Review of Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS18

On the lookout for a consistent performing pocket zoom offering point and shoot simplicity and decent results without the need to spend a king's ransom? Panasonic is normally a reliable first stop. The 16.1 effective megapixel, 4x optical zoom Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS18 is one of two new slim-line pocket shooters from the brand for 2011, the other being the 14.1 megapixel FS16 which naturally sits just below it in the 'FS' (fashionable and stylish) range.

Both cameras boast an optically image stabilised wide-angle 28mm equivalent Leica branded lens - here extending up to 112m at the telephoto end - shoehorned into their slender 18.8mm depth. We also get an f/3.1 maximum lens aperture and 1/2.33-inch CCD sensor. Overall dimensions are 94.3x53.5x18.8mm, and the FS18 weighs a very manageable 121g with battery and SD memory card (104g without), pulling off that trick of feeling portably lightweight held in the palm, yet reassuringly sturdy when grasped tighter. The slender portions ensure it meets the demands of current fashion - eye appeal being buy appeal - with the black finish accentuating its dinky-ness. Other than that it's the usual boxy Panasonic rectangle; in other words nothing we haven't seen before.

As well as stills, 1280x720 pixels High Def video clips are further offered, here at 24fps and recorded in Motion JPEG format. Both are composed and reviewed via the aid of adequately visible if nothing special 2.7-inch, 230k dot resolution LCD, here presented in 4:3 aspect ratio with a 100% field of view, images written to optional SD card or 70MB internal memory straight out of the box. The screen is also auto adjusting according to ambient brightness levels, with 11 incremental steps for it to choose from. If you want to opt for the extremities of digital zoom, or as Panasonic calls it the 'Extra Optical Zoom', then this can be boosted up to a 36x equivalent, with inevitable resolution drop. Conversely, macro focus is down to 5cm from your subject, which isn't bad at this end of the market whilst at the same time hardly class leading.

Panasonic LUMIX FH5 features include:
16.1-Megapixels
1280 x 720p HD video recording
2.7-inch Intelligent LCD (detects lightning conditions and adjusts its own brightness levels)
4x Leica DC Optical Zoom Lens (increased to 5x with Intelligent Zoom)
MEGA OIS (Optical Image Stabilization)
Intelligent ISO Control
Intelligent Auto
Intelligent Resolution
Intelligent ISO Control Motion Detection
Intelligent Scene Selection
Face Detection AF/AE
Intelligent Scene Selector (Macro, Portrait, Scenery, Night Portrait, Night Scenery and Sunset)
LUMIX Image Uploader (photo and video sharing directly from the camera when connected to a PC)
Scene Modes (28 variations to choose from)
70MB built-in memory