After launching in the US earlier this month, Panasonic Australia has announced that their hybrid smartphone/camera, the Lumix DMC-CM1 will be available here in Australia from mid-July.
Priced at $1,399.00, the Lumix DMC-CM1 is no lightweight when it comes to price, but it’s also no lightweight when it comes to specs either. The device features a high-end 20MP High Sensitivity 1″ MOS sensor and Leica DC ELMARIT lens, with a wide-angle 28mm focal length and an aperture of f/2.8, which Panasonic says provides ‘excellent resolution and minimal distortion’.
The DMC-CM1 will also allow for high quality 4K resolution capture, with two applications called 4K Pre-Burst and 4K Photo installed to help. The 4K Pre-Burst app captures 1½ seconds worth of images before and after the shutter button is pressed allowing you to see a total of 45 shots you can choose from. 4K Photo captures up to 15 frames per second with a 4:3 image capture of up to 3328×2496 resolution.
The device runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 2GB of RAM under the hood, and while there’s a minimal 16GB of on-board storage it does have a microSD card slot to allow you to store up to 128GB worth of additional images. The display is obviously important, with a 4.7″ FullHD resolution LCD with 469 ppi.
The phone has excellent wireless capabilities with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and NFC packed in, as well as full LTE capability.
The fusion of the superb camera and high-performance phone allows users to share great images straight away. A fast internet connection is assured via LTE (Long Term Evolution) capability, and standard wireless connections such as Bluetooth, WiFi and NFC are available as well.
Panasonic has advised that the cameraphone will be available from a selection of retailers from mid-July. We expect more information, such as a list of retailers, full specs including LTE bands from Panasonic when they launch their product page on Panasonic.com.au.
I am curious about video performance, it would seem that if you could capture 4K JPEGs at 15FPS bursts there should be plenty of bandwidth for video recording comparable to some mid range cameras.
God I want this. But God damn the price.