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Rating: 
Summary: feels like a toy
Review: I have a Canon PowerShot s230, and bought the Lumix for my mother for Xmas hoping to save some money and get a camera of similar quality. Sadly, I'm disappointed with the Lumix despite the savings.For those familiar with the Canon, you know that it's a very effective digital camera experience. It's solid, sturdy, has a great interface and takes excellent pictures. The Lumix is none of these things. Holding the Lumix in your hand is disappointing compared to the Canon. It's flimsy at best. There's no weight to it, but that's not a good thing. It feels hollow, as if it would really sustain serious damage if dropped or otherwise banged up. The case is stainless steel, like my Canon, but my camera's solid construction and obvious design superiority makes it a more satisfying experience. As I said, the Lumix is too light to feel dependable. The Lumix experience, overall, was disappointing. There's no intuitive buttons on the body of the camera. It actually took me about 20 minutes to find the 'on' button. (it's actually more if you count me trying to find it two separate times). Nothing is clearly marked. To make matters worse, there is not only no "getting started" mini-manual in the package, but the instructions are confusing with about 1 out of every 10 words spelled incorrectly. Finally, the operation of the camera resembles something that was designed and engineered in a rush by a company that doesn't really know what they're doing. The display on the rear of the camera is grainy, the operation of the device is sketchy, and, as I mention above, the interface of the buttons and display screen icons is confusing where it's not completely impossible to understand. Can you tell I'm disappointed with my purchase? If you're in the market for a camera, go with the Canon. This camera seems like it's either the last deliverable of the last generation cameras, or a rushed-to-market early adopter model of the current generation. I'm very satisfied with my Canon and will definitely never advice anyone on anything else.
Rating: 
Summary: Good photos and sturdy
Review: This is my first digital camera - I've had it for over a year and overall I have been happy with the purchase. I particularly like the metal case - it is very sturdy (has survived a few falls already), nice and compact, easily fits in a front jeans pocket. Also nice is the rechargable battery: you plug a power supply straight into the camera so no need for an external charger. Now for the photo quality - in general, the photos come out quite well, sometimes they are a little grainy, but they are good for computer use and printing onto standard photo size is usually comparable to a regular camera. I would consider buying another panasonic camera when it comes time to upgrade.
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