The camera arrived in a small box, with accessories, i.e., USB and AV cables, battery with its storage case, battery charger, CD, wriststrap, software pamphlet, and a 125 page printed Operating Instruction Manual.

The battery needed to be charged before the camera could be used. This took about two hours. The camera was easy to use even without reference to the instruction manual. I've used earlier Panasonic models so others may have a different first impression. On my Vista system, the image transfer software installed quickly and automatically when the camera was first connected to my computer's USB port.

A short while back I took interior pictures using a 28mm wide angle zoom. I recently took photos of the same locations using the FX35 at its 25mm settings. It might seem that the photographic difference between 28mm and 25mm would be small. However, visually the difference was obvious. The 25mm setting produced almost panoramic wide angle coverage. The camera has worked well at the wide end, but the telephoto end is, for my uses, probably about 20mm too short. Fortunately, the image quality at lower ISOs allowed for modest crops in Photoshop to get the results I wanted.

Considering the relatively small sensor, noise was reasonably well controlled at ISO settings below 400. At lower ISO values images are very good. ISO 100 images hold up well under considerable enlargement. I found ISO 400 was the highest level at which I achieved acceptable, although slightly grainy, images. Above ISO 400 noise is obvious and distracting, with a significant loss of image detail. At ISO 800 noise already shows a rough texture. At ISO 1,600 shadow areas showed large blotches of color noise. My longer zoom Panasonic camera with Venus III LSI processor occasionally smeared fine details. Happily, the FX35's Venus IV engine seems to do a slightly better job of detail preservation.

The camera has a very nice array of quite useful features as well as some, arguably, 'gimmicky' ones. The 25mm ultra wide angle, 1280 x 720p HD movie mode, and the Advanced Intelligent Auto Mode, which actually works to correct an array of common problems, all proved to be of real value. The Optical Image Stabilization, set to Mode 2, was very effective; pictures hand held at 1/4th of a second were blur free. The covers to the cable compartment(DC in, Audio Visual, and component out cables), and battery and SD memory compartment are solid, unlike covers on some other cameras. I like the dedicated switches on the back of the camera for playback, and exposure compensation. I also appreciate the dedicated Q(uick) Menu/Delete button. Pressing this button selects the quick menu in record, and the delete menu during playback. During record this button provides access to options appropriate to the current mode. For example, in Intelligent Auto mode the camera makes most of the choices, so only four main categories of options are provided for the user to select from. In Normal mode, where the user has more choices, eight main categories are provided. Main categories include ISO, picture size, white balance, LCD brightness, etc. JPG images at the highest quality setting run around 3.5 to 4.5 MB, with the occasional smaller or larger file. On my single core computer, USB data transfer speed from the camera was about 2.6 MB/sec.

The camera is not without some disappointments. In high contrast situations, small sensor cameras typically blow out highlights or lose shadow details. The FX35's "intelligent exposure" is designed to correct this. However, I didn't see a major improvement in the few high contrast situations I recently faced. Some omissions are understandable even on a relatively expensive point and shoot, e.g., lack of raw mode, and manual aperture and shutter adjustments. Although clearly desirable, they are less important to many buyers. However, its quite disappointing to find the zoom can't be changed while recording movies. This serious omission might be due to the proximity of the zoom mechanism and the microphone. None the less, I would have liked to have seen this option included. Another disappointment is the slightly small, although acceptable, 2.5", rather than 3.0", LCD. Canon, Fuji, Nikon, and Kodak are able to package larger displays in some of their ultra compacts. I would also have liked even a minimal optical viewfinder. It would be useful for sunlight scenes where the LCD brightness is insufficient to make for easy screen viewing. The maximum telephoto aperture of F5.6 is relatively small. The EXIF data recorded with my photos shows aperture values from F2.8 to 8.0 at 25mm, but only F5.6 to 8.0 at 100mm.

The FX35's on/off switch is somewhat poorly designed and positioned. Unlike some models where this switch is located in a raised well, or others where it needs to be pressed in to turn the camera on, the FX35's slide switch is raised above the camera's top, and can be inadvertently turned on when inserting the camera into a pocket or carry case, causing the lens to extend. This potential problem can be solved by moving the play/record switch on the camera's back to play before storing the camera. Set to play, the lens will stay retracted if the camera is turned on.

An earlier sharp eyed poster noted that the legend around the camera lens in the picture says 28mm rather than 25mm. Fortunately, the picture posted is essentially identical to my FX35, except for the legend error and the AF Assist Lamp/Self Timer LED indicator missing from the top right front of the camera. There's also a minor discrepancy between Amazon's listings of "27MB Internal Memory", and the Manual's "Approx. 50 MB" of built in memory.

The Bottom Line: The camera is fast and responsive. Image quality at low ISO values is higher than I anticipated for a sensor this small. It has a truly exceptional wide angle lens, and nicely implemented HD movie mode. Exposure, focus, and scene mode capabilities usually worked flawlessly. Although there were compromises, notably higher ISO performance, deficiencies are minor compared to the totality of the camera's capabilities. Its state of the art zoom lens produced excellent images. In most shooting situations the FX35 made the right decisions to produce superior results. Its well chosen selection of dedicated controls makes it particularly easy to use. Outfitted with an 8GB SDHC Extreme III card, useful in HD movie mode, the camera will record about 1,600 photos at its highest quality setting. Overall, this is an excellent camera.