Christmas Gifts: Picture Perfect

I can't take a picture of my camera with my camera (that would be too meta), so this is the best you're going to get.

As a blogger and avid documenter of my life (I have over 65 Facebook albums... most people consider 20 to be adequate), I use my digital camera all the time.  I've only had two digital cameras before this week, both hand-me-downs from my parents: a 2NP Olympus Camedia D-230 that originally came out in 2001 and a 8MP Nikon Coolpix P1 which came out in 2005.  My Coolpix has been sputtering lately - the batteries take forever to charge and then run out immediately.  I thought it was a battery problem, but new batteries still didn't solve it, so I knew it was time for a new camera.

I had done some research and found a glowing review from Digital Camera HQ on the Panasonic Lumix FH20 (and is now their Best Consumer Camera of 2010), which I asked for from my parents and got for Christmas.

As far as tech specs go, it's 14MP which is probably the highest resolution without being an SLR camera and has an 8x zoom.

I haven't had it long enough yet to play with the other features (apparently there are tons of different Scene modes - I'm used to just using Auto mode) but there are some two major things that I can safely say that I love.

One is its compact size.  This is a tiny camera compared to my old cameras, but it's big enough that I'm not like a giant trying to use a cell phone.

The second thing is the non-flash focus.  I'm inclined to say that it's due to the high resolution, but even when the flash is off, the focus is sharp and crisp and the shutter speed is quick.  This is pretty rare for cameras that I've used in general (both digital and film) because the lens can't get enough light to focus on the image, but from my limited use of it, there's great focus.  I don't know how frequently people use their cameras while the flash is off, but it'll be useful for concerts or when you're trying to avoid a glare.

Overall, the camera is simple to use and a great size for more casual users like me.  I'm pretty excited to continue using it and to take lots and lots more pictures!