Panasonic announces Lumix DMC-GF7 camera

The new Lumix DMC-GF7 will be offered in pink or black with silver trim. (Source: Panasonic.)
Designed for today’s snapshooters, the GF7 features a high-performance 16-megapixel Digital Live MOS sensor and Venus Engine processor and comes with a 180-degree touch screen monitor. The monitor’s resolution of 1040 dots combines with the flip-up mode to offer high visibility for outdoor shooting. A new ‘Self Shot Mode’ provides  automatic triggering for shooting selfies. It includes ‘Face Shutter’ and ‘Buddy Shutter’ modes, which detect one or two faces in the frame and will automatically take the shot when the camera is on a selfie stick. In these modes, the camera can take the shot immediately or after a 3-second or 10-second countdown. In the ‘Self Shot Mode’, either the normal shutter button or the Fn1 button can be selected to take a shot.

The DMC-GF7’s Creative Control function includes 22 filter options, which can now be used in the P/A/S/M shooting modes. Users can take pictures ‘with’ and ‘without’ filter effects simultaneously and then compare, contrast and choose their favourite. The filters are: Expressive, Retro, Old Days, High Key, Low Key, Sepia, Monochrome, Dynamic Monochrome, Rough Monochrome, Silky Monochrome, Impressive Art, High Dynamic, Cross Process, Toy Effect, Toy Pop, Bleach Bypass, Miniature Effect, Soft Focus, Fantasy, Star Filter, One Point Color and Sunshine.  Twenty Scene pre-sets are available, with the most commonly-used ““ Portrait, Child and Scenery ““ added directly to the mode dial for easy access.

The GF7 can record movie clips with  Full-HD 1920 x 108050p resolution in AVCHD or MP4 (MPEG-4 / H.264) format with stereo sound. The camera also supports 1080/24p native mode with 24 Mbps in AVCHD format for a cinematic look. Users can enjoy full control over video recording, with P/A/S/M modes, full-time AF, AF tracking and Touch AF for rack focusing effects. Other useful video features include ‘Time Lapse Shot’ and ‘Stop Motion Animation’. A new ‘snap movie mode’ makes it simple to quickly capture and share a creative video across Vine, Instagram and Facebook.

The camera also offers the new remote control ‘Jump Snap’ feature for fun group shots. The acceleration sensor on a smart-phone detects the highest point of a jump and releases the camera shutter via Wi-Fi and the Panasonic Image App. Panasonic has streamlined the Wi-Fi connection process; just press the Wi-Fi button, start the app on the smart device and it’s ready to go.

Other features include high speed burst shooting at 5.8 fps (AFS) / 5 fps (AFC, 1-area AF) in 16.00-megapixel and at max. 40 fps using an electronic shutter. AF Tracking. The electronic shutter speed is available at up to 1/16000 second. Panasonic offers23 Micro Four Thirds lenses to use with the GF7. The new camera will go on sale in late February at an RRP of AU$699 for the single-lens kit (with the H-FS12032E-S 12-32mm lens) or AU$999 for the twin lens kit, which adds the H-FS35100E-S 35-100mm lens. To learn more about the DMC-GF7’s ‘Self Shot’ features, go to: http://youtu.be/-yXAOY1ExiI