For starters, the high-quality lens is made of seven elements in six groups, offering unmatched digital performance. The camera's high-performance 3x optical zoom can be extended up to 12x when combined with the camera's 4x digital zoom. Featuring Panasonic's MEGA O.I.S, or optical image stabilizer technology, the Lumix DMC-LS2 significantly reduces the jitters from shaky hands that is the source of the vast majority of blurred images. The camera's LSI Venus Engine Plus image processor reduces power consumption by up to 70 percent from previous models. This means that you can take up to 250 pictures with two AA batteries (included). (Optional alkaline batteries let you take about 155 photos, and Ni-MH batteries let you take about 400 photos.)

A high-angle mode makes the display extremely easy to view from a bottom angle--for example, when taking photos while raising a hand upward to shoot over the crowd. The large LCD allows the display of images even in tiny thumbnail size. Playback of 9, 16, and 25 images is possible on a multi-split screen in addition to the normal one frame playback. This helps you to search for the image you want out of a number of images stored on an SD Memory Card, even if the images are in bulk. With the DMC-LS2, you can snap off consecutive shots at three frames per second with full resolution. In addition, the Unlimited Consecutive Shooting function lets you continue shooting until the memory card or the built-in memory is full.

The Lumix DMC-LS2 also lets you take moving images at either 30 or 10 frames per second, and a white balance feature allows you to choose from five, preset, white balance settings: auto, da