With a 12 Megapixel sensor and a range of colour options, the FX60 is presented by Panasonic as the ideal digital camera.  It comes with a 25 mm wide-angle lens, a 5x optical zoom, optical stabilization and HD video.

On paper, though, there's not much to distinguish it from its predecessor, the FX40, and despite the fact the competition is currently racing ahead with new technology including things like touchscreen interfaces, HD video and stereo sound.  Will the FX60 be able to make up with the quality of its photos.

Handling

The back of the camera is faithful to Panasonic's traditional style and is virtually identical to the rest of the FX range.  It's thin, and the 2 mm that have been shaved off compared to the FX40 are the only visible change.  The interface is as intuitive as ever, but the buttons used to navigate through it are small.  The glossy 2.7'' screen has a resolution of 230, 000 pixels and quickly gets covered in finger prints.  The display is fluid, but the colours rapidly become saturated, especially with reds.


The FX60 is faster than its predecessor.  Autofocus only takes 0.6 seconds and is just as powerful when zoomed in.  When light levels are low, that time only falls back to 0.73 seconds, which is still an excellent result.  Burst mode on the other hand is limited to just three high quality photos or five in standard quality, and it's not too fast: just 1.7 images per second.

Image Quality

The FX60 includes the Venus Engine V, which was also found on the rather disappointing FX40.  However, the photos the new camera produces are good, despite a tendency to overexpose them when the flash is used.

Electronic noise is kept in check and graininess is only really visible at 1600 ISO.  Of course, there is some blurriness at 800 ISO, but there's still enough detail.  That makes for a distinct improvement over the FX40, with Panasonic returning to its usual form.  However, the white balance is not constant indoors under artificial light.  The first clear gap is between 100 and 200 ISO, and then between 400 and 800 ISO.  It isn't very neutral either, and is dominated by cold tones.