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The Panasonic FX100 is a 12.2 megapixel digital camera with a new 1/1.72-inch large CCD and 28mm wide-angle lens. The FX100 features the usual Panasonic Optical Image Stabiliser system and the Venus Engine III image-processing engine. Finished in a choice of either sleek silver metallic or cool black metallic, the sleekly styled Panasonic FX100 will be available from July.

Panasonic UK Press Release

Panasonic’s new DMC-FX100 - the World’s First 12.2-Megapixel 28mm Wide-Angle Premium Compact Digital Camera

Beautifully designed and packed with high-end features, Panasonic is pleased to announce the new DMC-FX100, an eminently worthy addition to the Lumix line of advanced digital cameras. The world’s first 12.2-Megapixel digital camera with 28mm wide-angle lens - the FX100 offers the outstanding performance of a 28mm wide-angle lens and a 12.2-Megapixel CCD in a sleek body. A superior camera with extraordinary expressive power, the DMC-FX100 is a highly sophisticated proposition.

Broaden your outlook and get the big picture
The FX100 is equipped with a newly developed 28mm wide-angle LEICA DC VARIO ELMARIT lens featuring f/2.8 brightness and a 3.6x optical zoom plus a 12.2-megapixel CCD. Developed specifically for the DMC-FX100, this Leica DC lens gives users the creative power to capture stunningly true-to-life high-resolution images with extraordinary resolution, detail and clarity.

The 28mm wide-angle lens opens up a plethora of photographic opportunities, allowing photographers to easily capture a large group of people, or expansive architectural structures and landscapes with dynamic width and rich perspective. The wide-angle lens is particularly helpful in situations where you cannot step back or move away from a subject - ideal for shooting group portraits in a small room for example. To further add to its appeal, Panasonic has managed to pack the advanced 28mm wide-angle lens and large CCD into a sleek, slim body.

The new lens unit comprises seven elements in six groups, including an EA (extra-high refractive index aspherical) lens and four lenses with five aspherical surfaces to generate high optical performance. The zoom ratio can be extended up to 7x in 3-megapixel resolution mode with minimal deterioration thanks to the Extra Optical Zoom. By using the central part of the CCD, this powerful zooming function allows you to easily capture and magnify distant subjects. The FX100 also has an Easy Zoom feature that, at the touch of a button, shifts the lens instantly to full 3.6x zoom power. A second touch of the button activates the Extra Optical Zoom function and extends zoom all the way to 7x.

Highest Resolution in its class
The DMC-FX100 incorporates a new 1/1.72-inch large CCD with 12.2-megapixel rich recording resolution. This super-high resolution is possible because sufficient light-receiving area is allocated to each pixel, thus preventing noise that would otherwise be generated by a smaller pixel area. Images seen with the FX100’s Leica DC lens - a lens superior in quality and performance to those found in other compact cameras - are rendered with the incredibly rich detail and gradation that only 12.2-megapixel resolution can achieve. Delicate flower petals, subtle skin textures, the changing hues of sunset - the FX100 captures the nuances of images like these with breathtaking clarity and detail. The 12.2-megapixel resolution also allows images to be printed up to A2 size with spectacular results, so you can make life-size prints of a baby or the upper half of an adult’s body. Similarly, the high resolution lets you trim an image - framing only the part you like - and then magnify it and still get outstanding detail and resolution.

Intelligent Image Stabilisation - automatically helps prevent blurring
Panasonic is the first manufacturer to have successfully incorporated Optical Image Stabiliser (OIS) into its compact cameras - a feature strongly appreciated worldwide and now considered to be a standard requirement of photography. O.I.S minimizes the jitter from shaky hands that causes many photos to look blurred by shifting the O.I.S lens unit to keep the optical axis aligned straight against the CCD. This ensures images are captured with supreme clarity and sharpness. The new advanced Mega O.I.S system in the DMC-FX100 can even detect and separate hand-shake from other movement of camera to raise both precision of detection and corrective effect.

While hand-shake is the single biggest cause of blurry images, it is not the only one. Another problem is the motion blur that can occur when a subject moves as the shot is being taken in poor light - particularly common when taking pictures of sports or young children for example. This is where Intelligent ISO Control comes in. This system detects whether the subject is moving and, as necessary raises the ISO setting and shutter speed according to how fast the subject is moving and the light conditions. This happens automatically, so you can effortlessly shoot without the need to adjust the settings every time the conditions change.

Panasonic’s Intelligent Image Stabilisation offers two distinct solutions for both major causes of blurred images - O.I.S when you are moving, and Intelligent ISO Control when the subject is moving. Thanks to Panasonic, you can now take clear and beautiful images in various situations.

The power of the Venus Engine III
The DMC-FX100 features the Venus Engine III, Panasonic’s advanced image-processing engine that supports a super-fast response time. Spontaneous moments can easily be captured thanks to an impressively quick 0.009 second shutter release time lag (the time between pressing the button on the camera and the photo being taken) and shutter interval as short as 0.9 seconds -outstanding for a camera recording at 12.2-megapixel resolution. Additionally, the burst shooting mode boosts the capability of sequential shots to a rate of 2 frames per second at full resolution . In High-Speed Burst shooting mode the FX100 fires off an incredible eight shots per second. If this wasn’t enough, you also get unlimited consecutive shooting - which allows you to take photos in succession up to the capacity of the memory card or built in memory.

Playback at your leisure
With TV screens getting bigger and picture definition increasing, consumers want to be able to shoot higher-quality still images and motion pictures. With the FX100, you can shoot hi-definition 1920 x 1080 pixel photos that are ideal for full-screen viewing on a wide-screen (16:9) TV.

Not only can you capture beautiful still images - these new models also record stunning wide aspect VGA (640 x 480) and WVGA (848 x 480) motion images at 30 frames per second. If this wasn?t enough, the FX100 can also record stunning wide-aspect HD (1280 x 720) motion images at 15 frames per second. This enables you to view them on a widescreen HDTV television perfectly. Panasonic also offers the DMW-SDP1 HDTV Photo Player, which makes it easy to view a slideshow of Lumix photos in 1080i high definition quality. Simply connect the SDP1 via a component cable to a HDTV and slip the SDHC/SD memory card into the slot, and you?re ready to view high definition images on a large display with family or friends.

Providing the outstanding performance of a 28mm wide-angle lens and a 12.2-megapixel CCD in a sleek body, the new DMC-FX100 is a superior camera that can be relied upon to capture your most special moments. Elegantly finished in a choice of either sleek silver metallic or cool black metallic, the sleekly styled FX100 will be available from July.

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