Panasonic remixes its Lumixes: FX55, FX33 and FZ18

Will Greenwald, CNET.com | Jul 25, 2007

The Lumix DMC-FZ18 is Panasonic's latest contender in the megazoom category. With a 28mm- to 504mm-equivalent 18x Leica zoom lens, the FZ18 looks like Panasonic's answer to the Olympus SP-550UZ. With RAW image support and plenty of manual control, this high-zoom electronic viewfinder (EVF) camera could turn out to be a good choice for aspiring photographers who want lots of zoom power and control without shelling out the money for an SLR and a huge lens.

Editors' note:

At press time, we have not received details on Asia availability and pricing. We will update as soon as possible.

For those of you looking for a more compact camera than the large-lensed FZ18, Panasonic also introduced the Lumix DMC-FX33 and FX55. While they don't have the high-zoom power of the FZ18, these two 8-megapixel shooters both sport 3.6x lenses with the same 28mm-equivalent wide angle as their bigger brother. Only screen size distinguishes the otherwise identical cameras from each other; the FX33 uses a 2.5-inch LCD, while the FX55 has a larger 3-inch LCD. The FX33 and FX55 replace the Lumix FX07 and FX50, respectively.

All three cameras feature Panasonic's Intelligent Auto Mode, an automatic mode that uses face detection, automatic scene selection, and continuous auto-focus to determine various settings. They all also use Panasonic's Mega Optical Image Stabilization system to help reduce the effects of camera shake. Mega OIS will be most useful when working with the FZ18's 18x zoom lens, but it should offer some help even when using the FX33 and FX55's smaller lenses.

The DMC-FX33 will be available in silver, black, blue, and brown versions. The DMC-FX55 will come in silver, black, and pink. Finally, the DMC-FZ18 will come in silver and black variants. Compare them here

See more of the latest cameras for this fall

More images of new Panasonic cameras:

Via CNET Crave