This Intelligent Camera Will Think For You (Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS80)

Member Name: janharper

Product:	Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS80
Date:	13/01/09 (192 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, reasonable quality for the money

Disadvantages: Heavy on batteries

This is a perfect digital camera for a beginner, or anyone who wants a foolproof method of taking quality digital photos. I am not very good with equipment like this and this is probably because I don't have the patience, but this was so simple to use that even I could get some pretty amazing results.

The camera comes with a wrist strap, batteries, various leads to hook up to computer, or TV, a manual and some photo software. The software is fairly basic but it gives a good introduction to the process of manipulating digital photographs. It has actually whetted my appetite enough to make me want something a bit more advanced.

The Lumix LS80 has a 3X optical zoom lens and a resolution of 8.1 megapixels. It is also fitted an extra 4.8X optical zoom. The focus can be set to normal, or macro.

Functions can be set manually to macro, scene setting, or intelligent. The intelligent setting does the job for you. That, I must admit, is the one I use. The flash can also be set to come on when required, or switched off.

This little camera can also be set to take a video. The running time depends on the capacity of your memory card because the internal memory of the camera is very small at 24MB. I added a 4GB SDHC card to my camera to avoid any memory problems. This is the largest card that this camera will take.

It is powered by two AA batteries but I discovered that if I don't buy quality batteries ( not nickel cadmium, it says in the manual); their life is not very long. Quality batteries are the answer here.

Transferring pictures from camera to PC or showing them on the TV screen is very simple.

I had this camera up and working in less than 5 minutes and it took me about half an hour to learn the different modes and functions well enough to use them without consulting the manual.

This is a great value camera and its performance is excellent for the price. I bought mine from a small local camera shop for £69 and I consider it excellent value.

Ideal for beginner, or casual user, but if you are a digital photography expert there will not be enough functions, bells and whistles here to keep you interested. Functional, simple and fun!

Summary: Great for beginner, or casual user

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