Panasonic GF6 Talks To Your Phone With Wi-Fi And NFC

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Panasonic’s new GF6 Micro Four Thirds camera has two new gimmicks: NFC and Wi-Fi, with the latter acting as a fast way to set up a Wi-Fi connection between the camera and an NFC-enabled phone.

Along with this it brings a new 16MP sensor, fast startup and the promise of great low light performance. Let’s take a look.

Panasonic claims a half-second startup time for the GF6, along with a new processing engine (Venus is Panasonic’s name for its in-camera computers) which brings some rather neat features. One is called “Clear Retouch,” which lets you “paint” over unwanted objects with your finger on the touch screen, and the camera will magically erase them. This is pretty hot stuff.

But the main thing here is the connectivity, which lets you easily hook the camera up to your phone. You’ll be able to remote control the camera, as well as have the pictures beamed to the phone as you take them over Wi-Fi. This, combined with the easy NFC setup, which pretty much involves touching the two gadgets together, could be the holy grail for photographers.

Imagine going out to shoot with a proper camera (and not this one. Panasonic has turned it’s great GF range into a succession of tiny toy point-and-shoots over the last few years) and your iPhone in your pocket. You take a shot you want to share on Instagram or whatever, so you just tap the camera to your pocket where your phone is sitting and the transfer just happens.

I’d totally pay for that – if it worked flawlessly. And I figure that once this kind of thing gets wider-spread, then Apple will think about adding NFC to the iPhone – but not before.

Remember that Bluetooth languished for years in a kind of “coming soon” state before coming hard. Now it’s everywhere. I expect the same of NFC.

The GF6 will be available soon, for £450.

Source: DP Review

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