Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8S 7.2 Megapixel Digital Camera (Silver)

Up to 18x Extra Optical Zoom
Designed for uses like bird watching, where you need maximum telephoto capability, the Extra Optical Zoom employs the central of the CCD to further extend the powerful 12x optical zoom when a resolution of less than 7.2-megapixel is used. This lets you extend the zoom ratio to 18x for 3-megapixel or less images.

2-speed Zoom
This new function allows you to control the zoom operation in two speeds, Low and High, with the zoom lever. Rotate the lever a small amount for slow zooming, and a larger amount for high-speed zooming. This makes it easy to zoom in and out quickly when you need to, or to slow down for finer zooming control.

432mm, f/3.1 Shots with a Beautiful Soft Focus
The CCDs used in most digital cameras have much smaller light-receiving areas than film does, so photos tend to have a high depth of field. This means that everything in the photo - including objects in the foreground and background ? is in focus. The DMC-FZ8 take advantage of their 12x zoom (35mm equivalent: 432mm) and f/2.8 to f/3.3 aperture to a level of expression that you cannot get with conventional digital cameras. You can snap photos that capture the subject in a clear, sharp focus while giving the background a beautiful soft focus.

Tele Macro
Even 12x zoom, it is possible to take as near as 1 m from the subject when you select the Macro button. You can take macro shot with easy posture and beautifully soft focused background.

MEGA O.I.S. for Preventing Blurry Shots Caused by Hand-shake
The MEGA O.I.S.(Optical Image Stabilizer) compensates for the blurring caused by hand-shake. It is now featured on the entire LUMIX range, and is highly popular with users around the world. Even slight hand-shake movement is accurately detected by a sampling frequency of 4,000 times per second, and compensated to produce sharp, clear images. This is true, of course, for zooming and macro shots, which are especially susceptible to hand-shake, but it also lets you shoot in dimly lit rooms or evening illumination, without a flash, to preserve the mood. In short, it lets anybody take beautiful, blur-free shots with ease.

Intelligent ISO Control Prevents Blurry Shots Caused by Moving Subjects
When the Intelligent ISO Control (I.I.C.) in LUMIX cameras detects subject motion, it automatically raises the ISO setting and increases the shutter speed to prevent motion blur. On the other hand, when the subject is still and no movement is detected, it lets you take beautifully natural photos with a low ISO setting. Have you ever mistakenly used a high ISO setting to take a photo of a subject standing still? If so, you may remember the noisy, grainy result. Or, if you have tried snapping a moving subject at a low ISO setting, your photo was probably spoiled by motion blur. Intelligent ISO Control gives you stunning images with ease because there is no need for complicated settings.

The DMC-FZ8 also makes it easy to select the I.ISO (Intelligent ISO Control) Mode right from its new mode dial. This makes it possible to raise the sensitivity all the way to ISO 1250, or to limit it to ISO 400 or ISO 800. I.ISO Mode gives you exactly the kind of image quality you are looking for.

Blur Indicator
Blur Indicator lets you confirm that the camera is precisely detecting hand-shake and motion blur separately.

High Sensitivity Mode ISO 3200
Selecting High Sensitivity mode from among the Scene Modes allows the sensitivity to be raised all the way up to ISO 3200. This makes it possible to take sharp, blur-free shots of active children or pets even in indoor settings with limited light.

Venus Engine III
Venus Engine III in the DMC-FZ8 allows high-sensitivity recording up to ISO 1250 at full resolution. The noise reduction system is also greatly improved while maintaining high resolution. It removes noise at the processing stages in series. First, critical noise is roughly undraped and the chromatic noise and the luminance noise are separated so they can each go through a supplemental noise reduction process that appropriately minimizes the remaining noise.

Super-fast Shutter Response
We slashed the release time lag to 0.005 second minimum by increasing both the circuit speed itself and the point at which the shutter release signal is detected. We also shortened the shutter interval to around 0.6 second (minimum)*. These improvements help make LUMIX an extremely quick, responsive camera that's a pleasure to use.

Full Manual Control and Easy Joystick Operation
The easy-to-use joystick operation and good design, which were part of the highly acclaimed trademarks of the predecessor, are inherited by the DMC-FZ8. The joystick was incorporated to facilitate operational ease and thereby get the best technical advantage of the multitude of functions offered by the camera. With the joystick it is possible to set focus, aperture and shutter speed manually.

Mode Select with Joystick Control (P/A/S/M)
You can select Program AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Speed Priority AE, or Manual Exposure Mode by simply turning the dial. This opens the door to a host of creative possibilities.

• P: Program AE Mode
• A: Aperture Priority AE Mode
• S: Shutter Speed Priority AE Mode
• M: Manual Exposure Mode

Move the Joystick up or down to easily set the parameter of each item. When you set the dial to manual exposure, move the Joystick right or left to select the aperture and shutter speed.

Program Shift
You can use Program Shift in Program AE Mode to keep the exposure fixed while changing the combination of shutter speed and aperture. This function lets you choose the exposure setting yourself to capture exactly the image you want.

Direct Exposure Compensation
In Program AE, Aperture Priority AE, and Shutter Speed Priority AE Modes, you can retrieve the exposure compensation value and manually adjust it in the range of -2 EV to +2 EV, in 1/3 EV steps, directly with the joystick.

Manual Exposure Assist
When you choose to set the exposure manually, this function shows how much your setting differs from the setting the camera considers optimal.

Manual Focus
Select manual focus with the focus select button on the top of the camera, and use the joystick for super-smooth focusing.

Movable MF Assist
The image in the center of the LCD or EVF can be enlarged during manual focus for easier focusing.

• MF1: The part of the image in the center of the frame is enlarged. This lets you adjust the focus while composing the entire frame.
• MF2: The entire frame image is enlarged. This is helpful for macros and other shots that require extra-precise focusing.
• Movable MF Assist: This lets you move the part that is enlarged by the MF Assist function to any area of the frame you want.

Quick Setting with Joystick
You can quickly shortcut to frequently functions, such as light metering, AF Mode, white balance settings, ISO sensitivity settings, image size settings and compression formats by simply pressing and holding down the joystick, even while monitoring your subject on the LCD.

Bright, High-resolution LCD
The DMC-FZ8 boasts a large, 2.5" LCD with full 207,000-pixel resolution for comfortable viewing both while monitoring shots and playing back the results. The pixel-mixed readout method used by the CCD automatically increases the brightness of the live image on the LCD, making it much easier to shoot in low lighting. Thanks to the Power LCD function, which boosts the LCD backlighting by 40%, even shooting outdoors in bright sunshine is no longer a problem. The High Angle mode, which can be accessed quickly and easily via a dedicated button, makes the LCD screen extremely easy to view when the camera is held high, such as to shoot over a crowd.

Large, High-resolution, Inline Electronic Viewfinder
The viewfinder is also large and clear, with a 0.44" size and 188,000-pixel resolution. Located directly on top of the lens, it is designed for easy use and fast, accurate framing.

AF Metering: To match the shooting situation and subject's position, the user can select from five auto-focusing methods: Multi-point, 3-point high-speed, 1-point high-speed, 1-point normal-speed, and spot.

• Multi-point AF: You can use the joystick or cursor button to quickly select any of six AF area patterns that combine 3 to 5 of the camera's 11 distance metering points.
• 3-point high-speed AF: This mode prevents the system from mistakenly focusing on the area between two subjects in a horizonal composition.
• 1-point high-speed AF: The AF time has been dramatically reduced to achieve outstanding focusing.
• 1-point AF: Although screen-freeze in high-speed AF is now minimized, you can select this mode to totally eliminate it when you are focusing on a fast-moving subject.
• Spot AF: This mode keys the focus to a small area within the frame.

Selectable AF Area
While using 1-point, 1-point high speed AF mode and spot AF mode, you can specify a point out of 11 AF points. You can thereby enjoy free framing shooting even with the subject not at the center.

Continuous AF
Clear, sharp focus even for moving subjects.

Focus / AE Lock
The focus and exposure values that were automatically set when the lock button was pressed are maintained. The focus lock can be used even during manual focus in addition to auto focus. This means that there are no more worries about accidentally changing a delicate focus point after you have worked hard to get it just right.

Mode Dial - Mode Position Display
As you operate the dial, large animated icons are displayed. In addition to Macro Mode and Tele-macro Mode, you can choose Simple Mode and let the camera take care of everything, use Playback Mode to view or process the shots you've taken, or select Direct Printing Mode for direct connection to a printer. This single, easy-to-understand mode dial lets you easily switch between shooting, viewing, and printing.

Scene Mode
Versatile Scene Modes are another great LUMIX feature. And the Scene Mode list display makes them even easier to select. You can choose from a total of 19 situations, including the unique DMC-FZ8 Panning mode, the new Sunset and Pet modes, and the Aerial Photo mode, for settings that match your subject. Animated moving icons make mode selection even easier and more fun.

Two Axis White Balance Adjustment
Choose from seven white balance settings: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Halogen, Flash, and White Set. When there are several different light sources and it's difficult to get the exact coloration you want, you can also adjust with a reference to the horizontal axis for amber to blue and vertical axis for green to magenta.*

MEGA BURST Consecutive Shooting
Just keep the shutter button pressed to fire off consecutive shots* of a moving subject or a person's changing facial expression. Then save only the best ones. With a digital camera, you can just delete any shots you don't want. In addition, the Unlimited Consecutive Shooting** function lets you continue shooting until the memory card is full. The focus and exposure are fixed at the first frame.

3-image Capturing in Self-timer (10sec)
Now, the self-timer is able to take three consecutive shots. Never again will you have to reset the self-timer because somebody blinked. Just choose the best one from the three consecutive shots.

Built-In Memory 27MB
Take photos even when you don't have an SD/SDHC Memory Card on hand. The built-in memory holds up to 27 MB of image data, which you can later copy to an SD/SDHC Memory Card or PC. You canalso copy images from a memory card or PC to the built-in memory, and view them on the LCD anytime you like.

Select from 3 Aspect Ratios
The aspect ratio is easily selectable between 16:9 wide, 3:2 and conventional 4:3 to shoot in the framing aspect that best suits the photo's composition or purpose of use. You can shoot images in the wide 16:9 format and save them onto an SD/SDHC Memory Card. Then insert the card into a TV equipped with an SD/SDHC card slot to view them in perfect, wide-screen size. Some TVs will display the images in stunning high definition.

Motion Picture Mode (in Wide Aspect VGA or VGA size)
The DMC-FZ8 lets you shoot smooth moving pictures at 30 frames/sec, complete with sound, in WVGA* or VGA size**. You can also shoot at 10 frames/sec to reduce the file size.

9-Cutout Images from Motion Images
A motion image can be cut out as a still image in motion image playback. And you can also archive a 9-cutout still image.

Date Stamp
You can also print the date on your photos. In addition to the ordinary recording date, you can choose Baby or Pet mode from among the Scene Modes to print the age of a child or pet by inputting the birthdate in advance, or use the Travel Date Setting to print which day of the trip each photo was taken on. These dates, which can be helpful when making a photo album, can be stamped on photos whether you print them yourself at home or have a photo shop do them.

RAW format compatible and Included Software for Editing

• Image Adjustment Menu
• Exposure bias
• White balance adjustment
• Sharpness adjustment
• Tone adjustment
• Color adjustment etc...

You can get original image data, recording the image directly from the CCD without any image processing. SILKYPIX? Developer Studio 2.0SE software utility lets you develop RAW data files. For example, you can develop RAW data to create an image with the effect you were trying to capture when you took the shot. You get high-level basic image processing abilities that give you control over such things as unnatural edges from saturated color borders, false colors in structures with intricate detail, and chromatic noise in photos taken at high sensitivity settings. This utility provides a unique combination of high resolution and extraordinary color separation performance.

Other Features:

• Shooting Information Display:  In addition to basic information like the remaining battery strength and the number of shots that can be taken, information about the mode setting is displayed. When the shutter button is pressed halfway, the focusing condition, aperture, and shutter speed are displayed.* This lets you check them before you shoot.
• Composition Guidelines:  You can use composition guidelines from two patterns according* to the shooting subject. And guidelines can be shown at the same time as other information and icons.
• Real Time Histograms:  This graph, which can be displayed in the LCD as you line up the shot, shows the status of the exposure and contrast in real-time.

• AF Assist Lamp: Provides extra lighting as a focusing aid for slightly dark situations where AF focusing would ordinarily be difficult.

• ISO Sensitivity Settings:  You can choose the light-receiving sensitivity from Auto, I.ISO, 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1250.
• White Balance: Choose from six preset white balance settings: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Halogen, and White Set. This is handy when there are several different light sources and it's difficult to get the exact coloration you want.
• Exposure Compensation: Adjust the exposure setting to create a particular image. (1/3 EV step, -/+2 EV) This is also effective for backlight compensation. And you can show the control indication on the display with a single button.
• Self Timer: You can use either a 2-second or 10-second setting.
• Flash: Choose the ideal flash for almost any situation. Auto; Auto/Red-eye Reduction; Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction; Forced On/Off; Forced On/Red-eye Reduction
• Auto Bracketing: This lets you pick the best shot from different, automatically graduated exposures. (+/-1/3 -1 EV step, 3 frames)
• Audio Recording / Dubbing:  Add 5 seconds of sound to pictures as you shoot. Or, if you prefer, add up to 10 seconds of sound after shooting.
• Light metering: The light can be measured in three ways as a guideline for exposure: Intelligent Multiple, Center Weighted, or Spot. Simply switch the metering method to match the shooting scene or your shooting intent.
• World Time Setting: This setting lets you display the local time of your destination when traveling abroad. You simply select your travel destination, and the camera calculates the time difference from the time in the clock setting and displays the local time. You can set the time and date for 74 locations across the world.

• Travel Date Setting: By setting the departure day when setting out on a trip with LUMIX, you can display which day of the trip each photo was taken on while viewing. Great for organizing your travel photos.

• 9/25 Multi Display and Calendar Display: The large LCD allows the display of images even in tiny thumbnail size. Playback of 9 or 25 frames is possible on a multi-split screen in addition to the normal 1-frame playback. This helps you to search for the image you want out of a number of images stored on the SD/SDHC Memory Card, even if there are many images. LUMIX also features the Calendar Display. It shows the day that each shot was taken, which makes it easy to group and play back all of the shots taken on a particular day.

• Auto Review: This function shows you an enlarged view of the image right after you shoot, to make it easier to check the focus.

• Protection: One or more shots can be set from the menu to protect them from being accidentally erased.

• Favorite image Slideshow / Slideshow with transition effects: You can place virtual checkmarks on your favorite images to group them together, then make a slideshow with only those images or delete the ones without checkmarks if you no longer need them. And you can select effects for transitions between slides.

• Auto Angle Detection:  This function detects and records whether the photo is being shot horizontally or vertically, then automatically rotates all vertically framed images during playback so they can be easily seen on the LCD or TV screen. If you want to rotate the image for some reason, you can use the Image Rotation setting on the playback menu.

• Trimming and Resizing: Lets you trim the image, or reduce the amount of image data.

• DPOF Settings: You can automatically record the information you need when having prints made by a commercial printing service, or on your home printer. Simply specify the images you want to print, how many copies you want, and what kind of information you want to be output with them, and save the information onto the LUMIX memory card. Then you just insert the memory card into the printer and start printing. When using a commercial printing service, all you have to do is send them the memory card. It couldn't be much easier.

Included Software:

Lumix Simple Viewer - The included LUMIX Simple Viewer makes it super-easy to upload, view, and print the images you have taken. The uploaded images are displayed according to their date, so they are easy to search for. The date can also be set to be printed on each photo.
PHOTOfunSTUDIO  - This image viewing software lets you upload photos, organize them in categories, process them, and print them. It also converts RAW data files from LUMIX into JPEG files.
SILKYPIX Developer Studio 2.0 - This software utility lets you develop RAW data files. For example, you can develop RAW data to create an image with the effect you were trying to capture when you took the shot. You get high-level basic image processing abilities that give you control over such things as unnatural edges from saturated color borders, false colors in structures with intricate detail, and chromatic noise in photos taken at high sensitivity settings. This utility provides a unique combination of high resolution and extraordinary color separation performance.

ArcSoft Software: This software features a variety of functions, such as viewing and editing images.