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Panasonic today announces the LUMIX DMC-FX500, the company’s first digital camera with a 3-inch touch-screen LCD – also featuring a 25mm ultra-wide-angle Leica DC lens, 5x optical zoom and 10.1 megapixels.  With a dual control system using both touch-screen and joystick operation, the ability to record High Definition (HD) video and advanced Intelligent Auto technologies, the FX500 packs innovative features and intuitive design, helping consumers enrich the digital photography experience and take better photos. 

Panasonic’s second digital SLR is a far more conventional affair than its first attempt, the DSC-L1. It’s also quite obviously aimed at a very different type of user - the beginner / first time user / upgrader from a compact. To this end the L10 has perhaps the most compact-like operation and user interface of any SLR to date (and if you were being cruel, the most compact-like JPEG image quality too). And though it may look a lot more conventional, in typical Panasonic fashion it has a few unique tricks up its sleeve, mainly centred around the sophisticated live view capabilities.

Panasonic has created a really nice ultra zoom camera in the FZ18, though once again, image quality needs improvement. It’s clear from shooting in RAW mode that the camera is capable of capturing a lot of detail, but unfortunately the Venus III engine removes a lot of it in the name of noise reduction. If you’re a typical point-and-shoot user who will be sticking to smaller-sized prints, then this really isn’t an issue, and you’ll be very satisfied with the FZ18. If you’re making large prints, viewing them at 100% on your computer screen, or shooting at high ISOs, then you can still love the camera, but be prepared to post-process to get the best results. While it’s not the ultra zoom image quality champion, the FZ18 has so much to offer that it easily earns my recommendation.

Overall I liked the DMC-L1 but it was never my immediate choice when I just needed to ‘grab a camera’ for a snapshot, it requires a little more consideration and can deliver great results once you work your way around it and tune the image parameters to your personal tastes. Unfortunately due to its price position it does have to go up against stiff competition such as Canon’s EOS 30D and now the cheaper Olympus E-510.

It’s well priced and easy to use, and - as long as you accept that there are always going to be compromises with a camera like this - capable of producing excellent results for normal print sizes or viewing at normal magnifications on-screen. Bearing all this in mind, take a look at the sample gallery to see for yourself if the output quality is acceptable. For us, the performance and feature enhancements are enough to make sure the question marks over the image quality don’t deny the TZ3 a Recommended rating.

Panasonic today announced the 10x Optical Zoom Lumix DMC-TZ3 digital camera, the compact zoom model for its 2007 digital camera line. The new 7.2 Megapixel entry to the popular TZ family packages a 28mm wide-angle LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens, Intelligent Image Stabilization, with the industry’s most advanced countermeasures against blurring, a 3.0-inch LCD, and a compact, stylish, Stainless Steel body.