Panasonic unveils new camera for selfies

Models promote Panasonic’s new mirror-less camera during a press conference at a restaurant in Dogok-dong, southern Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Panasonic Korea

By Yoon Sung-won

Panasonic rolled out a new mirror-less camera here Tuesday designed specifically for easy selfie-taking.

“We decided to release the new camera here earlier than in Japan. This reflects our interest and enthusiasm for the Korean market,” said Panasonic Korea’s marketing and sales director Roh Un-ha during a press conference at a restaurant in Dogok-dong, southern Seoul, Tuesday. “The new model will be the best choice for customers with aspirations to promote their identities through selfies.”

The Japan-based company said the new camera, the DMC-GF7, has a 3-inch LCD monitor that can be tilted 180-degree; automatic shutter function that recognizes subjects’ faces to trigger the shutter, and digital effects that can modify the subjects’ skin to make it look better. All these functions enable users to take selfies more easily, the company said.

Weighing 236 grams, the GF7 also has the Four Thirds imaging sensor which supports up to 16.84-million-pixels resolution as well as continuous shooting and full high-definition video recording, the company added.

Panasonic has rolled out diverse mirror-less cameras such as lightweight, subminiature and high-end models in Korea, targeting niche markets.

Besides Panasonic, global camera makers including Sony, Samsung Electronics, Canon, Nikon and Olympus have unveiled new devices ranging from digital single-lens reflex models to mirror-less cameras since December.

The companies are set to promote their cameras at the Camera and Photo Imaging Show 2015 in Yokohama, Japan, starting Thursday.