you must use the LCD touchscreen to fine-tune both aperture and shutter speed manually. The camera cannot perform a manual focus.
Focus
There are five autofocus modes on the camera as well as face recognition capabilities. You can also use the LCD touchscreen to touch the part of the frame you want the camera to put into focus. The camera doesn't have an option for manual focus, which is one of the few manual controls absent on the FX580.
ISO
ISO can be set to Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1600. An ISO limit can be set so the camera won't exceed a certain sensitivity when in auto mode. There's also the high sensitivity scene mode that extends the range out to 1600 - 6400 ISO (auto only).
White Balance
There's a number of white balance presets on the camera, but they are only represented as icons on the LCD screen. They appear to be auto, daylight, cloudy, and indoor light. There's also a preset that is represented by a strange collection of triangles that may be an attempt to portray a house, but we're unsure as to what the preset is meant for. Panasonic should really include more information along with the ambiguous icons.
A manual white balance setting and a Kelvin control option (ranging from 2500 - 10,000) are also featured.
Metering
There are three auto metering modes on the camera, but they are again only labeled with icons. There is manual exposure control with a range of -2 to +2 increments. An auto bracketing feature is also present on the camera.
Panasonic's i-Exposure feature can be set to low, standard, or high depending on how much contrast you want in your image.
Shutter Speed
In shutter priority or manual exposure mode the shutter speed can be manually adjusted using the LCD touchscreen. The shutter speed can be set from 60 seconds to 1/1600 of a second. Manual shutter speed and aperture are the only settings that must be controlled using the LCD touchscreen.
Aperture
In aperture priority and manual exposure mode aperture can manually set using the LCD touchscreen (just like shutter speed). The range for manual adjustment is f/2.8 - f/8.0.
Image Stabilization
The DMC-FX580 has optical image stabilization that can be set to auto, mode1 or mode2. It is unclear as to what the difference between the three modes actually is.
Picture Quality & Size Options
In 4:3 aspect ratio images can be captured at 4000 x 3000 (12M), 3264 x 2448 (8M), 2560 x 1920 (5M), 2048 x 1536 (3M), 1600 x 1200 (2M), and 640 x 480 (0.3M). All size settings under 12 megapixels can utilize the extended optical zoom feature to varying degrees.
The 3:2 aspect ratio has the following size options: 4000 x 2672(10.5M), 3264 x 2176 (7M), 2560 x 1712 (4.5M), and 2048 x 1360 (2.5M).
At 16:9 pictures can be taken at 4000 x 2248(9M), 3264 x 1840 (6M), 2560 x 1440 (3.5M), and 1920 x 1080 (2M).
All sizes offer two quality options, fine and standard.
Picture Effects
All the picture effects on the FX580 are either located within specific scene modes (like the transform mode) or exist as color controls (like black and white, sepia, etc.).
Conclusion
Meet the tester
Jeremy is the video expert of our imaging team and Reviewed.com's head of video production. Originally from Pennsylvania and upstate NY, he graduated from Bard college with a degree in film and electronic media. He has been living and working in New England since 2005.
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