The Lumix DMC-FT1 has our attention and sounds like the perfect outdoors compact. Not only is it waterproof down to 3m (good for snorkeling and beach fun), but it's also shockproof (1.5m) and dustproof.
To be fair, it's not the first camera to offer outdoor enthusiasts the combination of a waterproof/shockproof/dustproof solution. Olympus has done this already with both the 1030SW and MJU 1020 models.
But according to Panasonic, this is the first camera in the world with those rugged outdoorsy functions that can also capture hours of your favourite weekend adventures on HD. Yes, HD. Underwater!
The DMC-FT1 uses the Panasonic trademarked AVCHD Lite codec, the latest file storage attempt and what could be very useful in consumer compacts. AVCHD Lite is a file format which reportedly doubles the recording space used by the normal AVCHD MPEG 4 recording process.
The DMC-FT1 boasts:
- 28mm wide LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens
- 128mm telephoto lend
- 12.1 MP
- 2.7" screen
- Intelligent Auto (iA) mode
- Optical Image Stabilisation (O.I.S.)
- Intelligent Exposure
- Intelligent Scene Selector
- Face Recognition4 ("remembers" faces from previous shots)
- 4.6x optical zoom