REVIEWED: Panasonic DMC-FT5 tough camera
A super snapper for hikers, climbers, sailors and snorkellers
Available in orange and blue only, this ‘tough’ camera presents Panasonic’s opinion of what outdoor-grade gadgets should look like. Of angular machined aluminium between a hard plastic skeleton, the Panasonic DMC-FT5 is perfect for hikers, climbers, sailors and even snorkellers; it’s waterproof down to 12 metres and shock-proof to two metres.
Freeze-proof?
However, we’re not sure if it’s quite tough enough for ruddy-nosed skiiers or Northern Lights-hunters; the DMC-FT5 is freezeproof only to -10˚C.
It’s not just made to survive water, but to excel in it. An underwater shooting mode colour corrects the image – re-inserting the red light filtered-out by water – to make shots look richer. Armed with a Leica lens capable of a just-enough 4.6x optical zoom, on dry land the DMC-FT5 produces sharp, colourful 16.1-megapixel images.
Built-in Wi-Fi
It’s on-trend in smart features, too, with built-in Wi-Fi that allows both remote monitoring and browsing by a smartphone, as well as NFC for easy sharing with newer Android tablets and smartphones.