Panasonic unleashes Lumix DMC-FZ40 megazoom camera

By | July 21, 2010, 3:22am PDT

Summary: Rounding out Panasonic’s digital camera releases is the Lumix DMC-FZ40, also with a 24x zoom lens but lesser quality HD video mode.

Rounding out Panasonic’s digital camera releases is the Lumix DMC-FZ40, also with a 24x optical zoom lens but lesser quality HD video mode.

Unlike the DMC-FZ100, the FZ40 only supports 720p HD video recording in AVCHD Lite. But there is a $100 difference in price, so don’t complain too much. The Leica DC Vario-Elmarit 25 - 600mm (35mm equiv.) lens is the same as well, but the FZ40 is powered by a Venus Engine HD II processor and hosts a 14.1-megapixel CCD sensor.

Like all of the new Lumix cameras today, you can expect to see Panasonic’s Intelligent Auto mode and all that goes with that. While the other megazoom debuting today isn’t exactly a professional device either, this one is definitely better for amateurs.

Here’s a closer look at the Lumix DMC-FZ40:

  • 3.0-inch fixed TFT LCD screen (230K-dot resolution)
  • f2.8 - 5.2 aperture range
  • ISO up to 6,400
  • Uses SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards
  • Connectivity: USB 2.0, DC-in, AV-out
  • Battery life: Up to 580 shots per charge

The Lumix DMC-FZ40 should be out in August for $399.

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Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

Rachel started playing with her mother's old Brownie camera when she was just a toddler, working her way up from a Hello Kitty point-and-shoot to training on both film and digital SLRs.

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