Panasonic's Lumix LS80: the most exciting digital camera ever
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted January 20th 2008 11:48AM
posted January 20th 2008 11:48AM
posted January 20th 2008 11:48AM
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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!
This looks like a good place to inject a serious comment...
What I really want now from the camera companies is a fairly compact non-SLR with a large sensor. Something like the Leica M8, but not from Leica. Imagine a Canon G7/G9 with an APS-sized sensor. Even it it were only 6-8 megapixels, that would be plenty. What I want is low-noise at high ISO, and good low-light performance. Yes, I know it would cost as much as a mid-line DSLR, but I have no problem paying a preium for high-end features in a small package. Sort of like the MacBook Air (if it had high-end features.)
just get a current model 6mp P&S. The camera makers only bump up the resolution for marketing reasons and in return add moire and poor low light performance as a result of cramming the photosensors closer together. 6MP is more than enough for most of the population. Under good conditions you could pull a 16x20 out of one with some help from alien skin Blowup.
Sigma makes one called the DP1. Ricoh might have as well.
Sigma isn't making the DP1 yet... They're working on it.
YAY... An 8mp digital camera,what will they of next.
ehh.. what.. most exciting camera ever? is this supposed to be sarcastic or is this a paid advertisement post ?
There are lots of cameras like this one already on the market and this one hasn't got anything to offer --- it doesn't even look good.. just typical...
Was this post made by a staff member in training ?
Keep up the good work though, I love engadget
I just do not see what is so "exciting" about this.
Yet another cheap camera, with almost no lens, and a tiny sensor array.
Please somebody make a decent camera with a good lens, at least 8X optical zoom, decent sized, with a nice big sensor, ant-shake, and perhaps 5MPixel.
A lens cover would be nice too.. so it might last for a while without scratches and dirt on it.
If it doesn't have an optical viewfinder then it is a complete waste of space.
When are camera manufacturers (point & shoot ones that is) going to realise that an optical viewfinder is far superior to using the LCD.
I'm guessing you've never heard of parallax errors. Optical viewfinders on point&shoots aren't worth the time.
Sorry but what is so special about this camera? Looks like a digital camera like any other to me...correct me if im wrong.
http://www.schnaeppchenVZ.net
Is that a fully-extended 3x optical zoom, or are you excited to use the Lumix LS80?
Let's hope that Panasonic joins other modern digital camera companies by actually providing USB 2 instead of USB 1, which was featured on last years models...
I wonder..what so exciting about this camera? =)
OH. MY. GOD.
People have no sense of SUBTLE humour! My goodness.
Whoever commented on here with a straight and honest answer and opinion to this post should all be shot.
My word. This is why you just can't joke around without the use of the word "LIKE." "It's LIKE, you know that thing, that scene from that movie, that news piece that happened yesterday, that event, etc etc ............"
So sad. Learn to detect intonation and intelligence behind the content. It's not always going to be in-yer-face.
Any camera with less than 5x optical zoom is not worthy in the eyes of Jesus!
Not sure what's new in this camera other than the 8.1 MP. I have a Panasonic TZ1 and I love it. Has only 5.1MP (Just enough since I am not going to be printing out posters of my pictures) but has a whopping 10x optical zoom.
http://www.benovarghese.com
Still like my Sony N2 better.
Woww> I wish someone would send it to me free. Email me at drea@thisweeknews.com
C'mon guys, you know this is just a spot of pre-PMA housecleaning. Yeah, Panasonic should have known better than to even bother to send the press release to Engadget, but as the bottom-of-the-line, $150-ish Lumix camera the specs aren't that bad at all.
For a bottom of the barrel camera, you guys gotta give Panasonic SOME credit with specs like that.
Christ. Reading through, you Americans really don't get sarcasm do you?!
I just wish it were weather and dust resistant. (If it is, forget I wrote this.)
Bah, it's all fluff & no substance unless they include some format that keeps better than 8-bit color (RAW, TIFF, etc). Which this Panasonic does not...
Canon....: 1
Panasonic: 0
As we have a saying here in Greece,
"SLOW THE EGGS DUDE..."
Totally useless excitement for yet another useless gadget.We have lots of them.Show us something more interesting...
F3, you say "I can't wait to start shooting eagles with that insane 3x zoom. Look out National Geographic!" With high megapixel lenses (7MP or more, in my opinion) you don't need a powerfull zoom (which only increases lens jiggle). Just shoot at the highest resolution, then enlarge. The ideal digital camera will have about 12-15 megapixels and no zoom. A zoom simply won't be necessary, just crop and enlarge.
Actually, the ideal digital camera would dispense with the lcd screen entirely and only have a viewfinder, since the lcd screen serves only to consume the battery! LCD screens don't belong on cameras! And with SD cards so cheap, you don't need to delete bad pics in the field anymore - you shouldn't be making artistic judgments in the field anyway. Just look through the viewfinder, don't bother with zooming, snap like crazy and delete later. That's digital photography of the future.