Panasonic's Lumix LS80: the most exciting digital camera ever

We know how difficult it will be not to get your shorts twisted over Panasonic's latest digital camera offering, the Lumix LS80, but please try. When a product is marked by such breathtaking features as 8.1-megapixel resolution, 4 x zoom, "MEGA O.I.S." image stabilization, ISO up to 1600, SDHC card support, and 16:9 recording modes, it's easy to get carried away -- though we suggest simple breathing exercises to keep your pulse in check. The new model is available in stylish black, pink, or silver, no word on price or release date, so just keep your heart medication nearby.

[Kozmo @ Jan 20th 2008 11:57AM]

>>4 x zoom

[Kozmo @ Jan 20th 2008 11:59AM]

double-posting :(

"4x Zoom" - it says 3x Optical Zoom right on the lens

[theCardinal @ Jan 20th 2008 12:14PM]

Maybe it has 2X digital zoom. Does anyone even use digital zoom?

[Urza @ Jan 20th 2008 12:24PM]

3x optical zoom with 2x digital zoom would be 6x total, not 4x.

[derX @ Jan 20th 2008 1:02PM]

...why does the lense look so damn dirty?

[theCardinal @ Jan 20th 2008 1:27PM]

Revision: Maybe it has 1.33333X digital zoom. :D

[MP @ Jan 20th 2008 11:23PM]

I own another Panasonic Lumix model (DMC-LZ2 I believe it's called) which has 6x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom, for a total of 24. The Lumix line has only excellent cameras it seems, and mine is no exception. It has been wonderful on trips to Europe where I was able to take great photos of far-away landmarks and beautiful landscapes because of the huge zoom capacity. The image stabilization is also all it's cracked up to be. Definitely worth it. My model cost me $200 at the time I got it, which was 2 years ago.

[TestSubject86 @ Jan 21st 2008 6:56AM]

3x Optical, 4x digital

[bob @ Jan 20th 2008 11:58AM]

I for one am excited.

[KC @ Jan 20th 2008 1:43PM]

Yeah, looks like the Engadget team will be using this camera for next year's CES photos. Should be at least a 10x improvement.

[theCardinal @ Jan 20th 2008 11:58AM]

An entire post of sarcasm? I was left confused for several seconds.

[chadow @ Jan 20th 2008 12:12PM]

I was thinking the same thing.
I sat here thinking "....nobody tries to make a point with 100$ sarcasm and no clear punch. Are they being serious?...nah. Wait....are they?"

[chadow @ Jan 20th 2008 12:00PM]

I'll remember this camera about as long as a remember this article.

What was it about again?

[fischju @ Jan 20th 2008 12:08PM]

A true marvel of engineering.

[Yevon @ Jan 20th 2008 12:11PM]

I for one welcome out new mediocre camera overlords.

[Yevon @ Jan 20th 2008 12:11PM]

our*

Sorry for the typo.

[scott kirkwood @ Jan 20th 2008 12:17PM]

does it have an LCD view screen too???!! i'm about to go batshit!

[Fernando @ Jan 20th 2008 12:20PM]

This was a post full of fail.

[Dave1 @ Jan 20th 2008 12:24PM]

Be careful with Panasonic/Lumix cameras. I've owned two now and have found them to break fairly easily, Panasonic support to be practically non-existant, and the quality of images degrades after the first six months. I'm done with Panasonic cameras at this point - moving on to Canon, Rollei, and others.

[Ricardo @ Jan 20th 2008 1:49PM]

I have a Panasonic FZ50, and it's by far the best non-DSLR camera on the market.

[letstakeawalk @ Jan 20th 2008 3:42PM]

I've carried my FZ4 around for two years now, and it's still the camera all my friends are glad to see when we're doing group activities. Long battery life, great image stabilizing, huge zoom, beautiful photos. I'm very happy with what my $250 bought.

[Shane @ Jan 20th 2008 4:25PM]

Hey, what's with the Panasonic hating? I have an FZ8 and absolutely love it. Short of my Canon DSLR it's my second favorite camera. I use it for shots in the field where I wouldn't want to risk my DSLR but want quality better than the average point-and-shoot digicam.

I actually chose the Panasonic FZ8 over the Canon Powershot S3 IS. It was a very close call but the user interface on the Panasonic was far better. In addition, it shoots RAW whereas the Powershot S3 does not.

12x optical zoom is a beautiful thing. The sensor is only 7 megapixels but pixels aren't worth a darn thing without a decent lens...

[silverblackvoid @ Jan 20th 2008 12:31PM]

this post=P.O.S.

[m @ Jan 20th 2008 7:28PM]

at least Gizmodo liked it:

http://gizmodo.com/347003/panasonic-lumix-dmc+ls80-wins-best-8mp-camera-this-weekend-award

[bill @ Jan 20th 2008 12:36PM]

Unless that was all sarcasm, they have apparently not used or evaluated the Canon G9. Just received it and my goodness. What a piece of metal art and grace. 6X OPTICAL zoom, 12 MP, complete manual or automatic exposure, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Program, Aiff focus, Center spot focus, or evaluative...Face recognition. More...

Quite a machine.

[Za @ Jan 20th 2008 1:18PM]

The G9 has phenomenal build and is inarguably one of the best point and shoots. I was considering getting one but the image quality unfortunately was not as good as my 4 yr old Sony DSC-V3 - bumping the megapixels on the Gx line has resulted in downgrades if you shoot in the dark. The autofocus also isn't as robust in low light as the DSC-V3.

The G9 is a brilliant camera but the image quality is average; the handling though is excellent. The Sony is better optically with stronger focusing but is slower in real-world usage.

The only point to my rant is there isn't a point and shoot out there now where you can have your cake and eat it too. If you want a fast camera, you have to sacrifice and get one with a high megapixel count - something that directly leads to image degradation on smaller sensors. The only camera I see currently bucking this trend so far is the Casio EX-F1.

[nh @ Jan 20th 2008 12:38PM]

If it's that dull, why report it? Don't you have editors?

[derX @ Jan 20th 2008 1:00PM]

Give them *some* credit, it's a Sunday.

[HopDevilRob @ Jan 20th 2008 12:38PM]

Wow! The timing is perfect. I WAS about to drop $5000 on a new Nikon D3, but this looks like a much better camera. The Nikon lacks even regular OIS, let alone Mega OIS! Whew. Dodged a bullet there.

[1001 noisy cameras @ Jan 20th 2008 12:41PM]

This has a 3x optical zoom lens, not 4x as stated above. It does have PSAM, which is nice (manual exposure control, Tv, and Av). Granted you won't get much out of aperture priority with a lens made for a 1/2.5" sensor, but having it is better than not having it imho :)

The pre-order price is $150 at Amazon, with a release date of March 20, although Amazon sometimes is conservative on release date estimates.

[walk.away @ Jan 20th 2008 12:46PM]

Do some americans just not understand sarcasm? or are their responses sarcastic aswell about the article being about sarcasm?

Btw, immense camera, cant wait to shoot mediocre landscapes
xx

[F3 @ Jan 20th 2008 12:59PM]

I can't wait to start shooting eagles with that insane 3x zoom. Look out National Geographic!

[Pro7 @ Jan 20th 2008 1:03PM]

Is this post hidden advertisement?

[IY @ Jan 20th 2008 1:08PM]

I am waiting for new sony t-series cameras. i have dsc-t50 now.

[Zack Johnston @ Jan 20th 2008 1:28PM]

Sarcastic review....

Panaosonic says the new Lumix comes with "MEGA Optical Image Stabilization (O.I.S.) will automatically detect and compensate for hand shake" as opposed to other cameras which only offer "Normal O.I.S." which only detects and compesates for left hand shake only (not right hand shake).
Panasonic is rumored to be working on "Super Mega O.I.S." which detects and compensates for earthquakes, volcanic activity, sub-zero lower body shake and that shake that occurs when you are in a crowd and some sweaty, overweight person bumps into you just as you click the shutter button".

The Panasonic camera also comes with "2.5" Diagonal Intelligent LCD". All previous versions of the Lumix were equipped with an "Unintellitgent LCD"; however, they did prove to have higher I.Q.s than the average Lumix owner.

In addition to Scene Modes such as Portrait, Soft Skin, Scenery, Sports, Night Portrait, the Lumix comes with these new preset Scene Modes: "Porn", "Advanced Porn", and "Hi-Speed Burst Porn" plusthe all-new "Body Cavity" with automatic shutter clicking.
The Scene Mode "X-Ray" is also available on the Lumix from "Bone Depth" (for checking possibly broken appendages) to "Paparazzi" (sees through clothes).

[Matt @ Jan 20th 2008 1:31PM]

I wanted to laugh, but I just couldn't... I don't know why. I read through your follow-up sarcastic review to the original sarcastic review and it felt like a comedian getting on stage after Carlos Mencia and repeating the same not funny jokes.

Better luck next time.

[Reader @ Jan 20th 2008 3:12PM]

That's like a paradox or something.... someone copying Carlos Mencia's jokes. Does it end in a full circle of unfunny joke copying?

[1001 noisy cameras @ Jan 20th 2008 3:26PM]

I'm surprised no manufacturer yet has included a cheap $5 mini-tripod in the box and added yet another "image stabilization" method to their press release laundry list! If they call adjusting the ISO and shutter speed an image stabilization method, surely a tripod would qualify as "trifecta stabilization" or "gorillization" if it's one of those flexible leg pods :)

[Dave Salazar @ Jan 20th 2008 1:47PM]

If this were digg it would be buried as shit.

[Elijah @ Jan 20th 2008 2:19PM]

I don't see what's so great about this camera. The Canon PowerShot SD950 IS is 12.1MP, has Multi-Face-Detection auto focus and the normal auto focus. It also has IS (image stabilization). Has 3.7X physical zoom and with digital zoom x physical zoom, you get a total of 15x zoom. It can record 30fps video. The size of the video is adjustable from 320x240 all the way to 1024x8~~(~ being unknown). It's loaded with a mini suite of tools like red eye reduction, special scene modes, panoramic image stitcher (so you can take a 360 degrees shot), and much more. The ISO can go all the way up to 3200. It has wide screen modes and SDHC card support (I use a 16GB SDHC card in mine). It also includes digital marco, color accent (only one color is shown in the picture superimposing something like a person), and color swap (colors are swapped with other colors, which is fun and useful). Just because it is 12.1MP, that doesn't mean the images will be blurry. The auto focus paired with the image stabilization always achieves a 100% clear 4000x3000 (non-widescreen large settings) photo.

[Za @ Jan 20th 2008 4:56PM]

I am sorry you got the SD950IS - the 870IS is a better camera with a better lens, a better sensor, the same IS system, LCD screen size, built quality, and interface. It is an 8MP as opposed to 12MP, giving you better quality because the sensor is so damned small, and it also has wide angle capability. If you can return yours for the 870IS, I suggest you do it.

[Elijah @ Jan 20th 2008 9:53PM]

"Better lens"? They both have the same type of UA lens. Better "built quality"? The SD950IS has a titanium shell... "Better senor"? LMAO! The sensor is what gives you the pixels. My ccd (sensor) gets 12MP and yours gets 8MP, therefor my sensor > your sensor. The SD950IS is a wonderful camera and has many more features than the 870IS. I don't see a single thing in your post that actually makes the 870IS better than the SD950IS.

[lol @ Mar 28th 2008 12:37PM]

um, more megapixels doesn't mean a better picture, it just means a larger one. The CCD on point-and-shoots are SO small that when you get above say, 5 megapixels, the pictures usually become overly soft and muddy. It's usually not noticeable on prints, but go ahead and view the picture at 100% on a monitor. Crud-city.

Za is right. And they don't have the same lens. Do some reasearch. The 870 is a wide angle lens, yours is not. Don't believe me? Type the model numbers into http://www.dcresource.com/ and see for yourself.

You seem to be in the "bigger is better" camp, and more megapixels is ONLY better if you've got a larger CCD to match. My D40, with it's 6 megapixels, will take way better photos than your 12mp "beast". Know why? The D40 is an SLR with a larger CCD. So unless you're toting a hasselblad 39mp medium format camera, more megapixels isn't a big deal.

[Elijah @ Jan 22nd 2008 3:12PM]

I don't think you understand. I gave facts to support why the 4000x3000 image is still crystal clear. The multiple auto focus things and the IS (image stabalization) give you a perfectly still picture that very clear. We had ice rain recently at my house and I took pictures of the frozen trees and you could zoom in to 2x2mm and still see every pixel not distorted and the trees are very clear and hi-def. Same goes for video.

[Elijah @ Jan 20th 2008 2:22PM]

I just noticed that it was sarcastic. It was sorta hard to see the sarcasm in the post and it looked a little serious.

[Roman Astakhov @ Jan 20th 2008 2:47PM]

engadget's april fool day's joke leaked in error :0

[Andre @ Jan 20th 2008 2:47PM]

Impressive specs but breathtaking ugly design !

[Juju @ Jan 20th 2008 2:53PM]

This picture says it all about the post. http://images.birdy.nu/__files/awesome.jpg

[Dahk @ Jan 20th 2008 10:37PM]

Lol its been a while, but I believe thats from Calvin & Hobbes? Kudos.

Yeah seriously though, I got all confused for a second. I was like, HAH good sarcasm, wait those specs aren't too bad. Eh? :S

[yelohbird @ Jan 20th 2008 3:10PM]

Sorry, Joshua...your sarcasm isn't very becoming. Pls leave the tabloid extremism to that rag Giz, and stick to the straight up reporting and light humor we know and love from Engadget!