When the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500K was announced back in March I was very impressed by the specs, so much so I was doubtful if it would really be as good as it sounds. My wife’s friend recently got one and allowed me to mess with it this weekend and I’m stunned. It’s amazing!

The stylish Lumix DMC-FX500 has a bright 3″ touch-screen LCD and a super fast 25-125mm F2.8-F5.9 wide-angle Leica DC Lens with 5x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. Amazingly, it’s only fractionally larger than a standard deck of cards.

It’s by no means comparable to any features you’ll find in a DSLR or even larger point and shoots but for it’s tiny size it focuses very fast and makes excellent, above par, images at 25mm even in poor light. It gets a little noisy around ISO 800 but it’s more than acceptable. Just keep in mind that the closer you get to your subject, and less you rely on the zoom, the better the image quality will be in lower light. In good lighting, it’s fantastic at any focal length.

It keeps up with the action at 2.5 frames per second and can shoot even faster in a high-speed burst mode. Both are pretty fast for an ultra compact.

It is also capable of recording 1280×720p high-def video movies and can also capture stills images with a 16:9 aspect ratio if you want to display your photos on an HDTV.

Composing and reviewing your photos on the 3″ LCD is a dream. It’s bright, clear, and the menus are well organized. Even the “technology challenged” won’t have difficulty.

In all, I’m very impressed with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500K and highly recommend it to anyone looking for an ultra-compact point and shoot.

If size and price isn’t a concern, then I’d suggest the larger, but much more feature rich Canon PowerShot G9. If price is an issue, then take a look at the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ10K or the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7K. Both very good value compacts.