Panasonic Lumix DMC LS80 Review

The Panasonic Lumix DMC LS80 is a nice little Digital SLR camera which is priced near the cheaper end of the spectrum. It is a superb camera and offers a lot of features, but also has a lot of customizable options embedded in a complex grid of menus and submenus which might make it a bit daunting for the casual user. Other than that, it has few flaws, as we will see in this review.

Panasonic Lumix DMC LS80 Specs:

• Size: 2.4 x 3.8 x 1.2 inches
• Weight: 6.2 ounces
• Resolution: 8.1 MP
• Zoom: 3X Optical Zoom, 4X Digital Zoom
• Display: 2.5 inch TFT LCD display
• Still Image Format: JPEG
• Camera Type: Digital SLR
• Memory: 24 MB Internal Memory + SD card support
• Price: $89 (Approx)

Review:

The Panasonic Lumix DMC LS80 is certainly no head turner, but it looks quite nice and functional. It is available in Silver and Pink, of which the Silver obviously is the better one. The design is totally functional and provides easy access to the user interface. The buttons are carefully labelled and positioned ergonomically. The 2.5 inch TFT LCD display has nice image quality and adequate brightness levels.

The menus are a bit confusing, but once you have found your way through them, the experience and navigation speed improves substantially. The menus are fast and have no visible lag. IT has two modes – Intelligent and Normal. In the Intelligent mode, it automatically assesses the image surroundings and selects settings, in Normal mode, you have to do it manually. The image quality is very good and reproduction very accurate. It doesn’t have face recognition but it is compensated partly by the presence of a good autofocus.

The still shots are very clean, crips and clear. The color reproduction is accurate and with vibrant colors. The video recording quality is also very good.

Pros:

• Inexpensive
• Nice Image Quality

Cons:

• Complicated Interface
• No Face Recognition

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.