Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH2 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 2.7-Inch LCD (Blue)

i own a Lumix LX3 and wanted to try another Lumix. This time i need an ultra compact, because i bought a Canon PowerShot SD1300IS 12 MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Pink) from amazon recently but i ended up returning it because of the lens error. i wanted to purchase another one but the price went from 109 to 199!!! ridiculous. Then i came upon this beauty here that they call the Lumix Fh2. Im liking it so far, it looks great and works great. There is no lag when you take a picture, which I noticed on the Canon. The screen is crisp and clear. It's very light and thin. I think it is a solid camera for the price.

The Deal: I was lucky enough to get this little camera for around $85.00 here on Amazon. (Chose the red one btw.) I think I made a very good selection. Not only was that a great price but it's also a great camera. If you need a basic (with some cool bells & whistles) point & shooter and don't want to spend toooo much...this is the perfect one to consider. Construction & Durability: Can't obviously comment on the life & complete durability of it yet since I've only had it since January of 2012. But, so far so good. It's constructed well and feels very solid. I think the shell is probably made of anodized aluminum. The buttons and switches all feel durable. I have to say that I really love having a switch instead of a button to power on the camera too. For me that's a plus. Speed: It's a very fast camera. All the functions (processing, flash recharge, etc.) work smoothly & quickly. It's...sparky! Battery Life: When taking pics at the highest setting (14MP) and with IA (Intelligent Auto) engaged it gets very good battery life with the included 680mAh, 3.6V one. For taking HD videos however...that's what sucks the power cell fast. You'll definitely need a higher capacity battery (& maybe an extra just in case) to shoot a significant amount of video. Unfortunately the Panasonic batteries are not cheap. Fortunately I did find a great 3rd party replacement for it from Wasabi. It's double the capacity and not very costly. Seen it for $8.99 with free shipping. Works perfectly and "feels" like the original battery too. Here's the link-- Wasabi Power Battery for Panasonic DMW-BCK7, DMW-BCK7E, DMW-BCK7PP, NCA-YN101F, NCA-YN101G, NCA-YN101H, Lumix DMC-FH2, DMC-FH5, DMC-FH7, DMC-FH25, DMC-FH27, DMC-FP5, DMC-FP7, DMC-FS16, DMC-FS18, DMC-FS22, DMC-FS35, DMC-FS37, DMC-FX77, DMC-FX78, DMC-FX90... Picture & Video: It takes very crisp & clear photos and the 720p HD videos look great. As for it not taking good pictures in low light like some have suggested...I'd say you're not adjusting the camera correctly or using the proper IA mode. Plus, low light pics can be kind of a crap shoot with MOST cameras, from cheaper point & clickers to expensive SLR's. For a below $200.00 camera this sucker does pretty well in my opinion. Memory Cards & Stuff: Since it only comes with a piffly 70 megabytes built in you'll need a good memory card. I'd recommend Kingston or Sandisk cards. Neither of those have failed me yet. Also you'll need to get at least a Class 4 card if you're going to be shooting video with this thing. The documentation recommends Class 6 or higher but I've found that the 4 is fast enough to catch the video. The HD movie mode shoots at about 30 Frames Per Second. According to the people who know about this kinda stuff, Class 4 is perfect for 30 FPS videos. For more than 30 you'll need higher. Oh yeah...and class 4 cards are still much cheaper than 6 & up. (Hey, I'm trying to help you to save money here. LOL.) This is the one I chose to use-- SanDisk Flash 16 GB SDHC Flash Memory Card SDSDB-016G Accessories & Stuff: Need a nice protective red case for your red camera? This is the one I bought. It's red, rugged, semi-hard and it fits PERFECTLY! (Wow...that sounded...bad. But it WAS an accurate description.) CaseCrown Compact Travel Case (Crimson) for Canon PowerShot SD3500IS 14.1 MP Digital Camera If I learn anything else about this camera I'll try to update my review for ya. Any questions? Feel free to ask. If I have answers I'll give 'em as fast as I can. Ok now, you have some shopping to do. Good luck and have fun!!!!

This thing is so compact that you forget you have it. Picture quality is OK, but I'd rather see fewer megapixels and greater ISO sensitivity. That said, it's a point and shoot camera, and most of the time you'll get pictures good enough for small prints. When you look at them up close or blow them up, you can see that detail suffers, especially in the shadowy areas of the pictures. If you're concerned about picture quality, you'd be better off getting a much less expensive Polaroid point and shoot, like an i1437 or something like that. Of course, then you lose the super compact size and ease of portability. There are always tradeoffs. If all you're doing is posting pics on Facebook or making 4x6 prints, it's fine. But, it is not a camera for a serious photographer. I like cameras that let me adjust shutter and aperture manually, and this camera doesn't. However, the scene modes let you have a greater degree of control over camera settings than the regular Program mode. It'll do in a pinch, but I'd rather be able to fine tune those settings myself. It's an okay camera for what it is, a nice and compact package, with a great wide-angle lens which doesn't distort or blur much at the fringes. If you're a casual snapshooter, this camera will fit the bill.

The Panasonic FH2 is affordable, has a nice design, EZ to navigate system and slips in any pocket or purse. This camera does not offer HDMI output to TV but does have AV connection as well as PC -USB cord. Does not re-charge from the USB cable however. So there are affordable plug-in chargers inexpensively you can obtain. Screen is small, but high quality 2.5 LCD screen. Playback of video or pictures are nice, and optical zoom is also good but you need to pre-zoom and then what ever choice you've made is locked in for video capture. Not a bad camera and great size. Sleek, thin. Additional batteries also are affordable thru Amazon and offer higher power capacity than the manufacturer's. Nice point and shoot.

I was happy with camera up until 14 months when spots started to appear on pictures seems like every month another spot appears. You see in lcd view finder & when you take picture they appear. I had lens cleaned but issue seems to be internal. I never had a camera that was useless after a little over a year. As usual things are made to break these days. Stay away from Lumix

I replaced my Panasonic Lumix that I had before, wasn't this model but similar. The quality of this is poor. Pictures were of poor quality and blurry, never clear like some of the comparable cameras out there in this price range. Sent it back.