Panasonic Lumix FZ8

Panasonic Japan announced a new line of cameras for this year. They are the DMC-LZ7, LS75, FZ8, FS1, TZ3 and FX30. Today I'll talk about the DMC-FZ8.Just like the FZ7, the FZ8 will be available in silver and black. It has a new 7.2 megapixel sensor, combined with the new Venus Engine III, will support ISO 3200. Venus Engine III is known to suppress detail (maybe too much) in exchange for lower noise, so it would be curious how FZ8 will perform at ISO 3200. The lens is the same one from FZ7, but the Extra Optical Zoom mode has been enhanced to allow 18x (vs 16.5x) optical zoom when the image size is limited to 3 megapixels. The LCD, while staying at 2.5", has its resolution almost doubled to 207K pixel from 114K pixels, which should make reviewing pictures a much better experience. The viewfinder also see a size increase from 0.33" to 0.44" and resolution from 114K to 188K pixels. Panasonic doesn't stop there, the FZ8 has a new 11 point selectable autofocus mode, auto ISO adjustment with intelligent motion detection, internal memory of approximately 27MB, and support for SDHC memory cards (SD memory cards over 2GB).

The final, and ultimate feature, on a consumer priced digital camera, is the addition of RAW support. FZ8 comes with SILKYPIX Developer Studio 2.0SE to give you full control of the final image, direct from the sensor. This is an incredible feature, as we know Canon just last year removed RAW support from the prosumer G7 camera. Panasonic really outdid itself this time and this camera will be the prosumer camera of choice for a while.

Visit LetsGoDigital for early sample images taken with the Lumix FZ8.