Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP8 review
In something of a design departure, Panasonic has introduced the flat fronted, square-edged 12.1 megapixel FP8 to the Lumix range of beginner-friendly, pocket-sized point-and-shoot compacts. It recalls similarly slender Sony Cyber-shots to an extent, yet even more closely apes older Konica Minolta Dimage X series digital snapshots, not just in looks but also because it features folded optics – here Leica branded – that ensure that at no point does its internally stacked 4.6x optical zoom (a 35mm equivalent 28-128mm) protrude from the body. Is imitation really here a form of flattery, or a merely a following of an already tried and tested route?
Curiously though, there’s no automatic cover protecting the lens of this digital doppelganger when the camera is inactive, the glass of the FP8 permanently exposed. This inevitably means it quickly becomes smeared with fingerprints when taking the camera in and out of pockets, whilst the lens positioning towards the right hand edge of the faceplate means fingertips can initially stray into shot when gripping the camera in both hands. Hand this camera to a friend or passer by to take your photograph and there are bound to be such problems.
Clearly aimed at the fashion conscious ’status seeker’, the Panasonic DMC-FP8 comes in a choice of silver, black or red bodies. We had the almost crimson version in for review and, though it lacks the sense of sophistication of the alternatives, it’s certainly the most eye-catching. As an added attention grabber the unit’s back plate buttons are illuminated in pale blue when in use, and bleep when pressed. Fortunately the sound can be de-activated if you want to avoid drawing attention to yourself when attempting candid shots, and the lit buttons can themselves be snuffed out if you want to look more the consummate photographer and less the gamer.
Minimalist appearance and gimmicky controls aside, the FP8’s key features include its aforementioned 28mm wide-angle lens, HD movies of the 1280×720 pixels variety (with selectable 16:9 image ratio alongside 4:3 or 3:2), 2.7-inch 230k-dot LCD screen for framing in the absence of an optical viewfinder, ISO 80-1600 light sensitivity (extendable to ISO6400 via the fully auto High Sensitivity scene mode), Panasonic’s pioneering intelligent auto (iA) functionality whereby the camera ‘recognises’ the subject before it and automatically adjusts settings, ‘Power’ OIS (optical image stabilization) said to be twice as effective at combating camera shake as Panasonic’s previous implementation of OIS (not that we noticed), plus continuous shooting up to 10 frames per second with the caveat of incremental resolution drops (otherwise it’s 2.3fps).
This functionality is all wrapped up within a solid-feel aluminum body that’s portably lightweight at just 131g without supplied lithium ion rechargeable battery, or the removable SD/SDHC media card required to expand the 40MB internal cache provided.
