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Lumix DMC-FT3
The new LUMIX DMC-FT3 is a camera designed and especially geared for active outdoor use with superb photo and video recording in an extremely tough body with rugged design. Featuring AVCHD Full HD movie recording capability, the new 12.1-megapixel FT3 further strengthens its toughness appeal being waterproof to 12m, shockproof to 2m, freezeproof to -10 degrees C and dustproof.
The FT3 features a high-quality LEICA DC VARIO ELMAR 28mm wide-angle lens with a 4.6x optical zoom. A folded optics shaft guide method is adopted to secure the toughness of the lens unit. Comprising 10 elements and a prism unit in 8 groups, including 1 ED lens and 5 aspherical lenses with 6 aspherical surfaces passing Leica's stringent standards to deliver exceptional optical performance right to the edge of the frame. Thanks to the newly incorporated Intelligent Resolution technology, Intelligent Zoom is available with the FT3 which extends the zoom ratio by approx.1.3x maintaining the picture quality even when combining this digital zoom process. This means the 4.6x optical zoom can virtually extend to 6x equivalent. Furthermore, the Extra Optical Zoom function extends zoom power to 9.1x (at 3-megapixel resolution) by using the centre part of the 12.1-megapixel high resolution CCD to bring subjects even closer.
Tough for the Great Outdors
Thanks to rubber padding and reinforced glass the FT3 features an airtight body that lets intrepid photographers operate the rugged camera underwater to a depth of up to 12 meters.
The FT3 is drop proof from a height of up to 2 meters and in addition to reinforcing the exterior of the camera with shock-resistant material, the FT3 uses folded optics to help prevent its lens unit from being damaged when dropped during operation. The lens unit is protected by a supplementary damper to absorb the force from shock impact. Combined with its dustproof, waterproof and freezeproof performance, this makes it the ideal camera for use outdoors, in active situations, and for casual everyday shooting.
Perfect companion for all seasons and all sports
The DMC-FT3 newly integrates a GPS function, which has proven to be popular previously in the LUMIX TZ series. It shows the name of the location and Landmark using the internal data to give real-time information on the area of shooting and adds reference and fun during active travel. The area information covers 203 countries or regions for global use, plus more than 1,000,000 landmarks (information covers 78 countries or regions).Amongst an array of exciting features included in the new FT camera are a compass, altimeter and even barometer to show and record altitude, barometric pressure and orientation data. The barometer also works as an indicator for depth underwater. The rugged design, GPS and the advanced measuring equipments offers a variety shooting options in wide-ranging situations - Whether it is fishing or camping in the springtime, to diving, snorkelling and surfing in summer, or mountain climbing in autumn and skiing snowboarding in winter – The DMC-FT3 is suitable all-year-round to record stunning memories in both beautiful photo and movie.
Advanced Signal Processing, high performance Venus Engine FHD
Empowered by a newly developed 12.1-megapixel Hi-Speed CCD sensor and high-speed, high-performance Venus Engine FHD, the DMC-FT3 processes a large amount of signals at high speed, making it possible to record 1,920 x 1,080 full-HD movie recording and high resolution consecutive shots at 3.7 fps in 12.1-megapixel full resolution and max.10 fps at 3-megapixel recording.
With Intelligent Resolution technology, 3 areas –outlines, detailed texture areas and soft gradation areas are automatically detected. The outline parts are enhanced effectively to give edges more clarity while giving a moderate accentuation to the texture areas that look more finely detailed. To the soft gradation part, the superior noise reduction system of the Venus Engine FHD is applied making it smoother. Apart from the uniform enhancement of sharpness, the innovative Intelligent Resolution technology precisely performs signal processing pixel by pixel, in the most effective way, as a result, images are naturally clear and crisp in both photo and movie recording.
Intelligent Resolution technology also facilitates Intelligent Zoom, which virtually extends the optical zoom ratio to its 1.3x equivalent maintaining the picture quality even combined with the digital zoom. Details of an image in high sensitivity recording tend to be lost in the noise reduction process; however, Intelligent Resolution works to keep them.
At the same time, the multi-task image-processing engine Venus Engine HD FHD supports a super-fast response time. The shutter release time lag is as short as approx. 0.005 seconds and 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) which boasts approx.28% faster speed compared with the earlier released DMC-FT2. The Venus Engine FHD also supports a High Sensitivity mode that lets the DMC-FT3 record at a setting of up to ISO 6400, sensitive enough to capture subjects in near-total darkness without using a flash.
Enjoy 1920 x 1080 Full-HD Movie Recording in AVCHD
With the ever growing popularity of capturing movies with digital cameras, the DMC-FT3 features an excellent recording capability of AVCHD movie in 1920 x 1080 full-HD. The AVCHD format allows almost double the recording time in HD quality compared with the conventional Motion JPEG and the picture quality is greatly enhanced thanks to Intelligent Resolution technology. The rugged camera also boasts a number of options to enhance personal movies such as Dolby Digital Creator to record high quality audio, 4.6x optical zoom and a Wind Cut function to block out most of the noise from background wind. These choices of settings enhance the usability and fun of recording high quality full-HD movie.In addition, with the included software PHOTOfunSTUDIO 6.1 HD Lite Edition, it is easy to view and edit your recorded contents. You may also choose to upload your videos to YouTube or burn them to a DVD disc for archiving.
Evolving iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode Makes Every Photo and Movie More Beautiful
Panasonic’s well renowned iA (Intelligent Auto) mode has also evolved within the FT3. For more correction effect in movie recording, Active Mode is added to the conventional POWER O.I.S. It excels in suppressing blur when recording wide angle movies while walking. Together with the POWER O.I.S., the DMC-FT3 powerfully prevents blur in both photo and movie recording. Motion Deblur mode* is also available by updating the motion detection (Intelligent ISO Control) and brightness control (Intelligent Exposure) to gain as high a shutter speed as possible. Face Recognition, Face Detection, AF Tracking, Intelligent ISO Control, Intelligent Scene Selector and Intelligent Exposure work appropriately just by entering the iA mode for any photographer to take beautiful photos with maximum ease.Exciting Features for More Fun Photography
Thanks to the newly integrated LUMIX Image Uploader you can instantly share your images via Facebook or video to YouTube (movie) with any PC on the spot with the FT3. All you have to do is checkmark the photos you want to share and connect the camera to a PC. Uploading starts just by following the simple instructions, allowing you to add a comment and notify your friends via e-mail. Facebook can be used for photos and YouTube for movies.The FT3 is equipped with a 2.7-inch, 230,000-dot Intelligent LCD with wide viewing angle and AR(Anti-Reflection) coating. The screen brightness automatically adjusts in 11 steps as the surrounding brightness level changes, ensuring easy visibility at all times. The large screen reflects fine details, making it easy to check the focus before shooting.
All new memories in 3D
The newly added 3D Photo mode produces a realistic 3D image out of 20 consecutive images shot whilst panning left to right. The 3D image can be viewed on VIERA 3D HDTV or other MPO-compatible 3D equipment such as TV, Digital Photo Frame or Printing.
Take the DMC-FT3 out for any outdoor adventures in any season – diving, snorkelling, surfing, climbing, skiing or camping - and bring back some tremendous records of memories in stunning photos or in full-HD. Available in two bold colours, Blue and Red, from March 2011. An optional marine case (DMW-MCFT3) is available for underwater photography to 40m.
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Customer Reviews
I have now owned the Panasonic for 6 weeks and it has been used in a wide variety of circumstances. It has been thoroughly easy to use and takes very good pictures and video. Despite being "rugged" it is slim enough to slip in to pockets and can be carried everywhere. That means I am now taking more pictures and video, which is the whole point. I use Intelligent Auto mode almost all the time and the picture quality is very good. The camera is also quick to turn on, focus and save pictures to the memory card so you aren't waiting for the camera to catch up. There isn't much manual control of pictures but that's the nature of the camera and not a criticism; if you want to be able to manually adjust aperture and shutter speed, etc, then this isn't the right camera.
The GPS functionality is for me a novelty and I don't really have a use for it but its nice that the picture location is now being recorded. I read another Amazon review which said the GPS is slow to capture an updated position and that you have to manually tell the camera to do this. I haven't experienced anything like this. If the camera has been turned off during a long journey then it takes 1-2 minutes for the camera to work out your new position. It does this automatically. When it has reasonably fresh position information it quickly updates your position whenever it changes, i.e. within a few seconds. As long as you wait for the 1-2 minutes on a "cold start" then the GPS captures the position accurately and this wait isn't an issue because it is a one-off after long journeys. The altitude functionality doesn't work for me because it is calculated on air pressure rather than using GPS and it is invariably wrong and varies significantly as weather systems pass through!
I tested the underwater function and found the camera very easy to use underwater and it took very good pictures and video. One or two reviewers seem to think the procedure for keeping the camera water tight is onerous. Actually, speaking as a scuba diver who also owns dedicated diving cameras, the FT3 is very simple to use and there is nothing more to do than check the rubber seal is in good condition and not dirty. That is very reasonable and not asking too much; my dive cameras had o-rings that had to be replaced and/or oiled and there is none of that with the FT3.
Overall I find the FT3 does everything that I wanted from it and there are no noteworthy negative points. It would be nice if the altimeter was accurate but I can live without that. I now take far more pictures and video than with our old cameras because this is a truly pocket-size, go-anywhere, do-anything stills and video camera that is rugged enough for the beach and boat but styled so as not to look out of place at, say, a wedding. If that's what you want then I definitely recommend this. The Panasonic case is also worth getting because this fits perfectly and provides protection while still being slim enough to carry easily.
My "disappointment" came when I used it for the first time - in perfect daytime conditions in good sunlight (with exposure set to "intelligent auto" and image resolution set to 'best'). Of the 50-ish shots that I took that afternoon, almost all that were taken outside in the afternoon sunhine (with the sun in various different positions around me). A few shots were taken inside in ambient light - and came out perfectly.
Later, viewing the results, I found that almost all the outside photos showed significant degrees of overexposure (usually from mid-frame upwards - irrespective of the position of the sun). Even checking the photos in Photoshop it was not possible to recover the image. I also found that the camera is fairly slow to cycle between shots - a frustration when trying to photo fast-changing action.
I am usure whether the camera that I received actually had a real fault causing this 'over exposure', or whether this is a general failing of the camera. I note that the camera has a protective 'window' in front of the lens and wonder if this 'over exposure' is actually a refraction caused by this window in front of the lens. Unfortunately it is just too expensive a camera to persevere and experiment with a unit that has such a level of faults evident at the start.
To be honest - I hope that other owners have perfect results from their FT3s, as it is a lovely camera to hold and use. I just wish that mine had been good!
It only lasted about 5 weeks! It was perfectly fine during wet weather, action pics etc until I took it on holiday to Mexico. The first time I used it in water I double checked the door seal to make sure there was no debris around the seal as per the operating instructions. I used it just in the hotel pool for 5 minutes when the lens started to fog up so I dryed it off and opened up the battery door to find the very slightest bit of moisture had passed through the seal.
I cleaned it all off and left the camera open to ensure any condensation inside had gone. Thinking it may have been a one off incident I took the camera out on a snorkeling trip 2 days later again, double checking the seal before entering the water.
Guess what? it lasted all of 3 minutes before the screen went blank. I got in the boat and upon opening the battery door there was a smell of electrical burning and there was dampness all over the battery compartment. Camera was fried!
Good service by Amazon though, phoned them and they got me to send it back and promptly refunded me the full amount within 2 days as there were no replacements in stock - great service.
Because of the great service I've re-ordered a new camera off Amazon but this time it's the new Nikon AW100 Waterproof camera............. I've given up on Panasonic, 3 broken Lumix in 14 months!
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