Digital Camera News

Panasonic Updates FX-Series with Three New Models

July 19, 2006 – The pocket-sized Panasonic FX-series grew today with the announcement of three more digital cameras. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX50 has 7.2 megapixels and a 3-inch LCD screen. The display on the new FX07 is smaller at 2.5-inches, but its specs are otherwise very familiar. Bringing up the bottom end of the line is the 6-megapixel FX3. All three digital cameras go on sale in September.

"Smart design, sleek form factor and powerful automatic features guided Panasonic’s engineers when they developed the FX series of Lumix digital cameras," said Rich Campbell, Panasonic’s director of digital imaging, in today’s press release. "Packed into the FX50 and FX07 is our new cutting edge Intelligent ISO Control technology, which focuses on the one thing the user can’t always control: subject movement."

Indeed, the FX50 and FX07 include Panasonic’s new Intelligent ISO control. According to the press release, "IIC allows high sensitivity recording at full resolution (ISO 1250 maximum) within the advanced image processing LSI Venus Engine III. When set to the IIC, the Venus Engine III detects the subject’s movement and adjusts the ISO setting and shutter speed to best suit the subject movement and the light condition automatically."

The two cameras pair this technology with Leica-branded 3.6x optical zoom lenses and optical image stabilization systems. Both the Panasonic Lumix FX50 and FX07 have 7.2 megapixels on 1/2.5-inch CCDs. Their manual ISO settings range from 100-1250, with a High Sensitivity scene mode offering a 3200 rating.

The FX50 has a 3-inch LCD screen with 230,000 pixels and a mode that allows users to view two pictures on the screen at once to compare side by side. This camera also allows still images to be extracted from video clips. The FX50 will be available in silver and black colors for $399.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX07 has a smaller 2.5-inch LCD screen with 207,000 pixels. The entire frame is smaller too. The FX50’s body measures 3.85 x 2.25 x 0.99 inches, while the FX07 comes in at 3.7 x 2.01 x 0.95 inches. The smaller body is more efficient too. The FX50 gets 300 shots per charge on its lithium-ion battery, while the FX07 gleans 320 shots. This Lumix adds an Underwater scene mode to the already saturated list of presets included on the FX50 and stands as the trendier automatic model as it comes in four colors: silver, black, blue, and red. It will cost $349.

Lastly, Panasonic introduced the Lumix DMC-FX3, a 6-megapixel digital camera that is overshadowed by its flashier FX-series siblings. The FX3 has a 3x optical zoom lens and image stabilization system. It doesn’t include the Intelligent ISO Control, but does offer manual control over its 100-400 ISO range and includes a High Sensitivity scene mode that accesses 800 and 1600 settings. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX3 is the same compact size as the FX07 and has the same size 2.5-inch LCD screen, but with much less resolution at only 115,000 pixels. The FX3 will be sold in black and silver housings for a retail price of $279.