Panasonic launches new tough camera and 4K camcorder threesome.

Panasonic’s latest super- rugged, dustproof and waterproof LUMIX FT model is the LUMIX FT7 (photo above)

Available in New Zealand from July 2018 with an RRP of $749, LUMIX FT7 is designed to  capture 20 MP photos and 4K video whilst diving, snorkeling, surfing, climbing, skiing or snowboarding.

LUMIX FT7 boasts a 28mm wide angle 4.6x optical zoom lens (35mm equivalent: 28-128mm), is waterproof to 31m, shockproof to 2m, freezeproof to minus 10°C and pressure resistant to 100 kilograms of force (kgf).

The FT7 also has a new 0.2-inch 1,170K-dot equivalent Live View Finder (LVF) as well as a 3-inch rear monitor with highest-in-class 1,040K-dot resolution.

It's also Wi-Fi connected and includes Intelligent Auto (iA) mode to help beginners shoot beautiful photos and video.

There’s a Torch Light function, a USB power charging option and blue orange and black colour options.

Also new from Pana is a trio of camcorders (HC-WXF1M above, HC-VX1 and HC-V800) featuring a new sensor and lens for significantly improved image quality even under dim lighting.

All three camcorders feature:

• 4K image quality
• F1.8 lens
• BSI MOS Sensor (improves low light shooting performance by 70%)
• 24 x zoom (25mm wide angle to 600mm telephoto)
• New Hybrid OIS (reduces blur caused by hand-shake)
• Image sensor with 60-fps/50-fps readout
• Active contrast for sharpness and clarity in low-contrast scenes and back-lit situations
• Slow Motion video feature
• Wireless Multi-Camera for simultaneous recording

The HC-WXF1M and HC-VX1 also include:

• Wide-angle setting
• 4K cropping
• Slow Zoom, Slow Motion Video, and Dolly Zoom

And for more advanced users the HC-WXF1M (above & below) also offers:

• 64GB of internal memory
• Tiltable viewfinder
• Manual Ring for fine running of the focus, iris and zoom
• Twin Camera feature with a pan/tilt sub-camera on the edge of the LCD monitor (record images from two different angles at the same time)
• A Narration mode that emphasises the operator's voice and a back-up function which simultaneously records images without the sub-window.