What does Panasonic offer with the LUMIX TS1?
This first Panasonic entry into the waterproof/rugged camera space has a 12.1 megapixel imager and an internal 4.6X optical zoom that starts wide at 28mm equivalent and is augmented by 4X digital magnification. It has several optical image stabilization modes, and you can take movies with sound at 1,280 x 720 pixel resolution, or what in TV speak is known as 720p. You can even use the optical zoom during recording. The camera has most of the features and goodies common to modern digital compacts, such as advanced face recognition (including memorizing faces and making sure they are always properly exposed), predefined scene modes that the camera can select automatically, various advanced autofocus modes, and so on. The bright and crisp 2.7-inch LCD is viewable from almost any angle, and the camera is still small and light enough to fit into almost any pocket. Anyone familiar with one of the Olympus underwater cameras will be instantly familiar with the design and layout of the Lumix TS
