Panasonic shrinks its Micro Four Thirds lenses, launches X-series with wide-angle, telephoto zooms

Anyone who's used Panasonic's 14-42mm Micro Four Thirds zoom lens has probably noticed its relatively bulky design, especially when compared to Olympus's counterpart. Today, the company announced the GF3X, a new lens kit that offers the same zoom and f/3.5-5.6 aperture range in a housing less than half the size when closed, and still noticeably smaller when extended. The first of two optics in Panasonic's premium X-series -- the second is a 45-170mm f/4-5.6 zoom -- it's been billed as the world's smallest digital interchangeable power zoom lens, thanks to its internal zoom motor which lets you adjust the focal length using a side-mounted rocker -- the design is similar to the zoom toggle included with the company's new FX150 superzoom. Priced at $399, it also includes a metal lens mount, instead of the plastic mount used with the existing $199 14-42mm lens.

That second 45-170mm zoom ($449) can replace Panasonic's 45-200mm lens ($349), and while the size difference isn't as dramatic is its smaller X-series sibling, it's still noticeably smaller and lighter. Both lenses include optical image stabilization and feature nano surface coatings, designed to reduce ghosting and lens flare. The 14-42mm lens will ship in October in black and white (for use with silver bodies), and the 45-170mm zoom will ship in September. They'll only be compatible with the GF-2, GF-3, and G3 at launch after downloading a firmware update -- Panasonic is leaving it up to Olympus to release supporting firmware for its own cameras. Jump past the break for more details from Panasonic, and check out the gallery below -- complete with side-by-side shots for both lens classes.

Panasonic X-series Micro Four Thirds Lenses

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PANASONIC ANNOUNCES THE LUMIX GF3X, THE COMPANY'S SMALLEST COMPACT SYSTEM CAMERA COMPLETE WITH A NEW RETRACTABLE POWER ZOOM, LUMIX G X LENS

Panasonic's New Premium LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm Lens Features a Retractable Design to Achieve Ultra-High Mobility and Stunning Photo Quality

SECAUCUS, NJ (August 26, 2011) – Panasonic today announces a newly designed and innovative LUMIX G "X" lens that retracts to help minimize its size, without compromising its focal length or image quality. Panasonic's new premium LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm/F3.5-5.6 ASPH./ POWER O.I.S. (H-PS14042) lens, will be available with the company's smallest and lightest compact system camera as a lens kit option in the DMC-GF3X model. With electric-powered zoom operation, the retractable Power Zoom H-PS14042 lens is extremely compact, approximately 26.8mm in length, and weighs approximately 3.35oz, offering ultra-high portability.

Panasonic's new premium LUMIX "X" Series of lenses, including the LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm/F3.5-5.6 ASPH./ POWER O.I.S., offers a versatile zoom range of 14-42mm (35mm camera equivalent: 28-84mm) suitable for a wide range of scenes, such as dynamic landscape to portrait. Also announced today is another LUMIX X lens, the LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm/F4.0-5.6 ASPH./POWER O.I.S. Crystallizing Panasonic's optical technologies, the LUMIX X lenses feature superb image rendering for lifelike textures, crisp edge-to-edge contrast, a unique Nano Surface Coating to help minimize ghosts and flaring in natural settings with remarkable transparency.

"Panasonic continues to innovate in digital photography by offering advanced features in small and compact bodies, thus addressing the consumer's need for camera equipment to be lightweight and easy to carry," said Darin Pepple, Senior Product Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. "With the new LUMIX X Series of premium lenses, we do not sacrifice size for quality and Panasonic still offers top-of-the-line image quality for our G Series, but in a smaller design that makes it extremely mobile."

With the LUMIX GF3X, the camera and lens combination can achieve Light Speed AF of approximately 0.1 second – making it an extremely quick and high-performing digital camera. The LUMIX GF3X with the new 14-42 PZ lens also features POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer), to make it easier to shoot clear photos even in low-lit situations. The convenient zoom lever on the lens barrel gives users a stable way to zoom. Manual focusing is also available with a manual focus lever for even more precise control.

The LUMIX GF3, like all the LUMIX G Series of Compact System Cameras, captures high-quality photo images with real-to-life details through excellent resolution, image rendering and color reproduction. With its stunningly small compact profile, the LUMIX GF3 boasts high-speed, precise Contrast AF system and quick response times. The LUMIX GF3 is also capable of 1920 x 1080 Full High Definition video in the AVCHD format.

The LUMIX GF3X will be available in a black body and black lens or a silver body and silver lens kits options in October 2011 for a suggested retail price (SRP) of $749.99. The new LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm/F3.5-5.6 ASPH./ POWER O.I.S. (H-PS14042) lens will also be available separately for an SRP of $399.99 and will be compatible with the DMC-G3, DMC-GF3, DMC-GF2 with a firmware upgrade. For more information about Panasonic LUMIX digital cameras, please visit www.panasonic.com/lumix.

PANASONIC ANNOUNCES BRAND'S FIRST DIGITAL INTERCHANGEABLE POWER TELE-ZOOM LENS

Panasonic's New Premium LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm Lens Offers State-of-the-Art Design to Achieve Increased Functionality and Spectacular Image Quality

SECAUCUS, NJ (August 26, 2011) – Today, Panasonic announced the LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm/F4.0-5.6 ASPH./POWER O.I.S. (H-PS45175), the company's first cutting-edge digital interchangeable lens with electric-powered zoom operation. This marks the launch of the company's premium lens brand "X" which is compatible with the Panasonic LUMIX G Series* and complies with the Micro Four Thirds™ system standard. This lens introduction accompanies another LUMIX X lens announced today, the LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm/F3.5-5.6 ASPH./ POWER O.I.S.

The new LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm/F4.0-5.6 ASPH./POWER O.I.S. lens features superb image rendering for lifelike textures and crisp, edge-to-edge contrast. A unique Nano Surface Coating technology minimizes reflections at entire visual light range (380nm-780nm) for a dramatic reduction of ghosts and light flare, resulting in outstandingly clear picture quality.

Using a Multi-Actuator Floating Inner Focus System to control three lens groups separately the LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm/F4.0-5.6 ASPH./POWER O.I.S. achieves a reduction in both size and weight without compromising picture quality. Boasting outstanding compactness, the lens is approximately 90mm in length and 7.4oz in weight, resulting in ultra-high mobility.

Offering a versatile zoom range of 45-175mm the LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm/F4.0-5.6 ASPH./POWER O.I.S. allows distant subjects to be captured sharply at the tele-end. Also notable, the lens is extremely suitable for portrait and landscape shots, as its high contrast and resolution helps images shot at the wide end maintain exceptional quality, and the zoom lever allows for quick and stable zooming, even while shooting a moving object.

The new lens system features two Extra-low Dispersion (ED) lenses which suppress chromatic aberration and contribute to high descriptive performance across the entire zoom range 45-175mm. The POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) integrated into the LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm/F4.0-5.6 ASPH./POWER O.I.S. makes it easy to shoot sharp images even in low-lit situations. With improved sensitivity of the gyro sensor, the new POWER O.I.S. also suppresses large, slow movements two times more effectively** while small, fast movements are compensated for by the conventional MEGA O.I.S.

LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm/F4.0-5.6 ASPH./POWER O.I.S. contains seven aperture blades to help produce an attractive smoothness in out-of-focus areas even while shooting at large aperture. Adopting an inner focus system driven by a stepping motor, the lens' superior optical design supports Light Speed AF of approximately .15 seconds and fast aperture control results in a shortened shutter time lag of approximately 20% when compared to the LUMIX G VARIO 45-200mm/F4.0-5.6/MEGA O.I.S.

The Panasonic LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm/F4.0-5.6 ASPH./POWER O.I.S. (H-PS45175) will be available in black and silver starting September 2011 with a suggested retail price of $449.99. For more information about Panasonic LUMIX digital cameras and lenses, please visit www.panasonic.com/lumix.

Drift HD helmet cam review

What a difference a year makes, yeah? 13 months ago, we were giving Drift Innovation's latest helmet cam (the HD170) a run through the gauntlet, and now, we're giving that unit's proper successor the same treatment. The simply-named Drift HD action camera is largely the same type of device, albeit one that's 25 percent shorter (this one's just four inches long) and offers a replaceable lens. Moreover, there's a waterproof casing that's on the way, though said shell wasn't ready during our testing phase. The company managed to include a 300-degree rotating lens (complete with a 170-degree field of view) and a couple of capture options: 1080p/30fps and 720p/60fps. The concept should be well-ingrained into the head of technophiles by this point: if you're looking for a camera to mount upside your noggin' (or on your vehicle of choice), this is what you're after. But is the new and improved Drift HD capable of taking on the GoPros of the world while justifying its $369 asking price? Read on.

Drift Innovation HD point-of-view camera hands-on

Design

There's no doubt that this thing's mighty compact for what it does. One of biggest gripes about the HD170 was its girth, and Drift's obviously gone to great lengths in order to trim this fellow down. Hardware-wise, the unit feels sturdy enough, and the twistable lens does a phenomenal job of holding tight once put into place, but we couldn't help but feel that a few corners were cut. The embedded 1.5-inch LCD, while mightily appreciated, is of fairly poor quality; it serves to showcase what you're viewing, and the top / bottom bars inform you of the current settings, but we found it rather difficult to see under direct sunlight.

The back panel is covered by one of two lids, both of which are included. The first is a solid covering that serves to seal out dust, dirt and just about anything else you could think of; the second has two covered ports that can be popped open for easy access to the microphone input jack (3.5mm) and the mini-USB socket. That's decidedly useful for those who have a mini-USB charger in the vehicle with 'em, as it allows the camera to be tethered to a constant source of energy rather than having to run off of batteries alone. Careful when tightening either on, though -- we had to break out a pair of pliers at one point to get it open after over tightening with our Sasquatch-like paws.

There's also a micro-HDMI port back there, with the only other input mechanisms being just beside the LCD: up, down, menu and play / stop. Overall, the 104.14 mm (L) x 50 (D) x 33 (W) mm device felt like a semi-serious piece, but for $369, we expected a far more premium fit and finish. At just 4.23 ounces, it's not exactly a heavyweight, but after you strap on a helmet mount (or one of the other sticky solutions included in the box), it's not something that'll easily slip into one's pocket.

Software and usability

There's just no two ways about it: the user interface here is spartan, and if we're being candid, it's fairly unsightly. Of course, it's not like you'll be spending hours on end digging through the interface options, but we will confess that it's not the most intuitive thing to use; granted, having only four buttons doesn't do Drift any favors, but a little polish over on the software side would've gone a long way. Boot-up was respectably quick -- the camera could go from off to shooting in under five seconds. We noticed that the "beep" sounds emitted when recording was started and stopped were around two seconds too late, but it's a quirk we learned to live with in time.

For our purposes, we shoved a 16GB microSDHC card in and left it on 1080p. After all, if you're shelling out $369, you'll probably be after the finest resolution possible. The bundled remote (which can be worn on the wrist) worked on the first try around 70 percent of the time, and while Drift claims a five meter range, we found it far more useful when we were within three meters of the device. Just so you know, the camera stores each clip on the card in a standard .MOV format, making it dead-simple to import into just about any movie editor known to man. Windows users can simply connect a mini-USB cable to export files, while OS X loyalists will want to have a card reader nearby.

The assortment of mounts (helmet, curved sticky and flat sticky) thrown in were quite useful, and the fact that the battery can be recharged via a mini-USB port warmed our ever-loving hearts. One less charger in the travel bag is never a bad thing. Speaking of battery life, we routinely saw our unit record around 50 to 80 minutes of 1080p footage on a full charge, largely depending on how much idle time we had between each clip.

Video quality

So, here's the make-it-or-break-it moment. For all intents and purposes, the video and audio quality is about the same as what we saw on the HD170. In other words, the built-in microphone is still next to useless. When mounted on our dashboard, the mic wouldn't pick up our voices just a few feet away; meanwhile, our Olympus E-P3 heard us loud and clear when recording in the same position. We suspect the internal mic is there mostly to suck in engine and road noises, but those planning to do a little commentary should reconsider.

Video quality was... decent. We had continual problems with exposure on exceedingly bright days, where the piercing sun would result in a shot that was simply blown out. In the shadows, things were far more palatable, but it's definitely a hit-or-miss affair. We will confess, however, that the infamous "jelly effect" was nowhere to be found here. Have a peek below at a few videos we tossed together during our time with the unit.


Music credit: Copeland | "Love Is A Fast Song" | In Motion

Wrap-up

While compact and reliable, the Drift HD's primary problem has nothing to do with hardware, size or results. It's the price. The bloated $369 MSRP sticks out like a sore thumb, and with even the priciest GoPro going for just $299, we can't find a compelling reason to recommend this guy over the less expensive competition. Video quality simply wasn't world-beating, and when you're commanding a premium, it ought to be. If the company threw in a waterproof shell, a more polished / rugged exterior and a 16GB microSDHC card, we might be singing a slightly different tune, but until this guy starts offering itself for less, we'd probably survey the (more affordable) competition.

Walmart Features The Verizon LG Enlighten For A Buck

We've heard about the LG Enlighten for quite a while now before seeing the official press rendersbut the phone has been recently spotted in Walmart's catalogue for next week, meaning it is closer than some would have thought.

It's not the specs that are the selling point of the phone but the price tag itself. If you sign a two-year contract with Verizon, you can have the Enlighten for $0.97. It features an 800MHz processor, 3.2-inch HVGA display, 3.2-megapixel camera without flash, 150MB memory, 2GB microSD card bundled, slide-out QWERTY keyboard to make your typing easier and a 1500mAh battery. 

Samsung To Introduce New, Faster, Larger Galaxy S II LTE At IFA

Samsung recently introduced the Galaxy W, M Pro, Y and Y Pro Android phones which, according to the manufacturer, will be showcased at this year's IFA 2011 in Berlin next week. As we considered none of these will be something bigenough, we were certain Samsung is not telling the whole story.

How about a newer, larger, faster and more appealing Galaxy S II? Samsung is set to introduce the Galaxy S II LTE phone next week, which could either be a follow-up to the current Galaxy S II (we don't know why it's missing the "Plus" name), a variant of some sort (Celoxanyone?) or a completely new model.

The Galaxy S II LTE is not only redesigned a little but brings important hardware changes: it will offer full support for LTE/WCDMA/GSM modes; it will feature a bigger, 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display; it will sport a faster, 1.5GHz dual-core processor; last but not least, it will have NFC on-board. The rest of the specs talk about the same size camera which is of eight megapixels, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a huge 1850mAh battery. 

Sony Ericsson Could Launch LT26i/LT26a Dubbed Nozomi Worldwide

According to one of the Xperia Blog tipsters, the Sony Ericsson Nozomi could not only see a local, Japanese launch but it will allegedly be available worldwide, wearing a model number LT26i/LT26a.

We first heard of the Nozomi two weeks ago when we were surprised to find out it will have a DPI value of 341, more than the iPhone 4's Retina display. The Nozomi can achieve this by allegedly having a 4.3-inch display with 1280x720 pixel resolution. To power that there will also be, according to rumors, a 1.4GHz single-core Snapdragon MSM8655T chipset with its Adreno 205 GPU. Deciphering the codename, we're looking at a large touchscreen phone which will probably come in two variants, "i" and "a", to probably support different frequency ranges.