Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ100

 The camera can capture action by shooting an amazing 11 frames per second at full 14.1 resolution. If that is not fast enough, set the camera to 3.5 megapixels and you can shoot at 60 frames per a second. You can also capture broadcast-quality 1920 x 1080 full-HD movies at reduced files sizes with the AVCHD Lite file format - saving space on your memory card for longer shooting sessions. Featuring Dolby Digital Stereo, the camera also captures dynamic, stereo sound with your HD content. Intelligent Auto Mode uses face detection autofocus, AF tracking for moving subjects, optical image stabilization, scene mode selection, and auto ISO to make great pictures and movies as simple as point-and-shoot. You also have complete manual control over both still images and video, and My Color Mode allows you to create distinctive effects, making your photos and videos stand out from the crowd.

25-600mm f/2.8-5.2 Leica DC Vairio-Elmarit Lens

The DMC-FZ100 features a 25-600mm f/2.8-5.2 Leica DC Vairio-Elmarit high-quality lens (35mm camera equivalent). Comprising 14 elements in 10 groups, including 3 ED (Extra Low Dispersion) lenses and 2 aspherical lenses with 3 aspherical surfaces, this advanced lens unit realizes the outstandingly compact body while passing Leica's stringent standards to deliver exceptional optical performance suppressing distortion at the wide-end and color bleeding at the tele-end.

• This single camera lets you record both photos and movies just the way you want them, making the DMC-FZ100 twice as attractive. With a 24x optical zoom (35mm camera equivalent: 600mm) that draws your subjects right up close, you can freely capture decisive sports scenes, along with the natural expressions of animals and details that you can't even see with your bare eyes - in both photos and movies.

• The 25mm ultra wide-angle lens has about twice the shooting area as a standard 35mm lens. This enhances all kinds of shooting situations, like when you're photographing a group of people at an indoor party or shooting a large structure or sweeping landscape while traveling.

• The 24x optical zoom (35mm camera equivalent: 600mm) of the DMC-FZ100, with its wide-open aperture of F5.2 produces stunning portraits with softly focused backgrounds. The high-quality lenses of this lens system also ensure clear and sharp focusing of your subject in telephoto shots, and provide superb resolution and contrast for smoothly shaded facial complexions.

32x Intelligent Zoom / 50.6x Extra Optical Zoom

Intelligent Zoom is available with the DMC-FZ100 which extends the zoom ratio by approx. 1.3x maintaining the picture quality even combining a digital zoom. This means the 24x optical can virtually extend to 32x equivalent. Furthermore, the extra optical zoom function extends zoom power to 50.6x by using the center part of the large CCD to bring subjects even closer.

Sonic Speed AF

The Sonic Speed AF system in the DMC-FZ100 includes numerous re-engineering enhancements, including a higher-speed actuator, optimized algorithms and parallel software processing. The result is fast and accurate AF performance. You can quickly get moving subjects in focus, such as when you're shooting sports scenes.

Fast Start-up Time

The parallel processing of software resulted in ultra high-speed start-up.

Short Release Time Lag

The shutter release time lag is as short as approx. 0.008 second, making it easy to capture sudden, spur-of-the-moment photo opportunities.

14.1-megapixel MOS Sensor

In-order to achieve 1920 x 1080 full-HD movie recording with high image quality, the DMC-FZ100 has a 14.1 megapixel MOS sensor. For the effective concentration of light, the sensor adopts microfabrication technology to achieve even higher sensitivity. With an advanced micro light tube structure, both color mixture and signal loss are prevented. The result is that the photos and movies shot at any sensitivity from low to high have outstanding sharpness with very little noise.

Venus Engine FHD

For the image processor, the Venus Engine FHD features exceptionally advanced signal processing capabilities. By separating chromatic noise from luminance noise and applying the optimal noise reduction to each, you can capture clear and beautiful images even when shooting at high ISO sensitivity levels. The Venus Engine FHD also provides precisely selective noise reduction to the chromatic noise without affecting the border of colors which is judged from the brightness level of a pixel. Linking smoothly with the MOS sensor, the Venus Engine FHD processes a large amount of signals at high speed, making it possible to record high resolution consecutive shots and full-HD movie recording.

High Image Quality in High Sensitivity Shooting

The graininess that results from picture noise and the flatness that sometimes comes with noise reduction measures are major concerns when shooting at high sensitivity levels. The Intelligent Resolution minimizes noise to produce sharp, clear images.

Extended Battery Life

The energy-saving Venus Engine HD II image processing engine and the efficient, rechargeable lithium-ion battery work together to extend the shooting time of the DMC-FZ100. This lets you take approx. 580 shots on a single battery charge.

Intelligent Resolution

With Intelligent Resolution technology, 3 areas - outlines, detailed texture areas and soft gradation areas - are automatically detected and optimum signal processes are performed to each area. Apart from the uniform enhancement of sharpness, the innovative technology Intelligent Resolution precisely performs signal processing pixel by pixel in the most effective way for it. As a result, images are naturally clear and crisp in both photo and movie recording.

iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode

When you don't know which mode will give you the best shooting results, or when a sudden photo opportunity pops up and you don't have time to make any settings, simply choose the iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode and let the camera do it all for you. You just choose the iA Mode, aim at your subject, and shoot. 7 detection and correction functions are simultaneously activated to optimize the settings, so you get stunning photos every time. The DMC-FZ100, a hybrid still/motion image model, also lets you take beautiful HD movies in the iA Mode. In addition, newly incorporated the Intelligent Resolution technology is always activated in the iA Mode which results in the clearer and higher image quality in every photo and movie with extended zoom range equivalent to 32x optical zoom by the Intelligent Zoom.

Power O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) - Shake Detection

Everyone has had an experience of taking a photo at night and hoping to capture all the memories and beauty, only to be disappointed at the poor result. Panasonic has worked on the low-frequency vibration hand-shake component, which is physically generated when pressing the shutter button or when shooting at night with a slow shutter speed. The Power O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer nearly doubles the hand-shake correction power of conventional MEGA O.I.S. You get bright photos without blurring even from handheld shooting at slow shutter speeds.

• The quality of night shots is heavily influenced by the shutter speed. When the shutter speed is raised to prevent blurring, insufficient lighting can make the shot too dark. And when the shutter speed is slowed down to allow more light, hand-shake could occur. In addition to the powerful hand-shake correction of Power O.I.S., the DMC-FZ100 features the iA Mode, which intelligently determines the best shutter speed. Together, they produce dramatically beautiful night scenes.

Face Detection AF/AE with Face Recognition

The conventional face detection system captures a face with focus and appropriate exposure but sometimes it falls not on the face you want to capture when there are several faces in a frame. The Face Recognition prioritizes focus and exposure right on the face of your special person.

• The DMC-FZ100 features the Face Recognition, a function that "remembers" faces. Register the person from the menu by taking his/her full-face portrait with his/her name. Once complete, if the familiar face appears into your frame again, the camera will display the name you specified for that person and prioritize focus and exposure so that the registered face is bright and in sharp focus. Up to 3 persons' names can be displayed at once. In playback, you can choose to display only photos that contain a specific registered face using the Category Playback. The Face Recognition makes sorting archiving incredibly easy. The Face Detection also features the Digital Red-eye Correction (Red-eye Removal). The camera takes care of the red-eye effect that often happens when shooting with a flash, to ensure attractive facial expression.

Intelligent Scene Selector - Scene Detection

When the camera's in the iA Mode, the Intelligent Scene Selector automatically sets the Scene Mode to one of Scenery, Portrait, Macro, Night portrait, Night scenery or Sunset. The camera judges it from the various detection results such as focusing and brightness level. You are free from annoying settings every time the scene changes when taking images with these most frequently used Scene Modes.

Advanced Scene Mode

The Advanced Scene Mode function lets you quickly set the frequently used Portrait, Scenery, Sports, Close-up, or Night portrait Modes with the mode dial. And each of these modes can be fine-tuned to match the shooting situation. The Creative Mode also lets you adjust the aperture or shutter speed, for easy manual control. When pressing the Motion Picture button, the optimal Movie Scene Mode is automatically selected.

Happy Mode

The Happy Mode, a color mode option in the iA Mode, optimizes color, saturation and brightness to make images more vivid and true to the color of the scene you remember. It can be used in combination with each Scene Mode in the Intelligent Scene Selector. The Happy Mode is also available in movie recording.

Panorama Assist Mode

This is a handy function for aligning panorama photos using the included software PHOTOfunSTUDIO 5.0 HD Edition. The afterimage of each previous shot is displayed, so you can use it to precisely line up the second and third shots.

AF Tracking - Subject Detection

Once you focus on your subject, the AF Tracking automatically tracks it until you press the shutter. When you're taking images of an active subject, like children or pets, this function eliminates the need to press the shutter button halfway down repeatedly to readjust the focus. The AF Tracking makes sure you don't miss those once-in-a-lifetime shooting opportunities.

Quick Auto Focus

The DMC-FZ100 features the Quick AF. Ordinary AF is activated when the shutter button is pressed half-way, while the Quick AF starts operating as soon as the camera is pointed toward a subject. This dramatically reduces the shutter delay time and lets you take images quickly. Its super-fast focus is ideal for capturing quick images of active children and pets. By setting the camera to the Quick AF, images of sudden shooting opportunities won't be out of focus or blurry.

Intelligent ISO Control - Motion Detection

The Intelligent ISO Control function in the DMC-FZ100 made possible by the Venus Engine HD II, detects subject movement and automatically adjusts the ISO setting and shutter speed to best suit the movement and light conditions. When it 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 takes beautifully natural photos with a low ISO setting. The Intelligent ISO Control gives you stunning images with ease because there is no need for complicated settings.

Intelligent Exposure - Light Detection

The Intelligent Exposure function increases the exposure only in under-exposed areas by detecting the brightness level part-by-part in the image. If the background includes the sky, which tends to be easily washed out, the camera automatically adjusts the aperture and shutter speed to keep the setting slightly under-exposed to prevent wash-out while brightening the darkened area by increasing the ISO only in that area. If the background of an indoor portrait receives insufficient lighting from a flash and becomes dark, the ISO sensitivity is raised in only the low-lit area to make it brighter without causing graininess in the subject's face.

Auto Backlight Compensation

When there is strong backlighting, the background appears nice and bright, but the subject is dark. This function detects backlight condition and compensates it automatically.

A/S/M Mode

Manual functions are the key to taking highly controlled and distinctive photos. Aperture-priority Mode lets you open the aperture up wide for stunning portraits with softly focused backgrounds. Shutter-priority Mode makes it possible to express the dynamic power of a flowing stream by slowing down the shutter speed. And Manual Exposure Mode gives you total control of special shots, allowing you to achieve a higher level of photographic beauty.

Full Manual Operation with Jog Dial

The manual control of the DMC-FZ100 is easy to use with the incorporation of a jog dial. The AF/ AF-Macro/ MF mode button lets you change setting quickly according to shooting condition. You can enjoy creative control not only in photos but also in movies, utilizing a host of options including the Creative Movie Mode and the My Color Mode.

Direct Exposure Compensation

In Program AE, Aperture-priority, and Shutter-priority Modes, you can retrieve the exposure compensation value and manually adjust it directly with the jog dial. With the DMC-FZ100, the exposure compensation and auto bracket range is +/- 3EV in 1/3EV steps to.