Panasonic Japan: DMC-FZ1 upgrade
By
Mike Tomkins
(Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 17:31 EST)
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., the company behind the Panasonic brandname, has announced an upgrade for its Lumix DMC-FZ1 digital camera that will bring new features for Japanese users.
The DMW-VUZ1 upgrade kit, which will go on sale at a price of ¥6000 (roughly equivalent to US$55 / €48 / CAD$72 / £33 ignoring exchange rate fluctuations, taxes and duties) incorporates the firmware changes that were made in the DMC-FZ2, a minor update to the camera that was announced last August. These include: - Shutter Priority mode added (1/2000 to 8 seconds in 1/3EV steps)
- Aperture Priority mode added (F2.8 - F8.0 in 1/3EV steps)
- White Balance Fine-Tuning function which allows manual adjustment of white balance +/- 1500 Kelvin in 300 Kelvin steps has been added
- Zoom ratio is now shown on LCD and in Electronic Viewfinder
- Unspecified improvements to picture quality, with attendant rise in file size
The DMW-VUZ1 upgrade kit consists of a Secure Digital card containing the upgrade files, and an instruction manual. The upgrade must be applied with the camera on mains power, to remove the risk of the camera's batteries running out partway through the upgrade.
At this time, it isn't clear if the upgrade will be made available to US owners of the DMC-FZ1. We'd certainly hope so, given the feedback we've had from owners since the FZ2 was announced - and if we hear anything from Panasonic USA, you'll hear it here...
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