Panasonic FH5: decent entry-level camera

ByABC News
November 12, 2011, 8:10 AM

— -- Every year, the market is flooded with pocket-sized point-and-shoot cameras — each vying for a spot on gift lists. That includes Panasonic's FH series, which is best known for last year's FH20: one of the first sub-$200 cameras with an 8x zoom range. However, the FH series is also home to a handful of less-interesting short-zoom point-and-shoots, like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH5.

It's difficult for a camera like this to stand out among the dozens of nearly identical competitors with svelte designs, good-enough image quality, and light feature sets. Based on its performance, the FH5 is an average point-and-shoot. Colors are accurate, noise is well controlled, and resolution is acceptable. It's nothing special, but as a cheap, easy camera built for the most casual of photographers, it gets the job done.

Of course, no camera is an island, and considered in the context of the whole marketplace, it's hard to find a good reason to recommend the FH5. The Canon ELPH 100 HS (selected as our Best Budget Camera of 2011) shoots the best pictures and videos at the fastest speeds, making it stand head and shoulders above the otherwise indistinguishable entry-level competition. If the FH5 had even a single defining characteristic—a longer zoom ratio, a burst mode, a front-facing LCD, anything—we could make a case for it.

As it stands, the Panasonic FH5 is another merely decent point-and-shoot in a sea of merely decent point-and-shoots. It is available at an MSRP of $169 in blue, red, black, or pink. If you're at Best Buy or WalMart for a Black Friday event and it's on sale for $120, it'll make a decent gift.

To read more about the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH5, read Reviewed.com's comprehensive review at DigitalCameraInfo.com. Reviewed.com is a division of USA TODAY.