Panasonic DMC-FX37K 10MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)

In short: the FX-37 is small, solid, and noisy, and it has a fantastic lens. I have always had and loved Canon Elphs, and I imagine that the noise is handled better on the SD880, but it is not going to be noticeable unless you print at 8x10. The lens and HD video at this price is a killer combo. Interface easy to use, solid build quality (not quite as solid as my old SD600, but what is?). The only thing that's annoyed me so far is the proprietary mini-USB jack.

Love this camera . . . have had it for about 3 weeks or so . . . keep it handy for spontaneous shooting in San Francisco, where there are a lot of interesting sights to photograph! The wide-angle lens is truly great; autofocus is a joy to use and is VERY good.

Have one complaint . . . could use a view-finder, as is obviously hard to see the screen in bright light.

Computer software included is cool, also!

This is a fine little pocket camera. It has a feeling of being well-built and solid. It is tiny in size so it's convenient to slip into a pocket for easy transport. It has enough features to satisfy the casual to more advanced user. While it has been criticized for the amount of noise it produces, this is pretty common for small sensor digicams. There are ways to minimize the noise but the best thing to do is just simply accept it and enjoy the convenience. I do miss having the option of shooting in RAW but, really, JPEGs are fine for most uses--especially at the best resolution quality settings.

The Leica-badged lens gets a lot of praise but it's not as great as some have said--at least on my sample. Although it's a little soft in the corners at the widest focal length, I do appreciate the option of having the equivalent of a 25mm equivalent lens on pocket camera. That wide focal length was the main selling point for me. No, this Leica lens does not have the same optical properties and qualities of the ledgendary Leica lenses used on the venerable 35mm rangefinders. It's a "Leica" in name only. I'm sure the name brand was licensed from Leica with little input on the part of the optical design. Still, its quite good despite a little softness at the wide setting.

The photos from this camera do not compare in absolute image quality to those from either a full-frame or APS-C format DSLR. Nor do they look as good as those from my compact Canon G10. But the DSLR is overkill for most subjects I shoot and the G10 is at the upper limits in size for a "compact" camera. The Panasonic is a true pocket camera. You accept the shortcomings in order to get the versatility and convenience.

(This model camera has been discontinued it appears. This is a common thing these days--as soon as a digital camera finds its place in the market, it is updated. That makes it hard for a product to establish a solid track record and gain a reputation. But most updating is simple tweaking of the basic design. The FX37 was simply an updating of the FX35. Whatever new model replaces the FX37 will probably build on this foundation--at a somewhat higher price.)

After researching many compact digital cameras online, I decided on the Lumix FX37 because of the size, it's usually good reviews (there were some that commented on photo quality - I should have listened) and the fact it had a Leica lens.

I was very disappointed with the quality of the photos which lacked contrast and crispness. The edges of the photos had more perspective distortion than I found acceptable in the default wide angle setting. The zoom caused photos to be even less sharp. I tried a variety of settings and took photos both inside and outside. The extra noise picked up while using the movie mode outside was very loud.

On the plus side the camera looks nice; the macro mode poduced sharp photos only slightly lacking in contrast and was the best feature of the camera; the menu was easy to navigate.

In the end, after only two days I returned the camera. The whole point is to take good photos, no matter how many nice other features the camera may have.

Negatives:
1) Poor packaging from shipper - camera came partially damaged
2) Shutter lag
3) Not true white - very close to being silver

Positives:
1) Very Portable
2) Wide angle and zoom work great
3) Extremely intuitive menu navigation

I've decided to return it in the end because the camera screen is damaged due to poor packaging from shipper. I ordered the Nikon S60 (WHITE) as a replacement.