Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3EB-A

Firstly, I am a graphic artist, and also know a lot about photography, having owned SLR cameras with full lens filter kits/tripods etc back in the day before digital cameras. So when I wanted to buy my 3rd digital camera, I knew what to look for. I have spent long months researching review sites on the latest cameras, and there are certainly ones out there better than this, but not, I believe for the price and compactness of this. I paid £131 with ...
.../> So, my review based on this price and my very fussy needs:

Build:
The quality of build is excellent. It is a smart looking compact, which looks akin to the latest Nokia phones (if you buy it in black), and the buttons are solid and easy to work. I have large fingers and the only thing I found was a stretch was using the zoom dial. However, this is overcome with a very neat button next to it which instantly toggles your zooms ... more

Firstly, I am a graphic artist, and also know a lot about photography, having owned SLR cameras with full lens filter kits/tripods etc back in the day before digital cameras. So when I wanted to buy my 3rd digital camera, I knew what to look for. I have spent long months researching review sites on the latest cameras, and there are certainly ones out there better than this, but not, I believe for the price and compactness of this. I paid £131 with a 4GB SDHC card, and this included delivery.

So, my review based on this price and my very fussy needs:

Build:
The quality of build is excellent. It is a smart looking compact, which looks akin to the latest Nokia phones (if you buy it in black), and the buttons are solid and easy to work. I have large fingers and the only thing I found was a stretch was using the zoom dial. However, this is overcome with a very neat button next to it which instantly toggles your zooms fully back and forth between wide/tele and digital zoom.

Ease of use:
I found it a bit confusing at first, as there are different menus which are available from different buttons. However, I also found driving a car a lot to take in at first, but effort spent on learning reaps it's rewards. The menus might take getting used to, but after a day or so it feels intuitive, and navigating around the modes becomes quicker in the long run with this style, you just have to remember which button does what. EG: one button sets the picture recording mode, the centre menu button sets parameters such as quality/colour/white balance etc, and then there is a Q-Menu button, which stands for Quick menu. This does much the same, except you can just navigate quickly over icons while still viewing the image, if you have got to know what the icons mean (maybe after owning it a while). This I have found is handy for jumping between image stabiliser modes/ ISO settings etc with just a few clicks. One button slide is for switching the camera between recording / viewing modes. This makes it quite easy to play back pictures, zoom in on them, and view them in orders such as calendar dates, or as a slideshow with music. There are hints on screen as to which buttons do what in this mode, so this helps to make the instructions redundant (always a good thing).

Features:
Most notable on this camera, is the Intelligent Auto mode, which basically sets everything for you, depending on the situation. It knows when to turn on image stabilisation (1/2/or off), the best ISO setting, flash, scene mode, white balance, face detection, close up. This is very handy for those "grab the camera quick!" moments where you can't be fussed with setting every parameter to get the best possible shot. It is also good for learning, as it displays what it's doing, and saves this info on the camera indexed with the shot for later reviewing.
Also worthy of note is the face detection, which can detect up to 18 faces in a scene, and adjust things like focus/exposure/white balance. This is very cool when you see it working on the screen with orange triangles following people's faces around.
There are lots of scene modes for just about every situation you can think of. The button layout enables you to quickly set major adjustments such as exposure compensation, forced flash on/off, and my very favorite feature; auto bracket. You can set this at two touches of a button to automatically take 3 shots of every image: one under exposed, one normal, and one overexposed. You can also set the amount you want compensated either side. I have found this invaluable for getting correct exposure, as a camera doesn't always know how you want your picture when there is high contrast in a scene.
There is also a one touch button for backlight, which you can leave on, if for example, your lightsource is behind the subject, to prevent underexposure. I found I was leaving this on most of the time.
For near/total darkness, it has a few tricks up it's sleeve: for one, it emits a red beam of light onto the subect for focus. Number two, it has a starry sky setting, and you can set the shutter to stay open for 15,30,60 secs. It will then process this image and looking at it, you will think you have night vision, even on 15 secs. If you use the timer and set the camera down (highly rec), the result will be very good indeed, and there is a tripod mount built into the base if you have one.
The LCD screen: This has settings allowing you to have it so it gets brighter in bright conditions so you can still see it, or forced economy for saving the battery. I found the screen was readable even with strong sunlight shining on it.

Picture quality:
In a word... brilliant. I have always liked vibrant colours and strong focus, and this camera, provided you know what your doing (or use the Intelligent Auto) has it in spades. The flash is the best I've ever used. It is bright, without washing out any areas and leaving other in darkness, and I even tested it in total darkness indoors, and was staggered at the result. Without the flash, sill brilliant. The camera is in a class of it's own at higher ISO settings, where other cameras get a lot of noise in the image.

Movie feature:
This is a bit hit and miss. It has the capability of recording 30fps at widescreen 843x480 and 640x480 normal screen. You can reduce the resolution and frame rate to get more hours/minutes of movie time, but I found on the highest setting, it only allows 19min 21sec, even though a 4GB card can hold much more. This is a minor grumble, you may think, especially as it's a still camera, not a movie camera. In my opinion, the quality of movie is somehow much better when zoomed in before you start recording. This goes against what I know, as I would think camera shake would make it worse, however, it does a far better job at focusing and gives a very quality image, resembling high definition. I believe this may have been an artistic glitch though, as I started the movie before focusing properly, so it may just have a fixed focus issue.
Gripe number two: You cannot zoom in/out while filming. I have noticed this is a trend with compacts, so can't complain too much.
The last thing I don't like about the movie mode, is that it runs on Apple Quicktime software, which is a pet hate of mine, owing to it's limited flexibility on PCs. You cannot view a thumbnail of the movie in a Windows folder on XP (I don't know about Vista). All is not lost however, as the bundled software allows you to convert it to the AVI or MPEG standards, if you are a whiz with making your own DVDs or want it to be editable in Windows Movie maker. Expect some quality loss though.

Software:
There are 4 programs that come on the disk...
The first is the photo touch up / library software that is very standard and nothing special. These pieces of software have been around for years and there are far better ones out there. It's basic for the most basic needs if you don't have your own graphics software. Use only if you have nothing else, but try to find a better free one on the net ASAP.
The second piece of software is called Media Impression, which has a semi-good feature of letting you turn your recorded movies into a movie with titles/ fade in/out or merge them together into a continuous film.
Adobe PDF reader 8 is on there, and is only there so you can view the in depth instruction manual.
The 4th software (my favourite) is Panorama Maker. This is one of the cleverest bits of kit I've ever seen. Basically, you take a panorama of shots (stand in one place while taking images one at a time in a horizontal line, allowing about 50% overlap with the previous image), then load these pictures into this software, and it turns it into a seamless (and I mean seamless!) panoramic view. Excellent when you can't fit your surroundings all in one picture, and a joy to work with. I didn't even use a tripod and at 8megapixels, I could not find one seam between my pictures despite trying very hard.

Accessories:
One nice accessory, is the AV cable, allowing you to plug the camera into a TV and start reviewing your images. This is great for showing off your holiday snaps round your family's house without having to print them out. The slide shows have different effect and music for added entertainment.
Plastic battery case - This is if you spend long hours out taking long videos or hundreds of pics and need a spare.
USB cable.
Charging base.

Tech specs:
Just Google the words: "Panasonic DMC FS3" for these (I don't want to cut and paste them here as it somehow feels wrong) 

...less