Panasonic Presents New Compacts: Waterproof FT10 and Touchscreen FX700

Panasonic today announced five new compact and bridge cameras. New arrivals will include two fairly classic compacts: the waterproof, entry-level FT10 and the sleek, stylish FX700, complete with touchscreen controls.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT10 MARCHANDS €     Amazon.co.uk  19.20  John lewis  24.95  Amazon mark...  144.49  Viking direct  176.40  Comet  209.99  Laskys.com  219.99  Compare prices

Panasonic Lumix FT10

After releasing the seriously tough FT2, a camera that's not only shock-proof but waterproof to an impressive ten metres, Panasonic today announced an entry-level model—the FT10—waterproof to just 3 metres this time.

The rest of the spec is pretty unexciting. The FT10 has a 14-Megapixel CCD, a 35-120 mm lens with mediocre speed (likely to be similar to the FP1), Mega OIS stabilisation (rather than the new Power OIS system that's supposedly more effective at slower speeds) and a 2.7-inch screen with 230,000 pixels. Thankfully, there's a 720p HD video mode to liven things up a bit, with footage recorded in the Mjpeg format.

One rather strange feature of the FT10 is the Venus Engine IV image processing chip, an outdated processor primarily featured models over a year old (the FZ28 and FX35, for example). At first we thought it was a typo in the press release, as in 2010, a Venus Engine VI seems like a more logical choice than the IV. Nevertheless, the same old-school processor is quoted in all the product documentation we could find ...

The FT10 is due to land in the UK this autumn, with pricing yet to be announced. We reckon Panasonic would be wise to keep the FT10 priced in line with the Olympus µ Tough-3000, which offers a wide-angle lens and a 600 MB internal memory, all for under £150.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX700 MARCHANDS €     Amazon.fr  169.44  Compare prices

Panasonic Lumix FX700

The sleek Lumix FX range has included a selection of touchscreen models for several years. However, the FX70, launched in June, marked a turning point in their design with the screen now taking up nearly all the rear of the camera, leaving just enough room to squeeze in Mode and Menu buttons, and a switch for selecting Playback or Shooting mode.

The FX700 is basically an upgraded version of the FX70, and has the same basic design. It features the same 24-120 mm f/2.2-5.9 lens and 3-inch screen with just 230,000 pixels. It does, however, have a different sensor, namely the brand new MOS sensor Panasonic presented this morning.

The new sensor is very similar to the CCD it's replacing, as both have 14 Megapixels and are 1/2.3" format. Similarly to competitors' BSI CMOS sensors, though, Panasonic's new MOS offers superior performances in several fields, notably the speed with which it handles information. The FX700 can, for example, take 10 pictures in 14-Megapixel resolution in just one second, and up to 5 pictures per second with continuous AF (although we imagine the subject can't move around too much!). This camera has a mechanical shutter to get round rolling shutter issues (moving objects can be deformed as MOS sensors can't capture their full surface all in one go). There's also an interesting new intelligent burst mode which adapts its speed in relation to the subject's movements.

One feature that's new to Panasonic compacts is the Full HD video mode, complete with active optical zoom and stereo sound. Footage recorded in the AVCHD format but note that it's 1080i, or interlaced HD video, rather than progressive scan (1080p). In other words, two 960 X 540 fields are combined to simulate a 1920 X 1080 image.

The FX700 also has some of the features we've already seen in the TZ10, such as Intelligent Resolution Technology, which accentuates the most contrasted zones to enhance degradation caused by the digital zoom (although we're not entirely convinced).

The FX700 is due for release towards the end of August with UK pricing still to be confirmed.

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