CES 2012: Five New Lumix Compact Cameras From Panasonic

Panasonic has unveiled five new compact digital cameras at this year's CES.  The updates to the company's range place the emphasis firmly on optical technology, with two new cameras sporting 10x zoom lenses and two more with apertures of f/2.5.  For the time being, though, information is rather thin on the ground with only brief details on the specs and a few visuals.

Lumix FH6 and FH8

Panasonic isn't gambling on an innovative new design with these incredibly traditional-looking compacts.  The FH8 will get a 16 Megapixel sensor but the FH6 will only have 14 Megapixels, and while both cameras will be able to shoot 720p video, the FH8 will use the MP4 format, the FH6 will use the older Moition JPeg codec.

They don't do much to stand out from the pack with zoom lenses from Leica with a field stretching from 24 to 120 mm and opening from f/2.5 in wide-angle mode to just f/6.4 at maximum zoom.  It's a good job they have optical image stabilisation ...

The two new Lumix cameras also get all of the usual Panasonic features, including the iA mode that takes care of settings like sensitivity, face and scene detection and adds other modes like panorama.

Displays on the FH8 and FH6 will measure 3'' and 2.7'' respectively.

The FH8 will come in black, red or purple, with black, silver and blue the choice of colours for the FH6.  There's no news on pricing as yet.

Lumix SZ7 and SZ1

The second pair of new cameras share a 10x zoom made by Leica which stretches from 25 to 250 mm (f/3.1-5.9) and comes with Mega OIS stabilisation.  They also have the same iA modes described above which take care of all sorts of settings-including face, movement and scene recognition-to give you the best chance of a good shhot.

The SZ7 will have a 14 Megapixel MOS sensor which can capture 1080 HD video, while its 'little brother', the SZ1 will have to make do with 720p video thanks to its 16 Megapixel CCD sensor.  The SZ7's faster sensor is also capable of taking 3D photos by capturing as many as twenty photos at once as the user moves the camera, retaining the best two views to create a picture in three dimensions.  Users of both cameras will be able to play with a range of creative filters, giving different styles to their photos.  Both cameras have 3'' screens and will be supplied with a USB cable for recharging.

As with the first pair, we have no news on how much they'll cost.

Lumix S2

The fifth and final new compact is billed as a budget alternative, although we don't yet know just how small a budget you'll get away with ...  It will have a 4x zoom lens that isn't particularly fast, offering just f/3.1-6.5 over 28-112 mm, although it will have Mega OIS optical stabilisation.

The 14 Megapixel CCD sensor should be capable of shooting 720p video with a new panorama function.  Like other Lumix cameras, it will have Panasonic's trademark iA intelligent automatic mode.




> CES 2012 Live from Las Vegas: See all news

> Buyer's Guides: Our Pick of The Best Products