Panasonic's new camera just went from "cerebral" to flat-out TikTok pandering

James Artaius
·2 min read
Panasonic Lumix teaser video, with four young people taking selfies as the word "SOCIAL" scrolls across the screen.
Panasonic Lumix teaser video, with four young people taking selfies as the word "SOCIAL" scrolls across the screen.

Following yesterday's rather more cerebral teaser image for its new camera in China, Panasonic's latest teaser video has gone full TikTok – all but confirming that this camera is aimed at the social media crowd.

The new video, embedded below, was posted to the Japanese Lumix account on X (Twitter). While the previous teaser featured the tagline "Capture true color", this video doubles down on influencers by punctuating footage of hip young people taking selfies with the words "Shoot," "Style," "Share" and "Social".

No shade. It's just a very pronounced change in tack. Where the Chinese teaser was thought-provoking, creative and inspiring, the new video just feels like flat-out pandering to TikTokers and YouTubers.

You can watch the video and judge for yourself:

So then, will this be positioned as a camera for vlogging? This branding is certainly a million miles from the kind of marketing that would appeal to hardcore street photographers using the Ricoh GR III, or upmarket full-frame compact shooters who cherish the Leica Q3.

This definitely seems like a camera aimed squarely at influencers and the Fujifilm X100VI crowd. With the full tagline "A new way to shoot, style, share and social" Panasonic is clearly promising something new to the market – which is probably where the "capturing true color" tag from the Chinese messaging comes into play.

What does that look like? Since this new Lumix is gunning for the X100 crowd, why not go the whole hog and simulate Fujifilm's film simulations – I'm guessing filters, focusing on color expression, are at the heart of this feature.

The video concludes with the word "Soon" and the same May 23 date. I'm certainly less excited about this bit of marketing than I was the last one, but hey – the last few Lumix announcements have knocked it out of the park, so here's hoping that form continues.

Surreal Panasonic Lumix teaser image, with holographic eyes gazing at each other and the Lumix logo between them
Surreal Panasonic Lumix teaser image, with holographic eyes gazing at each other and the Lumix logo between them

Take a look at the best Panasonic cameras, which includes some of the best Micro Four Thirds cameras and best full frame cameras.