By Patrick Avenell in Melbourne
MELBOURNE, VIC: The 2010 Panasonic Lumix range is designed to provide a solution for multitudinous consumer profiles, with new cameras across seven ranges, each with its own points of difference.
The flagship product in the new range is the DMC-TZ10. In this product code, TZ stands for ‘travel zoom’, with both travel and zooming the key features. For travellers, this model features geocaching for its photos, with an inbuilt GPS marking the photo location for shots snapped whilst on the road or overseas. This can then be used to sort and notate photos for later reference (or to just remind you where exactly a certain landmark is).
Zooming is provided by a 25-millimetre ultra wide-angle Leica DC Lens. This has 12 times optical zoom, and is packaged in a smaller body, to allow the camera to retail a thin form factor. This model is RRP $699 and is available in April.
Other notable new cameras are in the FT2 range, which is an upgrade on Panasonic’s rugged range. This range is waterproof to 10 metres for 30 minutes, is shock and dust proof, and now has the added frost proof feature down to temperatures of 10° Celsius. This model is RRP $599 and is available in April.
The FX68 range is designed for users who follow the ‘more is better’ approach to megapixels and lens capabilities. This model has 14.1 megapixels, two more than the flagship model, and a 25-millimetre lens with 5 times optical zoom. Also out in April, this model is RRP $499.
Also in the 2010 line-up is the ZR range, which is described as being the high performance range with AVCHD Lite recording (RRP $599, out in April); the FP range, which is designed to be “hip” and for the young adult market (RRP $279-$329, out in March); the FH range, which is targeted at families (RRP $249-$399, out in March); and the entry level F range, which is hitting the “strategic” RRP $169 price point (out in March).