Loved and unloved features at a new low price!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Ultra wide angle lens, very good all around performance.

Cons: Touch screen is a complication without benefit. Delicate.

The Bottom Line: 

If you realize the convenience of a wide angle lens, then this ultra wide angle model with no serious performance flaws is a steal at under $200.  

Author's Review
The FX500 is an example of a manufacturer's mindless adoption of trendy features.  It debuted in mid 2008 during the post iPhone launch craze as a product that offered a "touch screen".  At an original retail of $400, it apparently wasn't enthusiastically received, because I have seen it offered recently (May '09) as low as $164.  

At that price it becomes a compelling value, even considering that you have to put up with its annoying features.  

Apple iPhone's smart implementation of touch screen succeeds wildly at reducing physical controls such as knobs and buttons.  The FX500 uses its touch screen (rather unnecessarily, I think) for only a couple of functions, and leaves you with hardly fewer buttons and knobs to deal with.  In my opinion it is more difficult to use than its non touch-screen counterpart, the FX37 (same lens, pixel count, zoom range, etc. but a slightly smaller monitor).  The familiar 4-way doughnut touch ring with center button that works so well on other Lumix models and our Canon SD800is is replaced by a rubber joystick which has a squishy uncertain feel so you can't feel when you've engaged a command.  Very irritating.  

I bought my FX500 as a backup camera to use while waiting for my Fujifilm F200EXR to be repaired. (My review of it is also on Epinions.com).  I purchased the FX500 for its subcompact size, its sensational ultrawide (25mm  equivalent) wide angle lens, its excellent image stabilization, its 5x zoom yielding a maximum telephoto equivalent of 125mm, and the quality of Panasonic engineering which includes excellent in camera image processing that I've experienced on previous Lumix's that I have owned.  And above all, because it was available well below $200.  I didn't need all the manual controls of our Canon SD800is which has a more precision feel, and I knew I'd give up a smidgeon of low light performance to the Canon but I wanted that super wide angle capability.  And there's HD movie capture too.  

I can imagine a realtor would love this camera.  The superwide angle can swallow an entire house from up close, and interior rooms can be more greatly encompassed than with any other subcompact camera I have found (excluding pricier Panasonics).  The near 90∘sweep of this lens is almost twice the sweep of your typical under $200 subcompact.  And remarkably, the fish eye effect often seen from wide angle lenses is almost totally absent.  I suspect there may be some distortion correction performed during in-camera processing.  I consider the wide angle capability a big big plus.  I find I use it much if not most of the time.  I recommend it highly.  You can always zoom in when it's not needed. 

In every other way the FX500 is at least competent.  Good resolution, a sharp lens, decent battery life, quick response,  superb image stabilization, an excellent manual, and all the basic controls are present.  There's face identification, and automatic settings make good results easy.  There are some manual controls, including some that require precise positioning via the touch screen, so there's an included plastic stylus you can attach to the camera strap.  Using it makes you wish for a control ring such as our Canon uses.  I can't imagine manual control enthusiasts selecting this camera, so all that annoyance is probably irrelevant.  Low light performance is just ok compared to my twice as expensive Fujifilm F200EXR, but probably considered excellent compared its price peers. 

The packaging includes attention getting warnings that you must not place your camera unprotected into a pocket because the monitor is very vulnerable to damage from pressure.  I guess this is to be expected as delicate monitors become larger.  Had Fuji included the same warning, I might not have had to purchase this backup camera.  My older cameras with smaller monitors never had this problem.   I travel with my FX500 in a $1 plastic soap dish.  It fits near perfectly. 

If you want to play the FX500's HD movies on your HDTV,  and you use an Apple computer, you can transfer your files to your computer (I use a card reader), and you'll be able to find inexpensive generic cables to connect your computer to your HDTV, rather than buy the required proprietary cables to connect directly.