Review by Julien Pierre for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH20 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 8x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver)
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I purchased this camera at a local retailer. I was mainly attracted by its HD video feature. I wanted to use it in addition to my camcorder to record myself playing the piano, indoors of course.

Unfortunately, I was severely disappointed by the video quality. On my first video, the whole picture was yellow, clearly a white balance problem.

On my second video, with the DMC-FH20 set on a tripod, everything was blinking, including the piano lid, which should have been a solid black. Even though there are 1280×720 pixels at 30fps, the quality is barely better than what you get from a typical camera phone. And it is inferior to my Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 webcam.

Also, another thing to know is that you can’t change the zoom while recording video. You have to stop the recording, change the zoom setting, and then start recording again. This didn’t bother me for the piano recording since I was recording myself, but you should know about this limitation – this camera is no camcorder.

One more limitation in video is that the camera records in Quicktime (motion JPEG) format, but not AVC HD. This causes files to be large. I’m not sure if the Quicktime CODEC contributes to the poor video quality also, but it might.

When it comes to still picture quality, they come out very noisy indoors without the flash. With the flash on, they are actually OK. But I’m not sure that having 14 megapixels on such a small sensor really adds much. 8-10 would probably be just fine and might have less noise.

I returned the camera mainly because I couldn’t stand the video quality. As a still camera I might have kept it, but I wouldn’t have paid as much for it, and I was hoping to minimize the number of photo/video devices I own.

Pros :

- 8x optical zoom which is better than most compact cameras

- pocketable size

- Future-proof SDXC card slot

- OK pictures with the flash

Cons :

- Poor low-light performance without flash

- Poor video quality, not HD quality by any stretch of the imagination

- Zoom can’t be changed during video recording

- Proprietary lithium-ion battery

- No optical or electronic viewfinder, only LCD screen

Review by Peter Quinlan for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH20 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 8x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver)
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I bought this camera to backup my Lumix DMC FZ28. To use in situations where I don’t want to

carry the larger camera and for my wife to use. The FH20 is easy to use (settings, functions,

descriptions very similar to the FZ28. So the learning curve is simple). The stabilization in

this camera is terrific. The lens is sharp and the Intellegent Exposure mode is excellent in all the situations I have tested so far! Bottom line is that the DMC-FH20 is everything I

wanted for a backup. Great camera, Great buy!

Review by Avg Guy for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH20 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 8x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver)
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Fairly fast lens. Good low light and stabilization with no flash. Proprietary usb cable. I would rather have a mini or micro usb. I would recommend this to all friends shopping in this price range. It replaced my trusty canon sd550 only b/c my lcd broke while snowboarding.