Labs

Panasonic's fx range normally commands a hefty price premium, but the DMC-FX3 is currently available for just £130. As with all Panasonic cameras, it includes optical image stabilisation, which reduces blur caused by camera shake when shooting in low light or at telephoto zoom settings. The 2.5in screen isn't particularly clear, but it can be set to an impressively bright setting for daylight use.

Performance is average, with a two-second gap between shots. The menu

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presents its options as a simple list, with the most important options near the top. There are, however, no metering options, so when shooting a subject against a bright or dark background, you'll need to resort to exposure compensation.

The FX3 had the best colour accuracy in our image tests. Colours were rich and punchy, but not at the expense of subtle detail. It fared particularly well in our portrait test in direct sunlight, where it exposed the bright and shaded sides of the subject's face superbly.

Image detail was excellent too, outperforming many higher-resolution cameras in bright conditions. However, purple fringing was evident in our outdoor tests where the sky shone between the branches of a tree. There was no sign of image noise in outdoor shots, but low-light photography was a little grainy. Some detail was lost in low light, but the images at ISO 400 were still above average. ISO speeds up to 1600 are available via the High Sensitivity scene preset, but heavy processing meant the resulting photos were hopelessly lacking in detail.