Comment on Panasonic DMC-FH25A 16.1MP Digital Camera with 8x Wide Angle Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Blue) Reviews by Scott.
Finally a decent camera that takes sharp photos,
I purchased this because I was very unhappy with the new Canon A3300 that I also purchased just a week before this one. I did extensive photo tests with both cameras because I felt the Canons overall sharpness was bad. Both cameras are 16mp and although i’m a Canon fan I have to say they failed on the A3300. Even with setting custom sharpness, contrast and saturation, the normal straight out of the box settings on the Panasonic were way better.
The two big problems with the canon were most photos even bright outdoors had way too much noise. The other problem was no matter what setting and focus type, only the center areas were in ok and i mean ok focus. All four corners of the photos were on the blurry side and that’s just unacceptable. Compared to this Panasonic…wow, much better and much sharper. When fully zoomed in there was a bit of noise but its expected. Night shots depending on how you take them also have noise but again depending on how and what you can work around it a bit.
There are minor differences with the two cameras like the zoom smoothness was a bit better on the canon and the user interface and menu screens were also a bit better on the canon. Not a deal breaker at all because I’d rather have quality over cosmetic things. The other minor things i found were that the Panasonic has the af assist light very close to the top corner of the camera where you put your fingers. Also the on off and photo/play aren’t buttons they are switches which i’m a little worried about breaking so we’ll see how they last.
One of the biggest differences is that this camera is faster. I found that saving photos is almost instantaneous on the FH25 but on the canon it was about a 4 sec pause to save before you could take another (a “busy” icon shows up. Most of all the functions on the FH25 are faster and i like being able to grab the camera and take photos quickly.
One of the not so great things about this camera is the battery situation. The battery does last pretty well but I like having a spare especially when on vacation. To get a new battery you have to purchase it direct with Panasonic because they must have a chip inside it so if its not an original panasonic the screen says this battery is not compatible with this camera, which means no cheap no name brands for 7 bucks. You have to buy direct and with tax and shipping its $63 bucks. YIKES….that’s a bit much, i can see 25 or 30 but 63? the camera itself is now $139 was $179. Amazon now carries the extra batteries at $49.00
Overall i’m all about quality and sharp photos and this camera does that. If you don’t care about the spare battery cost or that the user interface and menus look like 20 years old, i think you’ll be happy with this camera.
Photos for the most part are well exposed and using the full Ai seem to always come out perfect. There will be a slight bit of noise in certain shots but sharpness is never an issue. The whole thing about higher mega pixels is better isn’t completely true, its all about the sensor size. Do some research about that as I did but believe me, this camera really does a great job. I’ve posted a few sample photos.
UPDATE 8-17-11
Still loving the picture quality of this small camera. I even tested out the new Canon SX230 and again this FH25 was sharper and photos were exposed better. The batteries are available on amazon for 49.99 at the time I got my camera they were only available direct from panasonic. The full iAuto setting is amazing and it really does a great job, I’ve taken photos with it that I will be publishing in my second book next year. That’s how good I feel the quality is.
Comments (23)
