LAS VEGAS — Panasonic used International CES to unveil four Lumix long-zoom point-and-shoot cameras and a new Leica Nocticron lens for its Micro Fourth Thirds interchangeable-lens camera models.
The highlight of the new Lumix ZS series cameras is the DMC-ZS40 (pricing and availability to be announced), billed as a super-slim compact camera with a Live View Finder (LVF), 30x optical zoom (35mm equivalent: 24-720mm), a control ring, RAW capture capability and focus peaking.
Also included is a hybrid Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS) Plus feature, an 18.1-megapixel high sensitivity MOS sensor and advanced high-speed Venus Engine image processor with 10 fps still capture at high quality and up to FullHD 1080/60p video capture in AVCHD compression. It also has Wi-Fi connectivity with NFC and built-in GPS tagging.
The DMC-ZS35 point-and-shoot features a 20x optical zoom lens (35mm equivalent: 24-480mm), 16-megapixel high sensitivity MOS sensor, FullHD video capture, and high-speed burst shooting at 10 fps with high picture quality.
The camera also offers Light Speed Auto Focus Power OIS, built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, Instant Transfer function, and a 3-inch 460K-dot tilting LCD monitor.
The LZ40 point-and-shoot camera features a 42x optical zoom lens (22-924mm 35mm equivalent), OIS, 20-megapixel CCD, 720p HD video capture, Intelligent Auto mode, automatic settings, face detection, Intelligent Scene Selector and Intelligent Exposure.
Other features include a 3-inch 460K-dot LCD, Creative Panorama mode and large capacity 1250 mAh Li-ion battery allowing up to 320 pictures per charge.
The DMC-SZ8 is a 12x zoom (24-288mm equivalent), 16-megapixel CCD, 720p HD video capture, Wi-Fi-enabled digital point-and-shoot camera with Intelligent Zoom function that extends the zoom up to 24x by combining a digital zoom extension and OIS to suppress hand movement.
Other features in the SZ8 include Panorama Shot, a 3-inch 460K-dot LCD and Intelligent Auto mode.
The new Leica DG Nocticron 42.5mm F/1.2 ASPH high-speed portrait and medium telephoto fixed-focallength lens (model H-NS043) features power OIS, full AF and is an 85-35mm camera equivalent lens.
It is comprised of 14 elements in 11 groups and uses two aspherical lenses, one ED (Extra-low Dispersion) and one UHR (Ultra High Refractive Index) lens.
