NewsJuly 2010

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Panasonic releases Lumix DMC-TS10 rugged compact

Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-TS10 rugged compact camera (known as the FT10 in Europe). A simpler version of the DMC-TS2, it sports a 35-140mm equivalent 4x optical zoom lens, and is certified waterproof at depths of up to 3 meters /10 ft and shockproof for drops of up to 1.5 meters /5 ft (as opposed to 10 meters and 2 meters repectively for the FT2). The rest of the features remain the same, including a 14.1MP CCD sensor and a 2.7" LCD. It will be available from mid-Septemeber for a suggested retail price of $249.95.

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Press Release:

Panasonic Introduces Stylish Flat Rugged Design LUMIX DMC-FT10 with 14.1-Megapixels, HD Movie Recording and iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode

Stockholm, Sweden (July 7, 2010) – Panasonic, a market leader in digital still cameras, today introduced the new LUMIX DMC-FT10 from the LUMIX's FT series geared for active outdoor use. Featuring the flat and slim profile adopting the folded optics for its 4x optical zoom*1 lens unit, the new 14.1-megapixel FT10 features credible toughness to be waterproof to 3m, shockproof to 1.5m, freezeproof to -10 degrees C and dustproof.

Panasonic's world-acclaimed iA (Intelligent Auto) mode makes it easy for anyone to take beautiful photos by various shooting-assist functions. It comprehends MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) for hand-shake, Intelligent ISO Control for subject movement, Face Detection and Intelligent Scene Selector. The dedicated iA button on the top of the camera lets you enter the iA mode directly. Once you enter the iA mode, these multi-capable functions happen automatically, so you can shoot without the bother of adjusting settings every time conditions change. You can enjoy easy, trouble-free shooting in any situation and get the satisfaction that comes with capturing clear, beautiful images.

With the DMC-FT10, HD (High Definition) movie recording in 720p Motion JPEG is available. The high performance DMC-FT10 excels in the powerful battery life as long as 300 pictures per a single charge (CIPA) despite its slim, compact body. The 2.7-inch large Intelligent LCD with AR coating assures high visibility of photo and movies both in shooting and playing back the images.

Enjoy casual photo and video shooting with tremendous ease stylishly in town and actively in outdoor adventures - the FT10 suits both situations.

A Credible Toughness in a Slim, Stylish Profile with 4x Optical Zoom in Folded Optics
The DMC-FT10 features a high-quality 4x optical zoom LUMIX DC Lens (35-140mm*1). The folded optics of the shaft guide method is adopted to secure the toughness of the lens unit. Comprising 11 elements and a prism unit in 10 groups, including an ED lens and 4 aspherical lenses with 7 aspherical surfaces, this advanced lens unit renders high resolution image corner to corner even adopting the folded optics. Further, in 3-megapixel resolution mode, the Extra Optical Zoom function provides additional magnification, extending the zoom power to 8.4x (294mm*1) by using the center part of the high resolution CCD to bring subjects even closer.

Despite its flat and futuristic profile, the DMC-FT10 is waterproof to a depth of 3m and dustproof equivalent to the "IPX8" and "IP6X" standard. Thanks to rubber padding and reinforced glass and carbon resins inside the camera, the FT10 features an airtight body protected against water immersion, dust and sand.

The FT10 is drop proof from a height up to 1.5m in accordance with the "MIL-STD 810F Method516.5-Shock" test standard. In addition to reinforcing the exterior of the camera with shock-resistant material, the FT10 uses folded optics to prevent its lens unit from taking damage when dropped during operation. The lens unit is protected by a supplementary damper to absorb the force from shock impact. All components including the lens unit are reexamined to endure the temperature as low as -10 degrees C to make the FT10 freezeproof.

The iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode for Making Every Photographer to Be a Good Photographer
Panasonic incorporated the Intelligent Auto mode in pursuit of the ultimate ease of operation and the reduction of misshots. The MEGA O.I.S. suppresses hand-shake and the Intelligent ISO control prevents moving subject from being blurred by optimizing the shutter speed and ISO sensitivity setting, to render sharp, clear images whatever the shooting situation is. Human faces are captured in focus and appropriate exposure with the Face Detection.

Unwanted red-eyes are digitally corrected and backlight compensation automatically activates if they happen. Intelligent Scene Selector, which automatically selects whichever of 6 Scene Modes -- Macro, Portrait, Scenery, Night Portrait, Night Scenery and Sunset -- that best suits the shooting situation. The Quick AF system allows the camera to keep focus on the subject while the camera is in recording mode even before pressing a shutter button halfway, to get the best result out of a shutter chance because the focus is always near the subject and the AF time is minimized.

The user can activate all of these useful, convenient shooting-assist functions by simply pressing an dedicated iA button on the top of the camera. All these make the FT10 the ultimate, super-versatile automatic camera for capturing clear, beautiful, mistake-free photos with ease.

Exciting Options to Expand the Fun of Photography in the High-Definition Era
The new DMC-FT10 records dynamic HD movie in 1280 x 720p Motion JPEG at a smooth 30 fps, in addition to WVGA (848 x 480) and normal VGA (640 x 480). You can enjoy recording not only photos but also HD movies casually even in active outdoor situations. It is also possible to edit it or upload it on YouTube with the included software PHOTOfunSTUDIO ver. 5.0.

• Use a card with SD Speed Class*2 with "Class 6" or higher when recording motion pictures.
  
• Motion pictures can be recorded continuously for up to 15 min in European PAL area.
• Motion picture recorded continuously in [MOTION JPEG] is up to 2 GB. Only the maximum recordable time for 2 GB is displayed on the screen.
• SDHC Memory Cards and SDXC Memory Cards can be used only in equipment that is compatible with their respective formats.
• If the computer being used does not support SDXC Memory Cards, a message prompting you to format may appear. (Doing so will cause recorded images to be erased so do not choose to format.) If the card is not recognized, please refer to the below support site.
  http://panasonic.net/avc/sdcard/information/SDXC.html

High Speed Response of the Image Processing LSI the Venus Engine IV
The image-processing LSI, Venus Engine IV, features advanced signal processing technology for rendering high-quality images. Featured in the DMC-FT10, the multi-task image-processing engine Venus Engine IV supports a super-fast response time. The shutter release time lag is as short as approx. 0.006 second. The camera's quick response makes it easier to capture sudden, spur-of-the-moment photo opportunities together with the Sonic Speed AF (Auto Focus).

The Venus Engine IV also supports a High Sensitivity mode that lets the DMC-FT10 record at a setting of up to ISO 6400, sensitive enough to capture subjects in near-total darkness without using a flash.*3
Despite its outstanding performance and the slim profile, the engine is also superior in its energy efficiency to feature a long battery life up to 300 shots (CIPA) per a single charge.

Easy-to-see 2.7-inch Large Intelligent LCD with AR Coating
The DMC-FT10 incorporates an easy-to-see, 2.7-inch 230,000-dot Intelligent LCD for comfortable viewing while both monitoring shots and playing back the results. The Intelligent LCD function detects the light condition and automatically boosts the LCD backlighting by max. 40% when shooting outdoors in bright sunshine, and adjusts the frame rate when shooting in low-lit situations in addition to using the pixel mixed readout method to secure clarity in such situations.

Detecting the lighting condition precisely and automatically controlling the brightness with a total of 11 fine steps, this function gives the display the most appropriate clarity in any situation without using extra energy. The High-angle mode makes the LCD screen extremely easy to view when the camera is held high, such as when shooting over a crowd. Plus, the AR coating suppresses reflections even under the strong sunlight.
    
Other Features Enhancing the Ease and Joy of Photography
A rich variety of scene modes make it easy to get beautiful photos in a range of photographic situations. The Beach & Surf mode is perfect for your beach activities, allowing you to use a single mode with optimized auto white balance both on the beach and in shallow water up to 3m. Baby, Pet and Sports modes take advantage of the Intelligent ISO Control as previously described, to let you get great results even if the subjects have unexpected motion. Furthermore, you can record the name and birthday of your children or pet and embed the information of the name and at which age in year and month the photo was taken on the photo, and choose to print either or both of them on the photo. Photo Frame mode lets the user put attractive borders around the photo. When printed, the photos look like postcards in picture frames.

The functions and settings used most often, such as O.I.S., consecutive shooting, auto focus point, white balance adjustment, ISO level, image size and LCD mode are quickly and easily accessed via the Quick Setting function. There's no need to open menus to adjust them.
The user can select from among several pretty icons for the camera to use for indicating when the subject is in focus. With the My Scene setting, the user can assign a specific Scene Modes to that setting, and switch instantly to the mode when desired.

Using the Macro Zoom function, the user can pull subjects even closer than the closest point possible with the wide-angle setting by using 3x digital zoom, and capture dramatic close-ups.

In addition to the conventional SD/SDHC Memory Card, the DMC-FT10 accepts next-generation SD format SDXC (SD eXtended Capacity), that features high potential in both capacity and data transfer speed. There is no need of worry about scratching if the included silicone jacket is worn.

About Included Software PHOTOfunSTUDIO 5.0
The exciting, multi-functional software PHOTOfunSTUDIO 5.0 comes bundled with DMC-FT10. With quick start-up and fast read-in of images, the PHOTOfunSTUDIO 5.0 makes it possible to sort and organize photos not only of those newly taken but also of those stored in your PC.

The Face Recognition function that recognizes the faces in the picture automatically sorts the photos by the registered faces without picking out each photo one by one when you only want pictures of a specific person. You can also enjoy slideshows with a variety of effects and use your iTunes music library as background music. Motion pictures can be uploaded directly to YouTube using the built-in YouTube uploader even in HD (High Definition) quality. The new PHOTOfunSTUDIO 5.0 also lets you create a 360-degree rotation panorama file in MOV.

Experience and feel the outstanding benefit of the PHOTOfunSTUDIO 5.0. It will surely allow you to view, edit and archive your captured photos and motion pictures with greater ease and fun.

*1 Equivalent to 35-140mm on a 35mm camera.
*2 SD speed class is the speed standard regarding continuous writing.
*3 In 3-megapixel (4:3), 2.5-megapixel (3:2), 2-megapixel (16:9) recording.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT10 specifications

Price	• US: $249.95
Sensor	• 1/2.33" Type CCD • 14.5 million pixels total • 14.1 million effective pixels
Image sizes	4:3 • 4320x3240(14M) • 3648x2736(10M EZ) • 2560x1920(5M EZ) • 2048X1536(3M EZ) • 640X480(0.3M EZ) 3:2 • 4320 x 2880 (12.5M) 16:9 • 4320 x 2432 (10.5M)
Movie clips	• Motion JPEG: 1280 x 720 pixels @ 30fps • 4:3: 640 x 480 pixels, 320 x 240 pixels @ 30 fps • 16:9: 848 x 480 pixels @ 30 fps
File formats	• Still Image: JPEG(DCF/Exif2.21) • Motion picture: QuickTime Motion JPEG
Lens	• 4x optical zoom • 35 - 140mm (35mm equiv.) • f=6.3-25.2mm • F3.5 - 5.6 • LUMIX DC VARIO • 11 elements in 10 groups
Image stabilization	Mega O.I.S lens-shift stabilization
Digital zoom	Yes, up to 4x
Focus	• Normal • Macro • Zoom Macro • Quick AF (Always on)
AF area modes	• Face • 9-point • 1-point
AF assist lamp	Yes
Focus distance	• Normal: Wide 50cm - infinity, Tele 50 cm - infinity • Macro / Intelligent AUTO/ Clipboard: Wide 10 cm / Tele 50cm - infinity
Metering	• Intelligent Multiple
ISO sensitivity	• Auto • 80 • 100 • 200 • 400 • 800 • 1600 • High Sensitivity Mode : Auto (1600 - 6400)
Exposure compensation	± 2 EV, 1/3EV steps
Exposure bracketing	± 1/3 EV ~ 1EV step, 3 frames
Shutter speed	• 8-1/1600 sec • Starry Sky Mode : 15, 30, 60sec
Aperture	• F3.5 - 5.9 (F3.5 - 5.6 (W) / F5.9 - 7.1 (T))
Modes	• Intelligent AUTO • Normal Picture • SCN • My SCN • Motion Picture
Scene modes	• Portrait • Soft Skin • Transform • Self-Portrait • Scenery • Sports • Night Portrait • Night Scenery • Food • Party • Candle Light • Baby1 • Baby2 • Pet • Sunset • High sensitivity • Hi-Speed Burst • Flash Burst • Starry Sky • Fireworks • Beach & Surf • Snow • Aerial photo • Photo Frame • Film Grain
White balance	• Auto • Daylight • Cloudy • Shade • Halogen • White Set
Self timer	2, 10 sec
Continuous shooting	• 1.5 frames/sec • 4.6 frames/sec High Speed Burst mode
Image parameters	Standard, Vivid, Natural, Black & White, Sepia, Cool, Warm
Flash	• Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off • 0.3 - 4.9m (Wide/ISO Auto), 0.5 - 2.9m (Tele/ISO Auto)
Viewfinder	No
LCD monitor	• 2.7" TFT LCD Display • 230K dots • Field of View : approx. 100% • AUTO Power LCD mode, Power LCD mode
Connectivity	• USB2.0 High speed • AV Output (NTSC/PAL) • DC Input
Storage	• SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card • 40MB internal memory
Power	• Li-ion battery • Charger included • AC adaptor (optional)
Weight (no batt)	152 g
Weight (with batt)	172 g
Dimensions	100 x 64 x 22 mm (3.95 x 2.5 x 0.85 in)

Additional images