Panasonic has issues a firmware update for its advanced Lumix DMC-LX3 digital camera.

 

September 28, 2009: Panasonic has issues a firmware update for its advanced Lumix DMC-LX3 digital camera.
The new upgrade includes enhancements for shooting flexibility with faster AF, a new ø¢â‚¬ËœHigh Dynamic’ scene mode and improved white balance performance. The adoption of a new algorithm in Firmware version 2.0 makes it possible to reduce autofocusing time by as much as 20% – down to 0.50 sec at the wide-end of the zoom. There’s also the convenience of a new 1:1 aspect ratio recording mode, now available in addition to the conventional 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 aspects.

With the upgrade, the DMC-LX3 will offer white balance bracket shooting; and white balance adjustment performance has been greatly improved across shooting situations such as fluorescent lighting, sunlight and low light. High Dynamic mode – released with the latest range of Lumix cameras – is now added to the LX3’s scene modes. It provides uniform exposure when capturing a scene that contains contrasting bright and dark areas. Users can also apply one of three artistic effects: Standard, Art or Black and White.

Other enhancements include wider exposure compensation range and bracketing settings and moveable composition guidelines controlled by the cursor or joystick for free framing. Overexposed sections of the image now shown in playback mode instead of in preview only. In addition, the most recent lens position in zooming and manual focusing will be retained in memory, so if the camera is switched off and then on again it will automatically return to this setting.

The photographer’s name can be embedded in the EXIF information of the picture and viewed when using the updated PHOTOfunSTUDIO Version.2.1 software. The new firmware is available at http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/.