Photos and image samples: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX50

The DMC-FX50 employs a large, easily manipulated joystick for navigating the equally large and easy-to-read menus. Those Display and Delete buttons are awfully small, however.

There's plenty of room for your thumb to grip the FX50, though you'll have to hold it with your left hand in order to turn the mode dial.

In contrast to the large joystick control, it can be difficult to operate the FX50's tiny image stabilization button and its recessed mode dial.

When it comes to noise, it's all in the trade-offs. Both the Panasonic and the Canon PowerShot A710 IS have noise in their ISO 100 shots. Canon more aggressively suppresses it, yielding a softer image, but not so soft that you can't read the text or the tape measure. Panasonic, on the other hand, maintains sharpness, but the color noise interferes with the readability of the text and tape.

The FX50's 28mm-to-102mm-equivalent lens has less distortion than we usually see at the wide angle, which makes this camera ideal for shooting real estate photos to post on the Web.