This one from Panasonic is a great performer and looker as well. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX68 that came to us was a matt black metal body and silver metal band on the top, bottom and around the lens. The front of the device hosts the lens, flash and the self-timer indicator/AF assist lamp. The back is dominated by the 2.7-inch LCD with the mode selection wheel, record/playback toggle, D-pad, display and menu/delete button to the right. On top are the zoom rocker with the shutter button, on/off switch, speaker and microphone. The right has the HDMI and AVI slot covered neatly, while the battery and SD card slot are at the bottom.
The package comes aptly equipped with the Lumix DMC-FX68, charger for the rechargable Li-ion battery, USB connection cable, AV cable and an additional AC charger for direct charging. The device switches on and is ready for its first shot pretty quickly, albeit a bit noisily.
However, the 2.7-inch LCD screen has a clear and bright display, which is impressive. The D-pad features the menu button which takes us to the slightly complicated menu. The menu button changes with any mode that is selected among the six modes present.
The modes can be changed by the scroll wheel present at the right side corner behind the shutter button. The recording and setup tabs are common throughout. All this is quite confusing and the multiple menu sections can initially confuse the user quite easily, but getting used to all of it is a matter of time. The recording menu mostly speaks of image size, quality, aspect ratio, white balance, stabiliser, etc. The setup tab has the clock, world time, travel date, beep and volume.
The images during the day are quite clear and even so in the night with the flash. The disturbance is minimal.
The iAuto or the intelligent auto mode is where one gets to make all the necessary changes like exposure, flash/no flash that would give the best possible output. This worked quite well and we got good clear and bright images without working too hard for them. The second one is the normal picture mode where one would need to select the various requirements. Then is the scene mode and this one has a big bunch (28) of options to choose from like the portrait, soft skin, transform, self portrait, scenery, panorama assist, among others. The other two are motion picture and text modes. The options and scope for experimentation is endless. Movie recording is high definition and are stutter free and clear.
Among other things, the cosmetic mode is something that we haven?t come across recently.
The cosmetic mode with soft skin, normal and summer look as the visual options with the quality of images to be selected as well. Also, the images do not take a lot of time to be processed and hence allow many images to be clicked in a short while.
The quirks: The device is slightly noisy and the zoom-in/out become noisy and even clicking of images. The uncomfortable menu structure, that is very confusing, makes using the device quite a challenge for impatient or first time users.
There is also the sole dependence on the LCD screen because of the lack of the viewfinder, which might be because of the screen size.
Overall, a good looking device with a bunch of good features and the performance to add to it. However, in terms of competitors, it has many devices to compete with.
At about the same price, one can look at the Canon IXUS 210IS that features a touchscreen panel and at even a little lesser expense is the Samsung ST550, another touchscreen at Rs 20k featuring Schneider KREUZNACH Lens.
? CyberMedia www.LD2.in
Mail:talkLD@cybermedia.co.in