FX550 Reviewed - Compared to FX100 - Pros and Cons

[Keith2]

FX550 Reviewed - Compared to FX100 - Pros and Cons


http://lh4.ggpht.com/_PkBEzlYnsjM/ScUHuRL1llI/AAAAAAAAADk/hnwKW-pF9zA/s640/IMG_4372.JPG

More side by side pictures here : http://picasaweb.google.fr/webvan213/FX550_FX100_REVIEW

Just received the FX550 I odered earlier this week at digit-photo.com in France to replace my beloved FX100 that I've had with me pretty much at all times since October 2007 which has caused it to age too quickly with "stains" at full zoom that mar the pictures.

One of the features I like best on the FX100 is the E.zoom button to go to full zoom with one press and then the 3M/7x with little loss in quality. Since it seems unique to the FX1xx/FX5xx series, the FX550 was a natural successor and the 25-125 (250d) vs 28-100 (200d) was tempting. Looking back, I've had four digicam setups since 2000 : Canon S100, Minolta X + Minolta D7 (then D7i), Canon S400, Panasonic FX100, not counting the many I tried in the early days of digicams. Trying to keep this analytical now, I'll post some pros and cons after two days with the FX550, then some pictures at full resolution. I need

PROS AND CONS - FX550 vs FX100

PROS :

+1. zoom range : can't argue with the 25-125 of the FX550 vs the 28-100 of the FX100. Last year someone posted here that wide angle was like money, you never have enough! As seen in the pictures below you do gain quite a bit compared to the FX100. With the 5x range and resulting 125 vs 100 and 250d vs 200d (with the 3Mp in-camera "cropping") there's no price to pay for that gain too.

+2. iA mode : nothing you can't do manually but having a camera that will automatically select the best mode (I've seen landscape, macro so far) is handy.

+3. exposure/contrast : the FX550 seems to handle contrast better than the FX100 in my limited comparisons (see pics below)

+4. manual settings : not something I really need in a P&S but the aperture/speed priority and manual mode (with live EV - easier to use than a histogram to me) is an interesting addition.

+5. touchscreen : didn't know I needed that feature but it certainly makes it easy to adjust settings, especially if you're in manual/priority. There is likely a flipside though, see below

CONS :

-1 build quality : not a huge deal but it's the first thing that struck me, gone is the metal of the FX100, it's plastic all over now.

-2 LCD quality : another striking difference is the lack of sharpness of the LCD screen, likely due to the addition of a sensitive layer..

-3 softness at 5x : as seen below in the full zoom comparison the FX550 almost looks out of focus, when zooming in, it looks more like some very heavy "smoothing", I'll let the pros comment on that.

-4 loss of options : unexpected with the addition of the touchscreen and settings, but the FX550 is turning out to be less convenient for my needs. For a start you can't choose the jpeg quality in the iA mode, you're stuck at full quality with resulting 6Mb files. This is huge and I for one can't see any difference between the two modes either on my screen or my 10x15 Selphy printer, size is 3Mb in "low" quality. I posted some crops below after saving the picture at 80% in ACDSee, you be the judge.

Another setting I miss is the "easy mode" that you can rotate to on the FX100 if you need to switch quickly between different resolutions (I need 12Mp for my personal pics and 640x480 for my website)

-5 mjpeg video : video is now HD ready (1280x720) unfortunately it's the old mjpeg format that can't be read natively by my PS3 so it will need to be converted to Xvid with MP4Cam2AVI for instance but that's a lengthy process and not lossless. It wouldn't be so bad if Panasonic bundled the component out cable but its sold separately. Also why you can view frame by frame you can't save a picture you like. It certainly can't compete with the TZ7 and it's native AVCHD. I have a Sony HD3E HDV camera so it's not a huge deal, but it's annoying.

FINAL WORDS :
A bit of a mixed bag so far, it seems I'm paying a high price to keep the "E.zoom" button that I could probably do without at the end of the day. I'm hald tempted to swap it for the TZ7 or get a refund and buy a new FX100/FX150...

PICTURE GALLERY

Picasaweb gallery with full resolution pictures : http://picasaweb.google.fr/webvan213/FX550_FX100_REVIEW (download to get 12MP pictures)

FX550 :
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_PkBEzlYnsjM/ScUBEoK2OtI/AAAAAAAAABI/7qyIusWjlGY/s640/P1000024.JPG

FX100 :

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_PkBEzlYnsjM/ScUBHMXrFZI/AAAAAAAAABg/pMQEdX3EdjE/s640/P1080288.JPG

FX550 :

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_PkBEzlYnsjM/ScUBGJNLdMI/AAAAAAAAABQ/xCKBFbvBXK0/s640/P1000025.JPG

FX100 :

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_PkBEzlYnsjM/ScUBIVptnFI/AAAAAAAAABo/16QL_gGiFXc/s640/P1080289.JPG


FX550 - CROP1 Full Quality vs FX550 - CROP1 80% ACDSee

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_PkBEzlYnsjM/ScUHfyjnigI/AAAAAAAAADE/ZFTXbVeIMB0/c100.jpg http://lh3.ggpht.com/_PkBEzlYnsjM/ScUHgfO8exI/AAAAAAAAADM/nMnFZ4fBJps/c80.jpg

FX550 - CROP2 Full Quality vs FX550 - CROP2 80% ACDSee

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_PkBEzlYnsjM/ScUHhbsrLBI/AAAAAAAAADU/2fIao13qGrM/c2_100.jpg http://lh5.ggpht.com/_PkBEzlYnsjM/ScUjsI2vtCI/AAAAAAAAAEs/E2nZvMrgRRY/c2_80.jpg

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http://lh6.ggpht.com/_PkBEzlYnsjM/ScUHvXDvg3I/AAAAAAAAADs/L_-l0fiHn-c/s640/IMG_4373.JPG

[ArchiMark]

Very interesting comparison, Keith....

Will also be interesting to hear further whether you end up keeping camera or exchanging it....

FWIW, I just got my FX150 today and charging it up now, so, will be reporting about it on my other thread...seems like it looks similar to your FX100....

[Keith2]

Thanks, I'm sure you'll like the FX150, can't remember what they changed compared to the FX100 but it's certainly quite close.

I ended up sending back the FX500 as I had seven days to do it. This little experience should only set me back €19 (shipping in and out) so it's not too bad. What's too bad though is that Panasonic replaced a stellar camera by one that has pretty serious issues.

[ArchiMark]

Thanks, I'm sure you'll like the FX150, can't remember what they changed compared to the FX100 but it's certainly quite close.

Thanks, so far, I really like the FX150.... :)


I ended up sending back the FX500 as I had seven days to do it. This little experience should only set me back €19 (shipping in and out) so it's not too bad. What's too bad though is that Panasonic replaced a stellar camera by one that has pretty serious issues.

Sorry, to hear that it didn't work out....

[DougM]

I just bought a FX500 (the camera that the FX550/580 replaces) and I think it's the best camera I've ever used. The exposure accuracy, color fidelity and Leica 25mm glass are awesome! 8x10 prints look fantastically sharp. Images do require a little extra sharpening before printing, or bump up the in-camera sharpening to +1. Any large resolution image when viewed at 100% is going to look soft. After all, you're looking at something like 3x4 feet. Not even DSLR images are going to look great when enlarged that much! Some people just don't realize this fact, which is why the forums are full of posts about how this or that camera (most of which receive rave reviews) looks soft and blurry and is no good. Don't listen to these uninformed souls. They don't understand the physics of digital images. Panasonic tends to take a rather conservative approach to in camera sharpening, because they have been criticized in the past for too aggresive sharpening by the reviewers, who prefer to Photoshop everything to death. I myself prefer to take and print pictures rather than edit them, so I like cameras that require minimal editing before printing. I think Panasonic cameras strike a good balance between cameras whose images require major adjustment before printing and those that provide maximum saturation, sharpening, and contrast straight out of the camera. I set my FX500 to contrast=+1, sharpness=+1, saturation=+2, and noise reduction=0. By the way, the FX500 is still available at closeout prices, and the 550/580 isn't yet available (at least not here in the US).

[Keith2]

It seems you read my review a bit too quickly, my complaint was not with softness in general but rather at 5x and you can use your own eyes to see it for yourself. Like you I'm not interested (I really don't have the time) in editing my pictures on a computer. I never had to do that with the FX150.

If your FX500 doesn't have the same problems good for you, but instead of bashing your way around post comparison pics to start a real discussion.