Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500 (silver)

When the 10-megapixel Lumix DMC-FX500 was announced in March 2008 it was the new flagship for Panasonic's FX-series ultracompacts--complete with a hefty $399.95 price tag (however it is available well below that price). As such, it features many technologies beyond those needed to take a good snapshot such as shutter- and aperture-priority modes and controls for color effects and adjusting sharpness, color, and noise reduction. It also has a hybrid interface using both a 3-inch touch-screen LCD and a traditional directional joystick and buttons. It does have abundant "auto" shooting abilities, too, though the FX500 is best suited for people wanting more control and/or the ability to experiment with their photos. Overall, it's a very good advanced point-and-shoot, but not without a couple shortcomings.

The FX500 is a boxy little camera. Available in silver or black, the metal-and-plastic body is on the large side of "ultracompact," but is nonetheless small enough to fit in a pants pocket without difficulty. Construction feels pretty solid as well. On top is a simple on/off switch next to the shutter release and surrounding ring for adjusting the 5x optical zoom. The controls on back are where things get a little funky.

The use of a touch-screen interface typically means fewer physical controls; not so with the FX500. It has a switch for going between shooting and playback and Mode, Display, and context-sensitive Quick Menu buttons as well as a five-way joystick for navigation. These are all to the right of the 3-inch touch-screen LCD that is reserved for only a handful of shooting controls. For example, pressing the Mode button brings up a screen filled with recording options and you just tap the one you want. Similarly selecting Scene mode shows all of those choices for you to tap on. When you're in Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, or Manual modes, onscreen sliders appear for quickly making adjustments (and they work really well, to boot). Another function, Touch AF, lets you select your subject by touching it on the display, and the camera will then focus and track the subject.

Needing to go back and forth between the physical and touch controls, such as when you're changing modes, is confusing at first but diminishes with frequent use. I prefer changing settings like ISO and white balance with the touch screen, but Panasonic keeps all of those settings in the menu system to be navigated by the occasionally frustrating-to-use joystick. In the end, the FX500 has just enough touch-screen controls to make its existence worthwhile.

While the FX500 has a full assortment of automatic shooting options, it has an excellent feature set that will appeal to more experienced photographers. This includes manual modes common to digital SLRs in addition to multiple options for exposure, light metering, focus (though no manual focus), continuous shooting, and the ability to set restrictions on ISO sensitivity and shutter speed.

If there's one downfall to the FX500, however, it's performance--especially shutter lag. In CNET Labs' tests even in bright conditions the lag time was long at 0.8 second and at 1 second in dim lighting--not what you want if you're shooting an active child or pet. Its other performance numbers are decent, with a start-up time of 2.5 seconds to the first shot, 2.2 seconds between shots, and using the flash only extends the shot-to-shot time to 2.6 seconds. Its burst rate is 1.1 frames per second using the camera's full resolution in Fine mode.

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