The lens quality is just awesome. You get a top notch Leica lens for the price of a Panasonic, what more can you ask? I am totally hooked on this camera!

My only criticism of this camera is that, the replacement batteries are as expensive as the cell phone batteries, $60 plus, which may force an average user to be more economical with the usage of the camera. ________________________________________________________________

         
It matches my Tux!, March 24, 2006
Reviewer: dkoDesign "DKO"
OK, so I won't bore you with all the research I did on choosing this small wonder. I will simply say that it came down to the Lumix DMC-FX9. and its main competition in price, size, and style is the Kodak V550. The V550 is a nice, slick camera in its own right, which uses my required SD cards, but it's 1 megapixel short and comes with the battery life of a wind-up toy (a mere 120 shots). While the V550 does get some great (and well deserved) reviews, for just a few dollars more you can get the Lumix DMC-FX9. (you can read a full review on my blog praxisworks"dot"net)

The benefits? A cooler name? Sure. Sexy matte-black, all-metal construction? Yup. But mostly, I'm concerned about the equally small size, lower weight, and astonishing battery life (270 shots). Oh yeah, there's also the spectacular Leica lens with true image stabilization*, rapid focus (thanks to the AF assist lamp), and a generous ISO range. All this, and that extra megapixel, will make you say, "Yum." when you take a really gorgeous shot and blow it up for 12�16 printing. Keep a lookout for the soon-to-be released upgrade to this gem, the Panasonic DMC-FX01K.
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Great little camera, March 4, 2006
Reviewer: M. Clarke

I recently purchased this camera to replace an older Sony digital. As this was an emergency purchase, I made an exception and depended on the salesman's recommendation. I have to admit I was swayed by the sleek, no-nonsense black housing and Leica-branded lens.

So far I'm impressed with the pictyre quality and overall ease of use. The controls are fairly intuitive although the zoom lever could be more ergonomic. The large LCD is really great compared to the postage-stamp monitor of my old camera. I also like being able to see up to 25 images at once. One big draw-back is that the battery has to be removed for charging. The battery will not charge from the camera even with the optional AC adapter. Still, the camera seems to be fairly power-efficient, so charging is less frequent than before. The memory card is also a little more fiddly than the excellent Sony Memory Stick, but these are minor annoyances.

I'm looking forward to discovering all this camera's abilities over the next few weeks.
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Great camera, miss the optical viewfinder., February 24, 2006
Reviewer: Randal F. Blair

What a great camera! I am still getting used to all the features. Recently took it to a concert that forbade flash photos. Holding the camera over my head, zoomed to the maximum optical zoom, the results were astounding!! That anti-shake function works great!!! I do miss having a traditional viewfinder, but I am adapting. The original camera I had began malfunctioning the first week, every few seconds it would display a message requiring me to turn the camera off and back on. It was really annoying and it was during Christmas, so I really wanted to use it. The pictures did turn out fine, and none were lost. Panasonic wanted me to send it in to be serviced or replaced and said it would take 4-6 weeks, no promises! Luckily I called Amazon and they sent me a replacement that arrived in 2 days and let me send the bad one back to them after it arrived. Well done! The less than stellar response by Panasonic is the only reason I downgraded from 5 stars to 4. Oh yeah, sometimes the on/off switch is too easy to accidently turn on. Don't get me wrong, I love this camera and the pictures are great!!
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Best Choice in Ultra Compact Camera Category..., February 8, 2006
Reviewer: mom2sarah...
In my opionion, the Panasonic DMC-FX8 and FX9 are the best choices in the ultra compact camera category. I have owned a couple of the Canon SD cameras (SD200 and SD300) and the pictures produced by the FX7/8/9 are vastly superior, esp. with Indoor Shots. The Image Stabilization really helps in Indoor, Low-Light Settings which if you are like me, is where you take the majority of your snapshots. The Canon SD500/550 are arguably better cameras due to their bigger sensor, 7 MPs, and stronger flash BUT they are not small enough to toss into my front pocket (a pre-requisite). As for the cracked LCD screens, google "Canon and Cracked LCD Screen". It is not an isolated problem! The best precaution you can take is two-fold. Buy a LCD screen protector as well as a hard camera case (I review one of each btw).

Finally, the FX8/FX9 have corrected the two major complaints people had with the very popular and well-regarded DMC-FX7. They now boast a faster AF, a longer-lasting battery and 640x480 Movie Mode. If they had manual controls, they would have created the elusive "perfect ultra compact" camera!
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