Digital Home Thoughts: Panasonic Announces Slew of Cameras; LX5 Leads the Pack

"You ready to get Lumix'd to the max? Panasonic has five new point-and-shooters prepped for this fall, headlined by the well-leaked LX5. That camera aims to keep what was good about the stylish, high-end LX3 while pushing image quality up a notch, with better image processing and a better lens in front of the same 10.1 megapixel CCD resulting in better low light performance."

Well, this isn't quite Photokina news yet, but Panasonic has launched a whole slew of cameras. The LX5 as leaked is a premium compact, with the new 24-90mm equivalent lens, an updated sensor from the LX3 (there are mentions of a new layer of microlenses), and finally a command dial in place of the old joystick. Though I have to say, the command dial looks rather tiny and recessed into the camera body. dpreview.com has image samples, so go on and take a look there as well. Read on for the rest.

There's also the FZ100 and FZ40/45 superzooms. Both cameras feature a 25-600mm equivalent lens, and the FZ100 adds high speed shooting at 11 FPS (no funny pixel reduction tricks) with a mechanical shutter. Expect the FZ100 to be louder than the usual digital camera. Both cameras also drop the joystick for the command dial, and this time it looks better than the LX5's dial.

Panasonic also launched the FX700, a compact which, err, reminds me of the FX75. Can anyone tell me the difference between the two? Same 24-120mm equivalent f/2.2-5.9 lens, same 3.0" QVGA screen... oh wait, this one has 1080 video mode. Thanks for adding to the confusion of compacts, Panasonic.

Finally, there's the TS10/FT10, which is a rugged camera, and poorer cousin to the TS2/FT2. It lacks the TS2/FT2's wider lens, as well as its better ruggedness. The TS10/FT10 is waterproof at 3m and shockproof from 1.5m, vs the TS2/FT's 10m and 2m respectively.

All the cameras are expected to be available in August. I hope Panasonic can keep up with the demand for the LX5; the shortages with the LX3 weren't funny.

[Thanks to Photographyblog for re-sizing all the press photos...]