Update 9/18/2007 : The FX33 replaces the previous FX30 but the changes are minimal. Compared to Canon’s transition from the Ixus 850 IS to the 860 IS the modifications and improvements are much more obvious.  Consequently, we lowered the grade of the Lumix FX33.

The Panasonic FX33 was very much awaited in our offices.  The previous FX30 was one of our personal favorites and we were a bit excited to see what Panasonic had in store for us with this new version.

Handling

In terms of design, there are few evolutions compared to the previous line.  We find (to our delight) a metal body which is more of a retro trend with its rounded edges and almost bare bones interface.  The selection dial is a real « control tower » of options for the FX33 and we can choose between 5 main shooting modes: Auto "intelligent", Auto, Macro,  (various) scenes and Video.   It’s difficult to be simpler.  The first mode, Auto intelligent, is the innovation of the FX33 combining all available automation (optical stabilization, face detection, ISO intelligent et scene detection) to point and shoot almost anything.   And it works particularly well. You will also find the Func button allowing rapid access to the main shooting parameters such as stabilization, burst mode, white balance, sensitivity, and size and image quality.  There has been no modification of the screen (you will have to go to the FX55 for a 3 inch) which remains at 207,000 pixels.  Luckily, it is very fluid and particularly precise even if the viewing angles are a bit narrow.  Startup requires more than 2 seconds, which might seem a bit long, but overall, performances are good and the FX33 is a responsive camera whether it’s in autofocus or file recording.  The burst mode allows 8 shots in 4.38 s (or 1.8 i/s) and this is a very good score. On the next version, we would prefer a slightly faster zoom.  Finally, the FX33 also offers three photo formats: 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9.

Quality of images

The transition to a 8 million pixel sensor really doesn’t change things that much compared to the FX30 or Canon 850 IS.  And for comparison the images produced by the FX30 are slightly behind those of the Fujifilm F40fd.   Under artificial lighting,  colors lean towards red orange, a recurrent defect on the Panasonic line as well as with other manufacturers.  Outdoors, color fidelity is much better and there are very few defects on photos as the Venus Engine III easily corrects chromatic aberrations or the purple fringe phenomenon.  As for noise control, we can see an improvement compared to the FX30, however, we are still inferior to the Fujifilm F40fd.  As for the 3200 or 6400 ISO modes (in 3 million pixels), they are more anecdotal than practical.  The flash gives good results and the macro 5 cm macro mode is enough for most situations.