New test: Fujifilm F200EXR and Panasonic FX40

Head to head? Yes and no: the two new Panasonic and Fujifilm compacts both have a 12 megapixel sensor and a 5.0x wide-angle zoom. Both very popular already, these two models however highlight quite different attributes.

The Panasonic FX40 is well designed, ultra-compact, light with full automation such as face recognition (a real first). Technically, it is pretty standard, using the same lens as the FX37 and a very small CCD 12 megapixel sensor.

The Fujifilm F200EXR is larger and goes with tried and tested automatic settings (with nevertheless an intelligent auto mode), but emphasises technical excellence with a large SuperCCD 12 megapixel sensor capable of going down to 6 megapixels to increase image quality.

In fact, these two camera are quite different and are not aimed at the same market: the Fuji focusses on demanding photographers and the Panasonic on those for who style and size are also important. Each to his own…

> Our product survey of compact digital cameras