Big Zoom + Small Camera = Wow!

The zoom on the Lumix camera just keeps getting better. Experience the power of an incredible 18x optical zoom in a 8.1-megapixel camera that fits in the palm of your hand. From vast landscapes to super telephoto shots, the DMCFZ18K gives you crisp, stunning images using a 28mm wide-angle Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens. For macro shots, the wide-angle setting lets you shoot all the way down to one centimeter from your subject, while the telephoto setting can be used up to one meter (3.28 feet) from your subject. With the Extended Optical Zoom function, zoom power is boosted to around 28.7x (in 3-megapixel resolution mode).

Save Face — With New Face Detection Technology

You just showed your girlfriend all the pics you took at her birthday party. Everything looks great — except her: in every picture she is blurry, hazy, and has red-eye. Not only that, but super-cute Jean Smilefeild looks perfect, as usual. If you want to save your relationship, we suggest you invest in the Lumix DMCFZ18K. The new Face Detection function automatically chooses the optimal settings to make sure faces appear well-lit and in focus. This advanced technology can detect up to 15 faces in a scene, and will even automatically readjust the settings if their positions change. In Intelligent Auto Mode, the camera automatically begins focusing even before you press the shutter button, so you'll never miss an opportunity for a great shot. Believe us, your girlfriend will thank you.

Get Into The Right Scene — With Scene Detection

Now you can be an excellent photographer at the push of a button — minus all the hazing or having to wear matching jackets. With your Panasonic Lumix digital camera in Intelligent Auto Mode, the Intelligent Scene Selector will sense the ambient conditions and automatically select either the Scenery, Portrait, Macro, Night Portrait or Night Scenery mode accordingly. With the camera choosing the settings for you, you'll get beautiful results every time you shoot, no matter what the scene or subject. Finally, changing scenes won't make you sacrifice a thing.

Prevent Blurry Shots

The MEGA O.I.S. compensates for the blurring caused by hand-shake. It is now featured on the entire LUMIX range, and is highly popular with users around the world. Even slight hand-shake movement is accurately detected by a sampling frequency of 4000 times per second, and compensated to produce sharp, clear images. This is true, of course, for zooming and macro shots, which are especially susceptible to hand-shake, but it also lets you shoot in dimly lit rooms or uneven illumination, without a flash, to preserve the mood. In short, it lets anybody take beautiful, blur-free shots with ease.

Intelligent ISO

When the intelligent ISO control (I.I.C.) in the DMCFZ18K camera 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 lets you take beautifully natural photos with a low ISO setting. Have you ever mistakenly used a high ISO setting to take a photo of a subject standing still? If so, you may remember the noisy, grainy result. Of, if you have tried snapping a moving subject at a low ISO setting, your photo was probably spoiled by motion blur. Intelligent ISO Control gives you stunning images with ease because there is no need for complicated settings. The new mode dial on the DMCFZ18K also lets you select I.ISO (Intelligent ISO Control) Mode. It allows the sensitivity to be raised to a maximum of ISO 1600, or to be set to a limit of ISO 400 or ISO 800. I.ISO Mode produces exactly the image quality that you intend. And, selecting High Sensitivity mode from among the Scene Modes allows the sensitivity to be raised all the way up to ISO 6400. This makes it possible to take sharp, blur-free shots of active children of pets even in indoor settings with limited light.

You And LUMIX Agree — No Need For Hand-Shake

The DMCFZ18K helps you get clear shots every time. Panasonic invented the MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) system to fight against hand-shake, the major cause of blurry images. This system, which takes advantage of Panasonic's outstanding lens technology, has long been incorporated into the LUMIX range of cameras. In addition, the DMCFZ18K compensates for the other major cause of blurry images — subject movement. The Intelligent ISO Control function, made possible by the Venus Engine III, detects subject movement and adjusts the ISO setting and shutter speed to best suit the movement and light conditions automatically. Together, they form Intelligent Image Stabilizer, which makes it easy for anybody to take crisp, clear photos in just about any situation. It's automatic, so you can leave everything to the camera.

Great Shooting Options

With the DMCFZ18K you can snap off consecutive shooting at 3 frames or 2 frames per second with full resolution. Just keep the shutter button pressed to fire off consecutive shots of a moving subject or a person's changing facial expression. Then save only the best ones. With a digital camera, you can just delete any shots you don't want. In addition, the Unlimited Consecutive Shooting function lets you continue shooting until your memory card is full. Now, even the self-timer is able to take three consecutive shots. Never again will you have to reset the self-timer because somebody blinked. Just choose the best one from the three consecutive shots. The aspect ratio is easily selectable between 16:9 wide, 3:2 and conventional 4:3 to shoot in the framing aspect that best suits the photo's composition or purpose of use. You can shoot images in the wide 16:9 format and save them onto an SD/SDHC memory card. Then insert the card into a TV equipped with an SD/SDHC card slot to view them in perfect, wide-screen size. Some TVs will display the images in stunning high definition. The DMCFZ18K also lets you shoot smooth moving pictures at 30 frames per second, complete with sound, in WVGA or VGA size. You can also shoot at 10 frames per second to reduce the file size.

Built-In Memory and RAW Format

Take photos even when you don't have an SD/SDHC Memory Card on hand. The built-in memory holds up to 27 MB of image data, which you can later copy to an SD/SDHC Memory Card or PC. You can also copy images from a memory card or PC to the built-in memory, and vew them on the LCD anytime you like. You can get original image data, recording the image directly from the CCD without any image processing. SILKYPIX Developer Studio 2.0SE software utility lets you develop RAW data files. For example, you can develop RAW data to create an image with the effect you were trying to capture when you took the shot. You get high-level basic image processing abilities that give you control over such things as unnatural edges from saturated color borders, false colors in structures with intricate detail, and chromatic noise in photos taken at high sensitivity settings. This utility provides a unique combination of high resolution and extraordinary color separation performance.

Start Your Engine

The Venus Engine III in the DMCFZ8 allows high-sensitivity recording up to ISO 1250 at full resolution. The noise reduction system is also greatly improved while maintaining high resolution. It removes noise at the processing stages in series. First, critical noise is roughly undraped and the chromatic noise and the luminance noise are separated so they can each go through a supplemental noise reduction process that appropriately minimizes the remaining noise. Panasonic slashed the release time lag to 0.005 second minimum by increasing both the circuit speed itself and the point at which the shutter release signal is detected. They also shortened the shutter interval to around 0.6 second (minimum). These improvements help make the DMCFZ8 an extremely quick, responsive camera that's a pleasure to use. Despite the significantly increased performance of the camera, the Venus Engine III consumes only 80 percent of the power utilized by the Venus Engine II and is able to achieve a longer battery life of approximately 380 pictures on a single charge.

Included With Purchase

Battery charger, battery pack, lens cap, lens hood, lens hood adapter, AV cable, USB connection cable, strap, CD-ROM. Included software: LUMIX Simple Viewer, PhotofunStudio, SILKYPIX Developer Studio, AcrSoft PhotoImpression, AcrSoft PanoramaMaker, USB driver.

Comparison Specifications

• 8.1 Megapixels (Effective)
• 27 MB Built-In Memory, Uses Optional SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, MultiMedia Card
• 18x Optical Zoom (Up To 28x Extra Optical Zoom), 4x Digital Zoom
• Modes: P(Program), A(Aperture Priority), S(Shutter Priority), M(Manual), Simple, Scene (20), Motion Picture, Playback, Print, Intelligent ISO, Cutom, And More
• Flash Modes: Auto, Auto with Red Eye Reduction, Forced On, Forced Off, Slow Sync
• QuickTime JPEG Movie Modes: 4:3 Aspect Ratio (640x480, 320x240); 16:9 Aspect Ratios (848x480)
• Conversion Lens Compatible
• 2.5-Inch Polycrystalline TFT LCD (207 K Pixels), Power LCD Mode, High Angle Mode
• USB Connection, DC Input, A/V Output (NTSC/PAL)
• Built-In Microphone, Built-In Speaker

Additional Specifications

• MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilization) (Mode 1/Mode 2)
• 28mm-504mm (35mm Equivalent) LUMIX DC VARIO-ELMARIT Lens, 11 Elements in 8 Groups, Face
• AF (Auto Focus) Metering: 1-Point, 1-Point High Speed, 3-Point High Speed, Multi-Point, Spot
• AF Assist Lamp
• ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1250, 1690 (High Sensitivity Mode: 1600-6400)
• White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Halogen, Flash, White Set 1/2, White Balance Adjustment
• 1/2.5", 8.32 Megapixels (Total) CCD, Primary Color Filter
• Exposure: Program AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE, Manual
• Shutter Speed: 1-1/2000 Sec., Aperture/Shutter Priority: 8-1/2000 Sec., Manual: 60-1/2000 Sec., Starry Sky Mode: 15, 30, 60 Seconds
• Aperture: Wide: f2.8 - f8.0 (2 Steps), Tele: f4.2 - f8.0 (2 Steps)

Manufacturer Specifications

• Still Image Record with Audio (5 Seconds), Audio Dubbing (Max. 10 Seconds)
• Auto Review: 1 Second/3 Seconds/Zoom, Review: 1x/4x/8x
• Color Effect Mode: Cool, Warm, Black & White, Sepia
• Image Sizes Ranging from 3264 x 2448 Pixels to 640 x 480 Pixels
• Burst Shooting Mode, Unlimited Consecutive Shooting, Real-Time Histogram
• Scene Mode Help Screen, Composition Guide Lines (2 Patterns), Auto Angle Detection, Flip Animation
• Several Playback Modes Including Thumbnail Display, Calendar Display, Zoomed Playback, Image Rotation, Slide Show, Resizing
• Multi-Language On-Screen Display (19 Languages)
• Li-ion Battery Pack (7.2 V, 710 mAh) Included, 380 Pictures (CIPA Standard)
• Included Software: Lumix Simple Viewer, PhotofunStudio, SILKYPIX Developer Studio, AcrSoft (PhotoImpression, PanoramaMaker), USB Driver

Dimensional Specifications

• Dimensions: 2.96" H x 4.63" W x 3.47" D
• Weight: 0.68 lbs., 0.79 lbs. With Battery and Optional SD Memory Card

Panasonic DMC-FZ18 Warranty Details

One Year Parts/ 90 Days Labor