Panasonic pushes out 14.7MP DMC-FX150 pocket shooter

Taking the wraps off of three cameras at once just isn't good enough for Panasonic, so how's about a fourth? The pocket-friendly LUMIX DMC-FX150 arrives in a trio of stylish hues (black, gold and silver) and features an admittedly absurd 14.7-megapixel sensor, 28-millimeter wide-angle LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT lens, a 3.6x optical zoom and a host of manual controls to boot. This shooter can also capture shots in RAW format, and the usual suspects -- you know, red-eye correction, optical image stabilizer, face detection, intelligent ISO, etc. -- are all there. If this one fits the bill, expect to receive one of your own for $399.95 when picking it up next month.

[Via Impress]

[peestandingup @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:48AM]

14MP is gettin' kinda ridiculous. What's the point of cramming all that into such a tiny sensor? All it does is increase bloat/file size for nothing.

[Jeff @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:18PM]

Not true: it also makes the image noisier!

so... you know... that should count for something?

[Wwhat @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:07PM]

Digital zoom?

[Down @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:49AM]

14.7 rounds to 15 mega pixels, they rounded it wrong! I wouldn't buy one for this reason alone.

[El Capitaine @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:08AM]

Well, I suppose they could've always put 14.7....

but if they wrote 15 Megapixels on the camera....you'd feel cheated out of your extra .3 MP

[bob sakamano @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:54AM]

they forgot to mention youll need one 8gb memory card per picture

[marty.com.au @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:55AM]

How technology feeds its self..
Memory cards get bigger, MP gets bigger, still fit the same number of photos on a card....
so
Memory cards get bigger, MP gets bigger, still fit the same number of photos on a card...

and so on... Only thing that stays the same is is the photo quality....

oh, and battery life gets shorter (because eventually its going to be a SSD to fit the 204MP photos on....)

and the dance goes on....

[Eric B. @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:56AM]

Jeez! 14.7MP? Too awesome!

[happy_penguin @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:05PM]

More like "too much".

[konshuss @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:58AM]

this means nothing to me until i see sample images...

[Planet4bs @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:58AM]

This is going to take crappy pictures!

Either the picture is going to be noisy as hell or it's going to get blurred with unholy amounts of aggresive noise reduction.

A pixel density like that on a sensor that size is only asking for trouble. Even DSLs with cropped sensors much bigger then these digicam sensors have difficulty with these amount of pixels.

Why not just build a digicam with a bigger sensor and better lens which can take better photos, e.g. Sigma?

[fh @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:11AM]

Precisely. Except bigger lens and/or larger sensor = more expensive, puts the camera in competition with prosumers or low-end DSLRs. Also, larger lenses don't tend to fit in pockets very easily.

[stephen jobs @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:12AM]

because that would be less profits, drop in sales for their dSLRs, could upset the stakeholders

etc. etc.

It's all about cash.

[nbrissat @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:30AM]

they have" it's the new LX3 - and it kicks Sigma's butt only because it is two generations ahead...

[Wwhat @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:11PM]

Since they all use the same sensors but this one has more pixels I'm guessing it's a new sensor, and after reading all those stories on engadget about 'leaps in sensitivity' and 'wonder sensors' perhaps they improved the sensor and it compensates for the increased pixelcount-on-small-sensor issue you guys so readily assume will be nothing but bad.

[Miker @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:05AM]

Useful if you want to produce images at very large poster sizes, or if you want to reproduce part of an image at a large resolution without having to resort to image resizing algorithms, but for your everyday user it's absolutely pointless.

[Wonderkid @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:07AM]

As Marty.com says, this is an SD Card sales machine! In 2004 I owned one of the best digicams ever made, the classic body rotatin' mega lens poppin' Sony F717. It had a 5MP sensor that produced images that were outstanding - and few non DSLRS can match today. It had the perfect blend of optics and sensor. The lens was huge and as all photographers know, it is all about light. A small lens on a high MP sensor is in fact making things worse. Do yourselves a favor, hit Dpreview.com and notice which Panasonic cameras create the most buzz, and like the Sony's of yesteryear, it will be the older low megapixel models.

This is really all about selling memory cards! Clever Japanese. Dumb Westerners. (Except for us wise Engadget readers...)

[Boarderwoot @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:07AM]

I saw this video where a woman pushed out a 15mp pocket shooter...she said it was too much for her to handle.

[fh @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:08AM]

Leica lens for this class of camera: excellent.

Panasonic sensor: too noisy beyond ISO400 to justify the extra MP.

[psilver @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:22AM]

I am not enthused with the high megapixel count if the high ISO performance is subpar. I love the RAW capture feature though.

[Danakin @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:31AM]

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0807/08072103panasonicfx150.asp

after reading that, I only have 2 complaints...

1. it runs on a battery pack, not AAs or AAAs
&
2. the movie format is of the QuickTime File nature

[Eric @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:54AM]

No AA batteries? GOOD! More green is good.

Quicktime is the best format. Easy to convert to anything else and higher quality than WMV and others.

That being said, having a Leica lens is kind of a waste, since the noise and nose reduction softness is going to be massively problematic, even at ISO 100. Has anyone seen the reviews of the Canon G9? Noise artifacts at ISO 100 and it's only 12 megapixels!

Lumix cameras tend to have more noise than Canon and Sony cameras of this kind.

If anything I'm a Leica fanboy. (Way more than an Apple fanboy.) And yet I just can't seem to get excited about Lumix cameras. Even the Leica M8 is a major disappointment from a digital standpoint.

[Jeff @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:33PM]

@eric

word.

[Danakin @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:01PM]

Reusable AAs (I thought that would be assumed by now) I have been using the same pair for my last three cameras over the last 4 years, and they still hold plenty of charge...had they come with packs, I would have thrown away 2 of them by now, because of incapatibility between other cameras.

and format is personal preference, there are plenty of conversion programs for every format...I would just rather not have to use them, but whatever, I can make do.

I don't know enough about cameras/lenses to argue against you on that...


Either way, I plan on purchasing this when it's available.

[Wwhat @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:14PM]

Haha, 'quicktime is the best format', only in america and from an apple user eh. :]

[Ryan Trevisol @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:01AM]

What's with the verbs today? Pushes out, Churns out, Pushes out . . . what's next? Lexar Pinches Off 32GB Log of SD Goodness?

[jason @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:54PM]

That would be what..?? 2.5 Couric's??

[Ryan Trevisol @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:59PM]

What?

In other news, Belkin Whelps Magnetic Guitar Plug.

[Mark @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:28AM]

I would love to have a 14/15mp camera...if it takes decent pictures. Most of the time I have to crop the picture anyway so having more pixels means the cropped pic is a better size. My biggest complaint is the speed in low light, most of these small cameras take 1/30 s when using their own flash which results in blurry pics almost every time.

[scott @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:39AM]

i love leica..but 14mp on such a small sensor/lens is terrible. i'd rather stick with a 5-8mp casio exilm or other point-and-shoot.

but of course, if you don't mind carrying it, the dslr's rock =D

[Mike @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:36PM]

It has the same size sensor as their FX100 12MP camera. The FX100 is pretty decent when used at ASA100 other than the lens being a little soft in the lower corners when set to wide angles. Noise in dark shadows at ASA 100 can be a problem, but isn't most of the time although in the FX150 it should be more of a problem -- but at least the noise will be of finer granularity (kind of like film where the grain gets finer as the film gets better).

Unlike Sony where under low lighting conditions the image gets smeared with strong watercolor-effect, Panasonic is better about it and doesn't mess things quite so much -- and in the FX100 one can program three levels of how much reduction is done, and presumably the FX150 will be similar. Noisy looks better than smeared IMO.

As to using 1/30th exposures, that is NO problem with the panasonic. Panasonic's anti-shake technology is the best among the manufacturers and gives at least 3 stops improvement in real life. It works amazingly well in actual use -- not just the ads.

Just hope they fixed the lens in the wide angle corners -- not holding my breath on it though.

[nicknick @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:16PM]

oh my god, when i found out there was a 14.7 MP digicam out, i had three consecutive ejaculations. I just like the higher the MP count, the hornier I get. I don't even care at all about noise or image quality. Nothing gets me spending my money on the latest like more mega-pixels....ooooooo...ooo..oh god, damn, there goes another one..

[Wwhat @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:16PM]

Open question to all the people that comment on the ridiculous pixel race:
What pixelcount did the camera you bought last have?
And in the shop do you ask for 3MP cameras? Be honest..

I thought as much.

[TC @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:55PM]

Nope, I asked for 4.7 megapixels and got a Sigma DP1.

[KJ-911TT @ Jul 24th 2008 3:36PM]

I agree with everyone that camera's have become ridiculous with skyrocketing MP ratings, but this camera is different.

Everyone here has failed to notice that the image sensors on 95% of 10MP Point and Shoot camera's is 1/2.3" to 1/2.5" in size, whereas the image sensor on the DMC-FX150 is 1/1.72" in size.

As a result, the surface area of the DMC-FX150's image sensor is OVER 80% larger than your "typical" 10MP camera.

So 14 MP's is 40% more MP's than a 10MP camera, but the surface area is over 80% larger. Sounds like a good tradeoff to me!

That being said, I'd be even happier if it was only 10MP's spread onto this newer, larger sensor. =)

- KJ

[Brian Stanfill @ Sep 8th 2008 2:26AM]

So... instead of shooting at 14MP, shoot at 10MP (3648 x 2736).

[KevinG @ Sep 11th 2008 7:33PM]

Nobody seems to be commenting on the fact that this thing has FULL MANUAL control and it fits in your pocket. That's what I've been waiting for! Totally hoping the reviews are positive on this. I'd never shoot at 14 megapixels, though.