I've owned this camera for just about a month now after dropping my beloved and four-year old Sony Cybershot into the ocean. I debated buying another Cybershot (it would be my third) but decided to go in for a little variety instead. My Cybershot sported a Zeiss lens (i'm a former film photography enthusiast). This Lumix sported a Leica lens and you can't really beat the price for a 10 megapixel, leica lens digital with some built in memory and i really wanted the wide angle lens (which is great, as is the image stabilization). I also looked at the Olympus Stylus of the same size; however, the word "proprietary" was mentioned far too often in regards to the Stylus so in the end, I went with the Lumix instead.

At this point, however, I'm a little disappointed - the Cybershot was much simpler to use. Dare I say it but there might just be TOO many options on this particular P&S. I honestly think I might have been better off sticking with an interface I was familiar with.

As someone who's tested the usability of an interface more than once in her life (professionally) - I always found the Cybershot to be so simple I had no need whatsoever to view the manual (this has always been my #1 indicator of a good interface). Not so much with this one - I can't even figure out how to delete multiple images at once on here, or whether I have the option to manually set my shutter/aperture. In addition, since I am a photography enthusiast, I find some of the presets wanting and as of right now, I can't figure out how to tweak them to my own specifications.

Perhaps it's time to change my tactics and resort to the manual.

I've owned mostly Nikon Coolpix point and shoots for years and nothing was more complex than the interfaces to these cameras. So when I got the Lumix, I expected the same. But unlike the previous review, this camera was very simple to understand. Maybe going from the harrowing interface of something like the Nikon to something fairly simple like the Lumix made it an easy transition (kind of like driving BMW with i-Drive to a Honda). Don't get me wrong, I love the Nikons, but the Lumix's portability (small, small size), Leica lens and wide angle ability, is simply the best.

The battery and SD card placement is well designed (meaning, next to each other with one panel opening to deal with). Trigger button is significant and zoom in and out switch is where you'd want it. The screen IS the back of the camera, which grants a viewing area that's impressive.It's solid in feel and again, small enough for the pocket, bag, and hand palm. It's size is also one of those things that make you think, "I could lose this", but that's the price of it's footprint. Just look after your stuff - or yeah, you'll lose it.

Pics are very good. At 10MP, details are impressive. The wide angle tends to add a parallax, but nothing that's significantly distorting.

Check this camera out, by all means - especially as the vacation documenting device that is simple to take, simple to use and easy on the wallet.

This is the first digital camera I've purchased, and so far I think it's pretty awesome. I'm a little technophobic, and have always loved taking pictures with my old Pentax 35mm manual, but this camera is great for what I'm using it for, and has allowed me to learn how to take better pictures.

As a student I wanted a lightweight camera with a nice lens that could easily be taken on a study abroad trip, as well as on backpacking trips and hikes. This camera has a Leica lense, which is of great quality glass and this company makes very decent microscope lenses so I figured it'd be a solid quality-over-quantity purchase.

This camera has performed exceptionally well on the snowy and overexposed summit of a 14,000 ft peak, and the quality of the pictures are more than I had hoped for. It's very easy to understand, especially for someone who isn't great with modern gadgets. The zoom can get very detailed close ups of animals, and there are many options for different scene modes, including candlelight and starry sky scenes, but if you're into not thinking about it the intelligent auto mode is very efficient and consistently takes nice shots. Manual adjustments can be made to compensate on different exposures, one can edit the picture from the camera before downloading it onto a PC, and it often finds and focuses on faces automatically.

Another nice addition is trip planning and the calendar, where if you're going out of country or far away you can set the time of your journey and pre-set the time ahead or behind, which I think is great because I like to know when I took pictures and in what order. The manual is easy to understand, too.

Overall, excellent camera for someone not wanting to spend a lot, like students and most people :) I think it's a good introduction especially for people who are used to old point and shoot cameras, but it has enough to offer to teach people to be better picture takers.

I didnt get this camera for myself, it's my sister's. She loves it. She told me it's a little bit complicated, because it has so many functionalities. But it's worth investigating and learning. I know Lumix, and the pictures are pretty great for a point and shoot.
Also, i really like the pictures this camera takes with flash. I own 2 cameras, one SLR and one point and shoot. My point and shoot doesnt take very good pics with flash. It's a great PRO for Lumix in my opinion.
You're not going to be dissapointed with this camera...plus the size it's perfect, not to big, not so tiny it's impossible to use!

after using panasonic 10mp...i realized that the picture quality and the battery are more superior than my previous kodak z1275. I must all add that the image stabilizer is also good.

I don't know. But I have a problem with the colors and noise sometimes when taking shots with this camera. The colors are not that shinny. When taking the photos without flash - even in day light - the photos still seems dark when displayed on my computer screen. It looks fine in the camera screen but not on the computer.

My third Panasonic ,they get better, cheaper and simpler to use every time . Great Value

This camera is everything I hoped for in a point and click camera. The shutter speed is much faster than the Kodak or the Canon that I tested out in stores. The picture quality is great, the extra features on the camera are awesome, and it is small and lightweight.

This camera is the best one of the 4 digital cameras I've owned. the picture quality is fabulous and it is fast! I would highly reccommend it!

This is my third digital camera and by far the best. I used it for a trip to England. It worked beautifully in a wide variety of settings. For the most part I used the "auto-settings" and I got great pictures from closeups to distant landscape, indoors in old building lighting to bright backlighted outdoors seens to low light nighttime indoors. The anti-shake features eliminated any user problems for high speed pictures and rapid ready to shoot and multiple shot in a row options. The design for the memory card and battery in the same slot is well thought out and easy to use. I didn't begin to scratch the surface of the additional features since the auto-settings worked so well. I have had Sony Cybershot and Olympus Camedia Ultrazoom cameras before and this is by far the best performance and far better value for the price at less than $200. I recently had a water mishap with my camera that unfortunately caused my camera to die and I immediately replaced it. (taking a full immersion in a canoe mishap is probably more than any digital camera is designed to handle)

This is a great, sharp, easy to use (after a slight learning curve), uncluttered, and pocketable little camera. I matched it up with a cell phone case and I'm ready to go.

I wanted a small camera to take on vacation. Although I've always used Canons, I decided to buy the Panasonic based on its great reviews, the Leica lens, and the image stabilization feature.

Well, it certainly is pocket-sized, but since the monitor covers almost the entire back of the camera, it's very easy to see what you're doing. The "intelligent auto" mode makes it relatively simple to use right out of the box. The camera has lots of nice advanced features, too, some of which take a bit of reading and practice to figure out. (I'll be working on that for a while.) It does remarkably well in low light, even without tripod or flash. My vacation photos came out crisp and beautiful. Highly recommended!