Panasonic's 12 megapixel Lumix DMC-FX100: a wide-angle, "HD video" shooter

Oh boy, lookie lookie. Panasonic just announced their new Lumix FX top-ender, the DMC-FX100. Packing a 1/1.72-inch, 12.2 megapixel CCD, this compact shooter manages to squeeze in a 28mm wide-angle Leica DC lens with 3.6x optical zoom. The cam features VE III processing along with Panny's Mega Optical Image Stabilizer and Intelligent ISO control (up to a 6400 sensitivity) to reduce blurring. Shutter release is measured at 0.009 seconds while bursting 8 shots per second at full resolution. It even records WVGA (848 x 480) video at 30fps or 1280 x 720 at 15fps direct to SDHC/SD cards. Nice, should be a winner by the time the reviews roll around.

[echobass @ May 22nd 2007 6:11AM]

720P at 15fps??? What a total waste of time! Anyone who is looking for HD video and has a HD screen isn't going to want flikering 15 fps!
Alternative to this is the Sanyo HC2. It does 720P at 30fps and has a real 10x optical zoom, plus it takes the 8g SD cards.

[Jake @ May 21st 2007 6:56AM]

Yeah but you need to remember that HD Video is a bonus to still, were as the Sanyo is kind of a fence sitter, leaning more towards video. I'll stick with my Canon G7 though for the moment :)

[Tony C @ May 21st 2007 7:01AM]

Comparing a digital still camera that also happens to record video to a digital camcorder? So on the flipside, should the Panny also skewer the Sanyo Xacti for only having a measly little 7.1 megapixels for still photos, an inferior digital image stabilization, a smaller LCD, a not-so-wide angle and dark f/3.5 lens? BTW, the Panny takes those "big" 8GB SDHC cards too...

Apples to oranges, my friend. They're not even in the same class of devices.

[barrykingstar @ May 21st 2007 12:09PM]

Hey Tony, I think you misunderstood my post, or I wasn't very clear. What I meant was, if you're getting 15fps video, like you would possibly want for a website/email etc. then what's the point of having 720p?Anyone looking for web video will want 640x480 or 320x240. Anyone looking for hidef wouldn't want 15fps so as a feature it's a bit of a white elephant, or a marketing gimmick.
The Sanyo has a wide lens acessory, AFAIK, and the image stabilisation is actually remarkably good., for digitallll
7.2 vs 12 mpix? I'm told my 'old' non L series lenses are not good enough to take advantage of the 11 mpix in my Canon 5D, so I had to spend $3000 to upgrade the glass. Now we have the same mpix on a ??$400 ? point and shoot.Do you think the glass will really be able to resolve detail to actually use those 12mpx?

[unkn @ May 21st 2007 7:27AM]

I want one!! Price!?

Hopefully it's under or around $400 so I can get one to replace my curret Lumix. Those specs are pointing toward yes? Even though it's lacking on the zoom, I bet the pictures it can produce will be great enough to make up for it. The 720p sans 45fps is welcomed to me, since I don't know of any other digi CAMERAs that can do that.

[Godsmurf @ May 21st 2007 7:38AM]

Does anyone know of a compact-camera that has a wide-angle lens and image stabilisation and works on AA batteries? That's what I'm looking for, but doesn't seem to exist.

[Tony C @ May 21st 2007 8:19AM]

Compact or ultra-compact?

The Olympus SP-550 UZ takes AA's and runs a 28mm-504mm lens range...
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1289

Fuji and Kodak have some AA-powered compacts too, but the "widest" of them only start at around 36mm...

[rpf @ May 21st 2007 8:28AM]

Only 30fps video as is the case with all (?) cameras. Why don't they provide a setting to get 25fps video for us living in PAL land? Good luck trying to create a PAL dvd of that 30fps progressive footage.

[Dan @ May 21st 2007 8:33AM]

Sounds good on paper, but who the hell needs 12 megapixels in a small digital compact? Nobody, that's who. This will be sold to stupid people who think having the highest megapixel is the most important thing in the world. I look forward to seeing a garbled demo picture at 6400 ISO.

[KorruptioN @ May 21st 2007 8:40AM]

A picture *of* noise, Dan.

[Mark Rejhon @ May 23rd 2007 1:05AM]

Actually, the extra pixels are useful even for lower-resolution images because the 12 megapixels are for primary color components, which translates to about 4 megapixels of RGB pixels. (Due to bayesian matrix, this won't be an exact equivalent though). That would make for really sharp 2048x1536 photos.

As an example, downsample a digital photo to half its size -- notice how it often becomes sharper as it gets downsampled, because of better sharpness-to-pixel efficiency?

That's what I'll use the extra pixels for -- the luxury of shooting really sharp 4 megapixel images.

[barrykingstar @ May 21st 2007 12:17PM]

Sorry, of course I meant HD2! Some demo footage, sadly down rezzed but showing how good the macro is

http://one.revver.com/watch/258806/flv/affiliate/47810

The other Strange planet vid was also partially shot on HD2 (the 16:9 and 2.35:1 shots) I won't put links in for eveything in case I attract the >spam! spam!< brigade.

[rod @ May 21st 2007 7:45PM]

Clearly you know nothing about Panasonic cameras, which are not subject to the laws of physics in this world. Those shrewd Panasonic engineers are like witches.

[Evan @ May 21st 2007 8:57AM]

Here's the template for a generic review about any Panasonic camera:

"This camera has great features, and we especially love the wide angle zoom. The movie mode is a nice bonus for the YouTube generation. Unfortunately, for anything above ISO 200, there is such excessive noise that we can only give this camera a qualified 'Recommend'."

[mashupmark.com @ May 21st 2007 9:07AM]

Hi echobass, do you have any links for the Sanyo HC2 as google is hopeless! Thanks! :)

[Mr Tipples @ May 21st 2007 9:18AM]

Why do Panasonic like ruining some of the best cameras on the market (certainly the best lenses) by putting ridiculous sized sensors in them, then applying so much noise reduction to the images that you would get better results with a Moto RAZR!

[br0ck @ May 21st 2007 10:31AM]

mashupmark, try 'HD2' instead.

[Bryan @ May 21st 2007 10:11AM]

I second echobass' comment. Who the heck wants 720p video at 15fps?? Seems like something solely meant to fool the gullible.

[John Serrao @ May 21st 2007 8:48PM]

Maybe its a different day in regards to Panasonic-
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0705/07052102panfx100.asp

In this press release post, it says,
"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."

I was looking at the DMC-LX2K, their prosumer model just below the DSLR crowd, but most reviews criticized its small CCD which was 1/1.65" coupled with 10 megapixels. I don't know how much more room each pixel is getting on 1/1.72"@12 megapixels vs 1/1.65"@10 megapixels but a new sensor gives me a bit of hope.

[Taylor @ May 21st 2007 2:40PM]

Hah, nothing like 6400 ISO for some quality pictures...
-Taylor

[David Chin @ May 21st 2007 8:51PM]

I don't know, but the 28mm FL is really appealing, and the official samples are nothing short of stunning, considering all the factors: http://www.dpnotes.com/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fx100-samples/

[Chris Taylor @ May 22nd 2007 12:29AM]

I need some help with this one guys. Says 8 FRAMES PER SECOND at full resolution !! even if its only for 14-16 frames thats priceless to me !! Noise is not an issue as I would only be using this for just the FPS in ultra bright iso 100 shots anyway !!! if this can do 8fps at 5mp or above I must have it. Any ideas ? so far the sights I found said 2.7fps for 6 shots. I need something with 5fps or better with 5mp or better and at least a 3x zoom. More of all being better off course.

[Chris Taylor @ May 22nd 2007 12:40AM]

Found it (off course 30 minutes hunting I give up and post here THEN I find it :-)

its 2fps for 3 shots max the 8fps is at 2mp (not too bad might be usable if the camera is cheap enough)

[Andrew H. @ May 22nd 2007 10:39PM]

wow 6400 ISO.... mite as well just make a painting

[Brandon @ May 23rd 2007 3:40PM]

I would like to have seen the 10x optical zoom on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1. But overall it's a nice camera.

[drralph @ May 23rd 2007 6:23PM]

Does anyone know if this camera will shoot RAW like some of the other Pana-Leicas? That is the most appealing thing about this line, as there are very few compact cameras that do RAW.

[Philip Greenwood @ May 24th 2007 12:43AM]

I think it is about time these type of cameras had a decent wide angle and I applaud Panasonic for putting a 28mm lens on this one.
Podcast at PhotoGeek.tv makes mention of it here:
http://photogeek.tv/Pages/2007/05/24/photogeek-week-4/
I agree High Def at 15 fps is marketing spin, not too useful but a nice thing to put on the packaging.

[DLG @ Jun 5th 2007 11:42PM]

I would buy the camera if it Didn't have a wide angle lens! Those lens distort, especially the subject matter that I shoot (flat artwork). The 12 megapixels is something that I'm waiting for, but with a lens longer than 55mm so that there is no keystone distortion. Anybody know of such a camera? Thanks. DLG

[k0a10 @ May 27th 2007 1:12PM]

high def at 15fps would be perfect for scenery capture.

anyone know when this model is -really- going to be released? trying to plan for a trip in late July.

[Kevin Kohout @ Dec 16th 2007 12:51AM]

I just bought mine in Taiwan a month a ago for $350. Awesome camera, people come up to me all the time to remark how lite up the screen is even at night and how well the camera shoots fast moving objects, like my 2 year old son and parades. Excellent camera and camcorder in a very small volume. One negative, it weighs more than you would think, but worth it in quality pics. Contact me at contact if you want more information.