Panasonic

Panasonic announced a new SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) flash card on Tuesday that offers both high speed and lots of space for those willing to pay.

The 32-gigabyte card, called the RP-SDV32GU1K, is due to ship in April for about $700. It's a high-speed "class 6" card that can transfer data at speeds of 20MB per second--the world's first at the 32GB capacity, Panasonic asserts.

SD is the dominant format for flash memory, and with the newer SDHC technology that extends capacity beyond 2GB, it's begun spreading into space-gobbling videocameras. SanDisk, a top flash card brand, announced a 32GB SDHC card costing $350 in January, … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO-- Panasonic showed technology on Monday that could shift the digital photography trend of high-dynamic range photos off the computer and directly into a camera image sensor.

And it works through a variation of a familiar photographic technique called exposure bracketing. For years, photographers challenged by tough lighting conditions have taken multiple pictures of the same scene at different brightness levels--bracketing--to help ensure one photo has a good balance shadow and highlight details.

More recently, with the advent of computers, these bracketed exposures can be combined into a single high-dynamic range (HDR) image that captures both bright and dark … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Panasonic is a relative newcomer to the camera business, but the electronics giant outlined strong ambitions for the business Monday.

"We will try our best to achieve 15 percent market share by 2009," Tokihazu Matsumoto, director of the company's digital still camera business unit, said at a news conference at the Photo Marketing Association trade show here. "We aim to become one of the top camera brands in the industry."

The company also is hoping to reach 15 million units globally during the fiscal year, which for Panasonic runs through March 2010.

That's … Read more

Two new models fill out Panasonic's AA-powered LZ series compact cameras at this year's PMA trade show. The main difference between the two models is the number of megapixels. The Lumix DMC-LZ10 sports a 10.1-megapixel CCD, while the Lumix DMC-LZ8 offers an 8.1-megapixel CCD.

Both cameras include 5X optical zoom lenses covering slightly different focal length ranges. The LZ10 covers an equivalent of 30-150mm, while the LZ8 spans an equivalent of 32-160mm. Maximum aperture ranges of both cameras cover f/3.3-5.9 from their widest angles to their farthest telephoto focal lengths. Both cameras also … Read more

Panasonic offers a wide range of compact cameras and it's FS-series sits square in the middle of its range, offering small size and interesting features. This year, Panasonic is announcing three new FS models at the PMA trade show-- the Lumix DMC-FS20, Lumix DMC-FS5, and Lumix DMC-FS3.

At the top of the three models are the FS20 and FS5, which both offer 10.1-megapixel CCD sensors, 4X optical 30-120mm f/3.3-5.8 Leica DC Vario-Elmar zoom lenses, and sensitivity of up to ISO 1,600 at full resolution. The main difference between the two models is their LCD … Read more

It's not easy to find a compact camera with a wide zoom lens. Panasonic has been good about offering cameras with a 28mm wide angle in the past, but its new Lumix DMC-FX35 offers an even wider 25mm wide-angle zoom lens. The 10.1-megapixel Lumix DMC-FX35 boasts a 4X optical, 25-100mm f/2.8-5.6 Leica DC Vario-Elmarit zoom lens with optical image stabilization. It also sports a 2.5-inch LCD screen, a 2.5fps (up to 5 images in Standard JPG, or 3 images in Fine JPG) burst mode at full resolution, and a video mode that can … Read more

Panasonic follows up last year's compact megazoom Lumix DMC-TZ3 with two models. The DMC-TZ4 and DMC-TZ5 have similar feature sets, which include an optically stabilized 28mm-280mm 10x zoom lens and the next-generation Venus Engine IV image processing; Panasonic claims the latter provides improved noise reduction, faster performance, and more responsive stabilization.

The cameras differ mostly by resolution and LCD size. The TZ4 incorporates an 8.1-megapixel CCD and 2.5-inch display, while the TZ5 uses a 9.1-megapixel CCD and 3-inch display. The latter also supports 1280x720 30 frames-per-second movie capture.

Color choices for the $299.95 TZ4 are … Read more

Panasonic just unveiled its latest digital camera, the budget-priced compact Lumix DMC-LS80. On the surface, it appears to be your typical inexpensive point-and-shoot, though it includes one feature that belies its scant price tag. The camera uses an 8-megapixel sensor, a 2.5-inch LCD screen, and a 3x optical zoom lens. Slightly chunky at just over 1.2 inches thick, it takes two AA batteries for power. Besides the standard VGA (640 x 480) movie mode found on almost all snapshot cameras, the LS80 features a 30 fps WVGA (848 x 480) widescreen movie mode designed for 16:9 televisions. … Read more

After Panasonic stole the show at CES in Vegas with its ginormous plasma TV last week, we got to thinking: Who buys these things anyway?

One indication may come from the number of sales from the last 100-plus club. Pocket-lint cites a report in the Commercial Times that only 15 of Panasonic's 103-inch plasmas were sold in the last year with prices averaging around $62,500. "Apparently the monster screens have been shipped to Japan, the U.S., and Europe mainly, but one customer in the Middle East bought five," it said.

We're sure the money … Read more