Tracyandmatt were pleased to be one of only a handful of blog sites invited to an extremely interesting launch and information event held by Panasonic on Tuesday 18th September held at the Tower of London. The direct approach of a major manufacturer to the blog community is a fresh step in our minds and shows the importance and steady growth of independent blogs such as TracyandMatt.
If we mention to our readers products such as Vacuum Cleaners, then names such as Dyson, Electrolux and even Panasonic may come to mind, However, mention Digital Cameras and DSLR Cameras and we are sure that Canon, Nikon and Fuji may spring to mind but how many of us would actually associate Panasonic with main stream digital cameras?
Well, Tuesdays event demonstrated Panasonics marketing and awareness generating arms in full force with two very novel and extremely well put together web sites aimed fairly and squarely at increasing amateur and professional photographers awareness of their product range in a fun and educational way.
First off we were introduced to Panasonics Our Place World Heritage site. http://ourplaceworldheritage.com/ by Geoff Steven, the director of the Our Place web site. This site has been created in partnership with UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) to be the worlds first official World Heritage photographic databank. Panasonic have basically equipped some of the most famous and well regarded photographers with a range of Panasonic Lumix cameras and sent them around the world to record all of the World Heritage sites. In today’s changing climate and with a number of Heritage sites under threat we can’t argue with this major sponsorship and believe this is an excellent idea and should be supported. Of course, there are plenty of links back to Panasonic’s web site as you would expect!
To help increase awareness for “normal” camera users (like me!) Panasonic have over the past couple of weeks launched a second major web site initiative called “My Place”. www.my-place.tv (My only comment is, although likely to be associated with TV based advertising, the use of the .tv extension is still to be widely excepted – Could Panasonic not obtain the normal top level domain identities?)
My Place has a novel concept of inviting amateur camera users (with any make or model of camera) to submit a picture of their own “Favourite place” as in the words from the My Place web site:
MyPlace aims to celebrate photography, culture and heritage, and welcomes all those who have a passion for taking photos of splendour and individuality.
MyPlace has been launched in the UK and Ireland as a result of the successful ‘Our place – The World’s Heritage’ project where professional photographers armed with Lumix Cameras have gone all over the world to shoot UNESCO World Heritage sites.
MyPlace allows you to upload photos of your very special place and share with members of the community why this place is special to you. There are regular prizes to be won for the best photos voted by YOU, the MyPlace community, the ultimate prize being a trip to China’s most treasured World Heritage sites. A pro photographer will pick the best photos every month & comment on them
Looking through the site demonstrates quite a quick take up, although I am sure Panasonic would like to see this as widely used as My Space, You Tube and the various other web sites but in a sense, a more grown up way? I have to say though their map plotting technologies used are pretty phenomenal (better have a good broadband connection) and allow the person who submits the picture to directly “Pin” the location on to a full scale OS style map. This will allow any users who see a location or place they like to be able to find this on a map and make their own journey from the Visual to the Real World.
We at Tracyandmatt like this idea and concept and feel their could be quite a bit of take up by users, especially as Panasonic are offering expert advice, competitions and prizes to users who submit photographs.
With many of tracyandmatts viewers having interest in Mobile Phones and similar technology we have suggested to Panasonic that we would like to hold a competition for our users to submit photographs of their favourite places taken on Mobile Phone Cameras. Mobile phone cameras are probably the most common form of cameras out in the market these days and could offer a fantastic chance for our readers to submit and even win Panasonic Lumix vouchers or prizes. We will keep you updated on these conversations!
Once the formal presentations had finished, we were given the chance to review the latest Panasonic range of Cameras, including the soon to be released latest Digital SLR the Panasonic Lumix L10. Whilst time was limited at this launch, the range of cameras being offered should enable Panasonic to gain far greater market recognition for their camera range.
With the majority of parts inside the cameras being manufactured directly by Panasonic, as well as their history in the AV range of goods we believe they are certainly on the right track.
One of the best features we have seen across the whole Lumix range is the “imaginatively titled” intelligent Auto mode. This basically controls every function of the camera to ensure the best possible picture taken under almost any conditions from Snow, Beach to the darkest of surroundings like an October day in London….. All of the cameras in the range also have inbuilt Image Stabilisation within the Leica branded lenses to ensure the most stable, jitter free examples of pictures I have ever seen (I’m an avid Canon 10D DSL user and I can’t get such stable pictures in certain lighting conditions)
We have said to Panasonic that we would be very pleased to provide a full review on the new Lumix range of cameras and hope to be able to do this soon for our readers.
For those of you who want to have a look, take a look at: http://www.panasonic.co.uk/lumix/
We must once again thank a major main stream manufacturer like Panasonic for inviting the blogging community directly to one of its major launches. This is not only a brave thing to do for a manufacturer as they have no control over blog contents, but shows, as we have mentioned a forward looking view and increases the credibility of blog sites like tracyandmatt.
My only negative comment of the day was (albeit I understand this is the first event held for bloggers) was, as many of us in the room were obviously technical people, Please Panasonic don’t apologise to the audience for introducing the “Techie Panasonic” person to the stand with the infamous “don’t worry he is really human……”
Posted by: John
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Panasonic]
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