The DMC-LS60 isn’t new and actually it’s part of the 2007 line that should be discontinued between now and the end of summer.  Nevertheless, this is an enormous advantage because its price can’t be any lower.  It gives the DMC-LS60 an unbeatable quality / functions / price ratio that is much more attractive than what the competition (Canon, not to give any names) offers.  For less than 100 Euros, here is a compact camera, which is stabilized, equipped with a movement detector and produces photos with the same quality (sharpness, colors) as the more expensive FX33, a top-seller in the last six months.

For less than 100 Euros: Canon vs. Panasonic

Amongst recent cameras for less than 100 Euros which are supposed to rival the LS60 is Canon’s PowerShot A460 (an A470 was announced but is more expensive).  The A460 is a 5 megapixel, the LS60 a 6 Mpixel.  In terms of image quality, the two are more or less equivalent amply sufficing for 13 x 18 cm prints and occasionally for an A4 if lighting conditions are good.  By the way, one very important point is that ''only'' 6 megapixel cameras like this LS60 produce photos with an average file size of 1.5 MB.  Those of the Panasonic FX100 and its 12 megapixels are almost 6 MB each! The bigger they are, the more place in memory is taken up on the hard drive and the longer they are to transfer.  It’s useless to hound after additional megapixels unless you want to print extremely large images.

Back to our Canon vs. Panasonic duel… The LS60 is stabilized, the A460 is not (for indoor portraits without a flash, the LS60 is much better).  The LS60 has a movement detector unlike the A460.  Also, the LS60 guarantees autonomy of 270 photos with the two included AA batteries while the A460 gave us 120 photos.  Either way, our recommendation here is that once the alkaline batteries are dead, make the change to ones that can be recharged.

Handling

Even if the LS60 is very low priced it is still sturdy.  With a width of 3 cm (4 cm for Canon’s A460), the finished product is compact and discreet.  The interface is composed of 7 buttons that most will not use too much, preferring to rely on the ''all automatic'' option. 

To have such a low price and still offer good image quality (see below), of course Panasonic had to make some sacrifices.  We noticed the fragility of doors, the poor placement of the memory card, the small 2 inch screen (5.1 cm) with a lack of fluidity and visible matrix (only 86,000 pixels), and the overall look is less attractive than the FX series (more expensive!).

Quality of images

With the risk of disappointing those who shelled out more for the FX33, we have to point out that the LS60 and FX33 produce the same image quality with the same colors and sharpness.  The FX33 is only superior on one point: its wide angle lens offers a larger view.  For the rest, they are perfectly equal, even if one is a 6 megapixel and the other an 8 megapixel.

Therefore and unsurprisingly, we find slightly warmer photos which are still natural, with good sharpness, well controlled noise and fine reactivity.
Furthermore, given the price, we should keep in mind the last product survey on children’s digital cameras (all proved to be catastrophic).   Would the LS60 not be a perfect product for your little one (with a leash, of course)? It would at least make nice photos and children would be more encouraged by results.  Also, it resembles a real camera, which it actually is.

The defect of the DMC-LS60 is that shoots video in 848 x 480 pixels; however, without sound!

And one last question:  Are we unreasonable to spend the double or triple for an FX33? No, of course not.  The wide angle, thinner form, superior finishing touches, better screen and video with sound justify the price difference.  Or at least for those who value these characteristics.