Panasonic is making big claims for the lens quality of its new hybrid digital compact camera, the DMC-FX70.

Featuring a ultra wide angle 24mm lens from Leica, the FX70 captures more than double the viewing space at the same distance of its 35mm predecessor.

The lens has a brightness of F2.2 and incorporates something called Intelligent Resolution that extends the zoom ratio without diminishing quality. What does this mean in practice?

Let's see what Panasonic has to say on the matter.

The F2.2 lens is approximately 1.6x brighter than the F2.8 lens, itself generally considered a bright lens, and allows the FX70 to shoot at higher shutter speed and capture stunningly clear, sharp, blur-free images in lower lighting situations.

Brighter lens, smarter camera

Other added features include a de-blur setting, which tracks the focal point of your image and ensures it stays sharp.

And now to video.

In addition to conventional Motion JPEG video capture, the camera records HD video in AVCHD Lite, doubling the recording time. Video can be edited live on the 3in Hi-res touch screen display, where users can drag and edit media on the fly, or a fly can make your media a drag by landing on the screen.

No pricing yet, but you can snap up the FX70 in August.