Performance & Image Quality

Panasonic Lumix FS22 Review – Performance

It’s also possible to zoom to the other end of the lens’s focal range at the press of a button – which is handy when you realise how slowly the lens moves through its focal range – although the further option of regulating the zoom through the touchscreen seems to have been included only because the possibility was there; quite why anyone needs to use this slightly awkward control when the zoom collar works perfectly well is a mystery.

Aside from this, there’s little to frustrate with the camera’s operation. Although the start-up time could be improved, once the camera is on it performs well. As promised, the focusing system is prompt and there’s practically no shutter lag, which together mean that the touch-control shooting option is not just usable but often useful. Colour reproduction on the screen is a little more saturated than faithful, but not to the point where you may feel like shooting settings need to be altered.

Panasonic Lumix FS22 Review – Image Quality

Left on its Intelligent Auto mode the camera captures well exposed and colourful images, its auto white balance system behaving as it should. The lens shows very little distortion at its wideangle setting and sharpness generally extends well into the edges of the frame, although some softening in the corners is often visible. There’s a touch of purple fringing around high-contrast corners, but this isn’t prominent enough to be an issue.

While the level of detail in captured images is perfectly respectable for a camera at the price point, as soon as you go over ISO 160 the issues associated with having so many pixels on such a small sensor become apparent, namely noise and noise reduction which leave images with a gritty and overprocessed texture, even in fine light. This is a pity, as the camera otherwise produces images of a more than reasonable standard.