Panasonic 14.1-Megapixel Digital Camera - Gray FP2 Silver

First, the only thing you might find wanting is the general awkwardness of trying to grip something the size of a small deck of cards without covering the lens with a finger. You can see this on the screen and get your finger out of the picture but you have left a fingerprint on the lens. The solution (other than claiming that you intended the soft-focus effect) is to buy a handle that fits in the tripod socket. With the handle in place you now have an almost magical camera.

Another minor thing is that the excellent Leica folded light path lens sometimes gives halos that are not perfectly round when pointed at very strong light sources. This is really straining on my part to come up with imperfections in an otherwise wonderful camera.

This camera has exceeded all my expectations. I bought it originally to have a preview of film large-format photos (since Polaroid has gone away) and now it's my main camera.

Definitely fun little number to carry around. The shutter is super quick and the quality is amazing for such a small thing.

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Great camera to document my work. Be sure to go to Panasonic.com and download the 1.1 firmware update. It's for optimization of Light amount for INON external flash(S-2000/D-2000/Z-240.

Update: the lens cover is a weak point. It stopped turning power on/off and displays 'open the lens cover' even when it's open. Panacare is repairing it/

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I love this camera. It is small enough to put in your pocket and great for traveling especially since the lens is inside the camera. My friends are always telling me what great pictures this camera takes. Even though it's an older model now, I would still purchase it again today.

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I bought the red version of the FP2, but it's otherwise the same as the gray one. The FP2 seems to have come out in 2010 and it's made in China. The lens cover slides down to turn the camera on and back up to turn it off again. You can also turn the camera on/off in playback mode without opening the lens cover, by using the on/off and capture/playback buttons.

pros:

+ lightweight

+ high build quality

+ takes bright, sharp, and contrasty photos in natural light

+ folded light path (i.e. 'internal zoom') design no lenses protrude when turned on

+ very smooth motion of the lens cover smoother than a $300 Sony I was looking at

+ fast startup & focus

+ up to 60 second maximum exposure the longest I've found in any compact camera

+ 720p video recording

cons:

its width and height dimensions are not as tiny as I was expecting, and though it is thin, this makes it tippy when sitting up

I find the flat body shape uncomfortable to hold...not much 'shape' to grip onto (but not as bad as overly-rounded 'used soap bar' shaped compact cameras)

side location of lens often a finger will accidentally get in your shot

images taken indoors without the flash and without much light are grainy

limited macro ability (closest focus is 10cm, most others can focus to 5cm or 3cm, a few even less)

tiny buttons

2 buttons are flush to the surface and difficult to press (on/off and capture/playback select)

no zooming while recording video, but you can set the zoom before recording

somewhat slow to zoom in/out

panning left/right up/down through photos is extremely slow

plastic tripod socket (I've read conflicting accounts regarding the durability of modern plastic sockets)

The FP1 is almost identical to the FP2, except 12.1 megapixels rather than 14.1 (doubtful it would make any noticeable reduction in image quality). The FP3 is the touch screen version and I wouldn't recommend paying more to get it...just my dislike of touch screens. If you can get either the PF1 or FP2 for around $100, it's a good buy.