Panasonic Lumix DMC-S1 Review : The best Camera to begin with

Assalam-o-Alaikum
This is Ameer Hamza, and in this post I m presenting the review of Panasonic Lumix DMC S1 Point and shoot Camera.

This I bought after a long research, I wanted to buy my eldest niece a camera for her 6th grade celebration, because she loves cameras. I wanted a camera that would offer beautiful images, decent zoom level, easy operation, good video capability, looks and of course a brand that doesn't suck, all without being too expensive.

I did a lot of research and this is the camera that I endue with. So without further ado, let's checkout the specs.

-12 Megapixel CCD Sensor (probably 1/2.3" size)
-720p video capability

-4x Lumix Zoom lens with 28mm wide angle
-2.7" 230k dot LCD
-SDXC card support (Which is the standard these days)
-Lithium Ion Battery pack (Which is miles smaller and lighter than conventional battery cells
-iAuto for super easy shooting
-Scenes for shooting specific situations

Well that was a small list wasn't that :P
Let's start with the hardware

The whole camera is made out of plastic, and it's a fingerprint magnet, so as soon as i took it out of the box, it was covered in fingerprints, but hey what do you expect from a camera at such a price range, but it felt sturdy enough for a year or 2 usage.
The LCD on the back is also acceptable but nothing spectacular.
You got 20MB built in memory and support for SDXC cards which is a huge deal for camera of this calibre.
Then we got the battery which is not battery cells, it's a lithium ion battery pack which makes it sleek and smart.
Chrome accent around the top of the camera looks cool but again it's a fingerprint magnet.

Press the power button and the lens pops out. and all this operation is quite quick, nothing lets you feel that it's a cheap camera, I found it to be snappier than some SONY cameras that cost way more. Well that's the external hardware, let's talk about the sensor.
It uses a CCD sensor which in many ways is outdated. this sensor technology is really good in bright conditions and can offer superb colour rendition but dim the lights a little bit and the noise will take home. Of course you can use the flash to wash it off, but the flash will also wash out the scene with extremely bright light and not to mention, alert everyone about the presence of the camera. Speaking of which, the flash on this camera is also excellent for it's worth. it even has an extra LED for Auto focus assisting. and for Focusing it uses contrast based AF which is a norm for all Point and shoot cameras. and AF speed was... acceptable. it was not super quick in anyway.

Open up the hatch at the bottom and you can find a slot for the SDXC card as well as a place for the battery. Battery is not what you call beefy, it's around 600mAh but the camera can last an event and can provide around couple of hundred photographs in bright light and when you use the flash, it will reduce the shot count to around 100.
But all in all, it's a brilliant package and that battery pack might not be something you can buy off any general store, but it makes the camera look slim and stream lined and it has longer life span. The battery however has a separate charger in the package which is good news for people who use their cameras for longer use and can use a battery pack while the other charges in the charger.

Open up another hatch around the side to reveal a proprietary connector for the USB cable, which is a shame. Nearly all the cameras use start mini USB, or they could have used the microUSB if they wanted to save the space. This means when you cable is damaged you need a new one from the company only.
So my advice would be to take out the SD card and transfer the photos using the card reader, by that you can always have a constant operation when transferring the photos to your PC or laptop.
And of course you get a lanyard hole and a supplied lanyard.

Now let's check out the controls and buttons on this thing. on top You get a nice big 2 stage shutter button which feels sturdy and very well placed, next to that is the power button. which is small to prevent accidental press.
On the back, you get a mode button for changing to either Auto, iAuto, Scenes or Movie.
Then you have a Zoom rocker on top of it, and below the Mode button you get a directional pad with a menu button in the middle. the Directional keypad is also home to the function keys for Flash, Exposure compensation, Timer and Display. Display button allows you to toggle between different details that show up on the screen.
Below that you have separate buttons for Back and Trash function. Both which explain the function they perform.
And at the bottom of the camera is a screw hole for the Tripod attachment.
At the end of the day, it's a very thought out camera and built quality is OK.

 Now let's talk about the image quality. As I said CCD sensor can provide good colour and contrast under bright conditions but it's not groundbreaking under dim lights and you have to use the flash to compensate the noise and darkness. but that is to be expected from a cheap camera. but the still photographs were on par with other CCD sensors I've used in the past so it gets a pass from me.
The Lens provided very good sharpness but it's not a bright lens so don't expect miracles.
One Area where I did miss the low light performance is in the movie mode, there is not movie light so the colours are immediately washed out in low light situation and that Mono sound recording is no good either, but then again, it way better than most Mobile phones out there with more than 4 times bigger price tag.

And lastly I would like to talk a little about the menu system, it's super easy. press the mode button and you get 4 blocks showing 4 options that I mentioned in my controls portion. press the menu and there is nothing complicated there, just the option for picture size or megapixels and ability to set time and date and another for beep sound intensity. there is nothing fancy here, which makes it a proper point and shoot camera.

Conclusion 

This Camera is ideal for beginners. It's an excellent first camera for your kids and family. On one you are having fun with digital camera on the other, even if it fells down or even worse, the price tag won't give you a heart attack.

I recommend this as a perfect First Camera. You can even pick it up from Mr. Hasan's Recommended Online Retailers at HSN.

Hope that helped :)