By Patrick Avenell

SYDNEY, NSW: It’s been a tough week for Panasonic Australia, with the ACCC yesterday winning its court battle against the Japanese supplier over a Nintendo Wii promotion last Christmas. It’s also been a tough week in terms of products, with Panasonic releasing a new addition to its Lumix FT range.

Panasonic’s heritage in toughness (at least in terms of products) is well known in enterprise and academic circles, with the ToughBook the PC of choice for rugged computering. For those looking to capture images in the same rough environments, such as a waterfall, a snowstorm or a rugby league match, Panasonic has the new DMC-FT10.

This is a self-described entry-level tough camera, so some of its tough capabilities are a little more modest than its ultra-tough older brother, the FT2.

The FT10, however, does provide some good protection: it’s waterproof to 3 metres, freezeproof to -10° Celsius, shockproof from falls of up to 1.5 metres and dustproof.

Camera features include Panasonic’s Intelligent Auto (iA) mode, which does come in handy when trying to take photos on the back of an elephant; 14.1-megapixel image capture and 4x optical zoom.

The new FT10 will be available in blue, red and black from September for RRP $399.