Shoot now, focus later.
That's what Panasonic is touting for three models in its Lumix camera line. A free firmware update Friday morning has equipped owners of the Lumix GX7, G8 and FZ300 with a feature known as Post Focus, something that Panasonic tells Wired will enable users to capture 49 areas of focus per burst, and that will work with any autofocus-capable lens.
In addition, the Post Focus mode allows any of the three aforementioned cameras to record 4K video. When the shooting is complete, users can review sequences and hone in on the focus they desire most before selecting it, even per frame, if they want.
While shooters might confuse Panasonic's Post Focus feature with Olympus Focus Stacking mode, which was introduced for the latter's latest mirrorless camera earlier this year, Matthew Kandel, technical product manager for Olympus, explained to Wired how they're quite different functions that deliver altogether contrasting results.
"Panasonic's Post Focus feature is actually significantly different than Olympus' Focus Stacking," Kandel said. He went on to say that the similarities between the two features are only at the start of the process but that afterward, "Focus Stacking and Post Focus yield two completely different results. Focus Stacking composites the eight images into one image that is sharp from front to back."
Gifting photographers with the ability to pick their focus point on the camera's touchscreen right before the holidays sounds like the ideal present. Let's see how Lumix owners utilize the new feature.
