First Looks: An Enticing Selfie Camera from Panasonic

The Panasonic Lumix Selfie GF8 has several unique features that make it a special camera. It is the first digital single lens mirrorless camera built around a 16 MP Live CMOS with a Four Thirds sensor mount. In addition, it takes selfies to a new level.
The Lumix’s rectangular case and size is reminiscent of a Leica camera. At 4.2” wide, 2.55” high, and 1.32” deep, it is a good size to be held in a hand.  It has a good-looking, leather-wrapped body and comes in brown, silver, pink, and orange.

Several things have been added to this camera to make it a good “selfie camera.” Yet these added features might be appealing to the non-selfie crowd as well. For instance, the 3” LCD monitor can be moved up to 180 degrees — perfect for selfies, but useful for other photography, as well.  The bottom is stable so you can set it on a table or any sturdy surface. Again that is great for selfies but may be useful for others as well.
This camera has built-in Wi-Fi, with an easy connection mode for the immediate transmission of photos. Another plus for selfie-takers is that once the monitor is flipped, the camera is automatically set into a selfie mode. The camera also has built-triggers that you can set so the shutter triggers when you wave your hand in front of your face or when it detects that there are two faces in the picture. This makes it the ultimate hands-free selfie camera. You can also use an app on your cell phone as a remote trigger.
Another wonderful selfie feature is an advanced beauty mode that allows you to retouch skin, brighten teeth, and appear to be skinnier. The soft skin function has three modes: soft skin, defocusing, and slimming. The defocus mode slightly blurs the areas around the face to make the face more prominent. A retouch feature lets you choose foundation color, cheek color, lip color, and eyeshadow color, as well as brighten teeth and remove spots. This Lumix also has face and eye detection making it perfect for all types of people pictures.

The image sensor is 17.3 x 12.0 mm. Such a large sensor should be great for backlit and lowlight scenes, especially with an ISO setting of up to 25,000.  It has a built-in flash, HDMI, USB, and is PictBridge compatible. The Lumix GF8 has a burst mode that shoots at up to 20 frames per second using the electronic shutter. It has optical image stabilization and can also take panorama shots.

This camera records on an SD memory card and can take videos in several formats in full HD at 1920 x 1080 50P. It has stereo sound and an adjustment for wind noise. There is also a snap movie mode that records video in 2, 4, 6, or 8 second periods for moving stills.

Serious photographers will be happy to know that there is a wide angle lens kit available and the camera is raw-capable. However, there is no flash hot shoe on the camera and no dedicated ISO button.
The Lumix GF8 has a disappointing battery life which is rated for only 210 to 230 images. Let’s hope that the price and the other features make up for that because this may be a camera that I want to own. Who doesn’t want to look better in selfies?
Pricing and availability hasn’t been announced yet.
Pictures: Courtesy of Panasonic