Panasonic introduces DMC-TZ8 compact superzoom

The TZ8 features a high-quality Leica DC Vario Elmar 25mm ultra-wide-angle lens with a 12x optical zoom. A lens like this, with a range from 25mm to 300mm, is almost inconceivable in such a small, lightweight camera. Comprising 10 elements in 8 groups, including 2 ED lenses and 2 aspherical lenses with 3 aspherical surfaces, and utilizing new lens material in its design, this advanced lens unit realizes the outstandingly slim and compact body while passing Leica’s stringent standards to deliver exceptional optical performance. Thanks to the newly incorporated Intelligent Resolution technology, a ground-breaking Intelligent Zoom is available with the TZ8 which extends the zoom ratio by approx.1.3x maintaining the picture quality even combining a digital zoom. This means the 12x optical can virtually extend to 16x equivalent. Furthermore, the Extra Optical Zoom function that extends zoom power to 21.4x (at 3-megapixel resolution) by using the center part of the large CCD to bring subjects even closer.

The new model has a 14.5-megapixel CCD and shoots with up to 12.1-megapixel resolution. This is because the CCD on the TZ8 is multi-aspect and can reproduce images shot with the lens set from 25mm to 300mm in any of three aspect ratios – 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9 – so user can always capture dynamic, richly expressive shots with a wide perspective.

Building on the success of the hugely popular DMC-TZ6, the TZ8 goes one step further to offer manual control for advanced expressive shooting. It has A(Aperture Priority) / S (Shutter Speed Priority) / M (Manual Exposure) modes for step up users to enjoy the creative shots depending on the subject or the scene by controlling the shutter speed and aperture. Each of these modes and iA mode can be quickly set by the mode dial on the top of the camera unit.