Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX100 Digital Camera Announced

I mentioned in my earlier Casio article that it was one of two 12 megapixel announcements today - well here's the other one. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX100 features 12 megapixel capture resolution, a stabilized Leica lens capable of wide angle (28mm equivalent) and 3.6 optical zoom, and a 2.5 inch LCD. The FX100 will be available in mid-July in silver and black.

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To get all those megapixels in, the sensor is just a bit larger than your typical compact Point and Shoot - with a 1/1.72" form factor. Also, the lens has a nice maximum aperture of f/2.8. As with the rest of the Panasonic digital cameras, you get the MEGA O.I.S. image stabilization system and Intelligent ISO control. The Intelligent ISO control can detect subject movement and boost the ISO to get a shutter speed to stop the motion (and the blur caused by that motion). An Easy Zoom feature lets you instantly go to the full optical zoom setting.

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Since Panasonic wants to live your life in high-def, there is a 1920x1080 still image capture mode and a 1280x720 (at 15fps) movie mode. At those settings, your images and movies will look nice on your Panasonic flat screen.

Panasonic is also saying that the FX100 will have a more powerful flash, "with a reach of up to 16 meters". There is also a high-speed burst shooting mode that can do up to 8 shots per second (at lower resolutions). The sensitivity of the camera can be set up to ISO 6400.

Images and movies can be recorded to 27MB of internal memory or SD, MMC, and SDHC memory media. The lithium-ion battery pack is good for an estimated 320 shots per charge.

The camera measures 3.80 x 2.13 x 0.96 inch and weighs about 6.2 ounces with battery and memory card.