digital cameras

DMC-TZ18-S Lumix, LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR, 14.1 Mp, 7.62 cm (3.0 ") TFT LCD, 16x zoom, f = 4.3 - 68.8 mm, 210 g, 60 - 1/4,000 sec, JPEG, MOV, AV Output (NTSC / PAL), USB2.0, Silver 24mm Ultra Wide-angle 16x Optical Zoom LEICA DC Lens
The compact, versatile lens system is the hallmark of LUMIX ZS(TZ) series and now this lens system is totally redeveloped for the DMC-ZS8(TZ18) in both optical and mechanical design. The new high-quality LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens system is even more versatile with 24mm ultra wide-angle* to powerful 16x optical zoom (35mm camera equivalent: 24-384mm).
Comprising 12 elements in 10 groups, including an ED lens and 3 aspherical lenses with 6 aspherical surfaces, this advanced lens unit suppresses chromatic aberration which tends to occur in telephoto shooting effectively. It also boasts a short total length of lens unit despite its higher versatility with longer zoom range, which is made possible by a development of new mechanism for a structure of lens barrel. The lens system is also compatible with high shutter speed of min.1/4,000 sec.

The newly applied Nano Surface Coating boasts extremely low reflectance ratio compared with the conventional multi coating to suppress ghosting. With this Panasonic's black box technology, which is adopted for the first time to the LUMIX, the image delivered through the lens of the DMC-ZS8(TZ18) has exceptional optical performance with stunning clarity that passes Leica's stringent standards.

Powerful 16x Optical Zoom
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) features a powerful 16x optical zoom lens (35mm camera equivalent: 24-384mm). This gives you highly natural expressions from people and animals that you can't get close to. It can also be used for shooting movies, and is designed to suppress noise while zooming. This slim, compact, pocket-sized camera can easily go wherever you do － for both everyday snapshots and traveling.

The 16x Optical Zoom Keeps the Subject Sharp
While Giving the Background a Soft Focus
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) takes advantage of its 16x optical zoom (35mm camera equivalent: 384mm). You can snap photos that capture the subject in a clear, sharp focus while giving the background a beautiful soft focus.

24mm Ultra Wide-angle Lens
The 24mm ultra wide-angle lens* – rare on a compact camera – gives you a wider range of composition possibilities with approx. 213% larger viewing space compared to that of 35mm camera. The super-high-quality LEICA DC lens minimizes distortion at the wide end.

Thanks to the Intelligent Resolution technology, the Intelligent Zoom is available with the DMC-ZS8(TZ18) which extends the zoom ratio by approx. 1.3x maintaining the picture quality even combining a digital zoom. This means the 16x optical can virtually extend to 20x equivalent. Furthermore, the Extra Optical Zoom function that extends zoom power to 33.8x by using the center part of the large CCD to bring subjects even closer.

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.
In addition, the Intelligent Resolution technology is always activated in the iA Mode which results in the clearer and higher image quality in every photo with extended zoom range equivalent to 20x 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-ZS8(TZ18) 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 DMC-ZS8(TZ18) features the Face Recognition, a function that “remembers” faces. 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 most beautifully when there are several faces in a frame. The Face Recognition prioritizes focus and exposure right on the face of your special person*1. In playback, you can choose to display only photos that contain a specific registered face using the Category Playback.
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*1, Night Scenery or Sunset. The camera judges it from the various detection results such as focusing and brightness level of the circumstance*2. You are free from annoying settings every time scene changes when taking images with these most frequently used Scene Modes to get beautiful results even before you know it.

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 AF
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) features the Quick AF*1. 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*2. 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-ZS8(TZ18) made possible by the Venus Engine VI, 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.

D Movie Recording /
Zoom in Motion Picture
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) can record motion images in high-definition (1,280 x 720 pixels at 30 fps in Motion JPEG format). The pixel mixed readout method enables bright motion-image recording even in low-light settings.
The powerful 16x optical zoom is available in movie recording, and is designed to suppress noise while zooming. It is ideal for capturing dynamic video clips of sports action or animals in nature.

The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) gives you a new form of communication by letting you share your photos and movies. All you have to do is checkmark the photos and movies you want to share and connect the camera or SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card to a computer. Uploading automatically starts by simply following the guidance.* Facebook can be used for photos and YouTube™ for movies. You can join these social networking services without having to install any special software. It's easy to share photos and movies on the spot, which means that your friends don't have to wait for you to come back home to see them.

3.0-inch, 230,000-dot High-resolution LCD
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) is equipped with a 3.0-inch LCD with 230,000-dot high-resolution. The big screen reflects fine details, making it easy to check the focus before shooting. It also serves as a small photo and video viewer, allowing you and friends to enjoy viewing the still and motion images together.

LUMIX's acclaimed Intelligent LCD function automatically adjusts the brightness in 11 steps according to the shooting conditions. At the highest of these 11 steps, the LCD backlight becomes approx. 1.4 times brighter than normal.
The High-angle Mode makes the display extremely easy to view from a low angle, for example, when taking photos by raising your hand upward to capture the subject over the crowd.

Easy Manual Operation – A/S/M Mode
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) provides easy-to-use manual controls. Using the Aperture-priority, which creates a soft-focused background effect or the Shutter-priority that, for example, produces a dynamic rendering of streaming water, you can explore your own creative expression at will.

Manual Exposure Mode
You can set both the aperture and shutter speed, to take beautiful, artistic photos. In this mode, the Manual Exposure Assist function shows how much your setting differs from the setting the camera considers optimal. This serves as a convenient guide for anyone using the Manual Exposure

Aperture-priority Mode
You can set the aperture between F3.3-6.3 (Wide) and F5.9-6.3 (Tele) to control the depth of field.

Shutter-priority Mode
Adjust the shutter speed from 60 to 1/4,000 of a second. Fast shutter speeds can be used to freeze moving subjects, and slow shutter speeds can create a motion blur that exaggerates the feeling of movement.

Scene Mode
The Scene Mode lets the camera make the optimal settings for you automatically, so anybody can take superb photos with ease. The versatile Scene Mode range, which handles just about any situation and subject type, is a major LUMIX feature. And to make it even simpler to use, the icons and display are designed for easy visibility.

Panorama Assist Mode
This is a handy function for aligning panorama photos using the included software PHOTOfunSTUDIO 6.0 Edition. The afterimage of each previous shot is displayed, so you can use it to precisely line up the second and third shots.
The DMCZS8(TZ18) lets you store a frequently used Scene Mode setting in 2 My Scene Modes.

High-speed Burst Mode
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) lets you choose the Speed Priority or Image Priority. In the Speed Priority Mode, it can fire off up to approximately 10 frames per second with 3-megapixel resolution, which is highly sufficient for photo prints. This is great for capturing fast-moving sports or racing scenes. You can take a series of shots, then choose the ones you like the best and delete the rest.
(Note that the focus and exposure are fixed at the first frame.)

Macro Zoom
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) lets you get as close as 3cm to your subject. In addition, when using the Macro Zoom function, you can pull subjects even closer than the closest point possible by using 3x digital zoom, and capture dramatic close-ups.

23-area AF
When using Multi-area AF, the camera automatically determines the most appropriate AF area from the 23 points. This ensures accurate focusing even for difficult compositions. You can also select the AF setting from five patterns – Face AF, 1-area AF, Spot AF and AF Tracking – according to your shooting situation.

Select from 4 Aspect Ratios – Newly Added 1:1 Aspect Mode
In addition to 4:3, 3:2*1, and 16:9*2, you can now shoot with a 1:1*3 aspect ratio. This unique square frame adds to your image expression possibilities. The 16:9 ratio produces images that match the aspect ratio of an HDTV screen. Being able to match the aspect ratio to your subject and shooting intent gives you even greater control.

Slideshow with Music
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) can play a slideshow with music. Choose from 4 types of music: Natural, Slow, Swing and Urban. Then, select the transition effect to match your music. For musical slideshows created with the included PHOTOfunSTUDIO 6.0, you can choose your favorite iTunes music file as background music.

PHOTOfunSTUDIO 6.0
The PHOTOfunSTUDIO 6.0 makes it possible to sort and organize photos not only of those newly taken but also of those stored in your computer with quick start-up and fast read-in of images. The Face Recognition function that recognizes the faces in the picture automatically sorts the photos by the registered faces without picking out each photo one by one when you only want pictures of a specific person.
A Panorama Stitch lets you make a panoramic composite in MOV file by synthesizing photos taken in Panorama Assist Mode of the camera. It is also possible to make a slideshow with the selected photos adding music file on.
In addition to the LUMIX Image Uploader (a direct uploading function of the camera), you can upload photos to Facebook and movies to YouTube™ via this software, too.

View Photos on a Large-screen HDTV
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) can take 16:9 HD (high-definition) quality photos that perfectly fit a wide-screen HDTV for full-screen viewing. You can enjoy slideshows of photos taken with the LUMIX in stunning HD quality by inserting an SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card in to the SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot with the VIERA HDTV (VIERA Image Viewer).

Custom Mode
Your frequent setting patterns can be memorized up to three and it can be instantly applied by simply selecting this function with the camera.

Quick Menu
Frequently used functions can be quickly retrieved and easily switched by using the Q.MENU button. The function names are displayed in text form, making them easy for anyone to understand and use.

Built-in Memory 70MB
Take photos even when you don't have an SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card* on hand. The built-in memory holds up to approx. 70MB of image data, which you can later copy to an SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card or computer. You can also copy images from a memory card or computer to the built-in memory, and view them on the LCD anytime you like. In addition to providing extra memory when your memory card fills up, this is a great place to store your favorite photos so you can view them anytime you want.

Title Edit / Text Stamp
The Title Edit function in the playback mode lets you edit the titles of any photos you want. You can also enter your destination and travel date into the Travel Mode in advance, or enter the birth date and name of your subject in the Baby Mode or Pet Mode. The title, date of travel information, name, age based on the birth date, and date of shooting are displayed during playback, and can be printed on photos.

Category Playback
You can playback photos from a total of 9 settings, including the Face Recognition, which lets you search for and retrieve specific subjects.

Seamless Slideshows with Photos and Movies
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) has many slideshow options for both photos and movies. They help you to recollect memorable moments in seamless, chronological order. You can also select and play only photos, or only movies. Choose whichever slideshow you want.

PictBridge Compatible – Direct Print Function
The PictBridge standard lets you print directly on a compatible digital printer. Print size, layout, date and other settings can be made with the camera. Of course, you can also make multiple prints of an image, or print only the ones that you have selected.

Marine Case Compatible
The DMC-ZS8(TZ18) is compatible with the optional marine case DMW-MCTZ20. This case will protect your LUMIX camera all the way to a depth of 40 meters. It lets you take clear, beautiful photos underwater.