As the temperature drops your home should be an escape from the elements, but with the rising cost of electricity it’s understandable if you’re reluctant to turn on the heating as often as you’d like to. This year Panasonic has come to the rescue with an offer that allows you to save an incredible $400 off your winter power bill.

Simply by purchasing selected Panasonic Ducted Air Conditioners between 1 May, 2013 and 31 August, 2013, you can claim $400 off the power bill of your choice. However, the energy savings don’t end there.

Panasonic’s Inverter Ducted Air Conditioner range features advanced technology that means they rank among the most energy efficient models on the market. By using the exact amount of power required to rapidly heat or cool a room from the moment the air conditioner is switched on, you’ll enjoy effortless energy savings for many winter and summer seasons to come.

To take advantage of this promotion simply provide your electricity account details after you’ve purchased a selected Panasonic Ducted Air Conditioner, and then ensure your claim is received via mail within 20 calendar days of purchase. Then enjoy a warm and cosy winter inside without feeling the sting of a large energy bill.

Find out more here.

The review notes that the “TZ40 is veritably stuffed to the gills with cutting-edge features, while the combination of a 20x zoom, effective stabilisation system and good image quality is hard to resist.” Features called out include the increase in megapixel count from 14 to 18, and the new 60/50p and High Speed modes for videographers.

The inclusion of a touchscreen interface, built-in wi-fi connectivity and GPS, a 5-axis image stabilisation system, a fast burst mode, and high-resolution screen, all in a smaller and lighter package than the TZ40‘s predecessor, “makes it easy to see why we like the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ40 even more than last year’s model.”

With a conclusion that the “Lumix DMC-TZ40 is Panasonic’s best ever travel-zoom camera and a worthy winner of our Essential award”, it’s a smart choice for photographers looking for a high performance camera. You can read the full review to find out more about image quality, ease of use, the product specs and more.

Read the full review here.

In the third instalment of GH3-Minute Movies, a project initiated by Panasonic and Rankin Film Productions to demonstrate the effectiveness of Panasonic’s LUMIX GH3 for filmmakers, directors Charlie&Joe bring us a humorous, quirky and surprising tale of the dangers of obsession and the importance of human contact.

The shoot, which was filmed predominantly handheld, included both a tight set and wonderful, wide-open location settings, with some use of CGI – all of which put the GH3 through its paces. They said, “We wanted to shoot with the camera really making the most of the astonishing, epic landscape. Huge wide shots finding Neville tiny in frame, dwarfed by the landscape and the crashing waves.”

Charlie&Joe went on to say that the collaboration with Panasonic and Rankin Film Production “means a great deal to us, we learned a lot from working with Rankin anyway, and this gave us a chance to make something on another level, away from music which was a change.

“The GH3 was so lightweight which made it perfect for the outdoorsy stuff on Neville. We could attach it to anywhere and move it around so easily to get the perfect shots. The more we used the GH3, the more we realised what we could achieve with it from a professional perspective.”

Watch the making of the film here.

Find out about the LUMIX GH3 here.

In another short film brought to you by Panasonic and Rankin Film Productions to highlight the dynamic capabilities of the Panasonic LUMIX GH3, David Allain presents a bittersweet story of boy meets girl in At First Sight.

David was excited to create a film that filled “every frame with as much emotion and character as it can contain.” The film introduces a couple on the first night they met and then intercuts this with flash-forwards as we experience the highs and lows of their relationship over subsequent months.

For David, the GH3 felt like the perfect device to capture this couple’s relationship in a series of brief episodes, mixing larger-scale scenes with smaller, more naturalistic moments. David said, “I planned to shoot for several days at numerous locations…documenting the decisive points in a relationship. I wanted to use the GH3 to capture incredibly intimate moments as well as sweeping wide shots – grander and visually stunning.”

David notes that “being a filmmaker is a bit like being a conduit, in the sense that you have an outcome in mind as well as lots of ideas feeding into that from different departments, so you listen and try to use what will help realise the end goal.”

The GH3 was a key component in realising David’s vision and, with a range of different locations, he felt that “the best thing about the GH3 on this project was its mobility – I was able to do a lot very quickly whilst maintaining real quality.”

Find out about the making of the film here.

Find out about the LUMIX GH3 here.

Panasonic and Rankin Film Productions have commissioned three very talented filmmakers to direct a short film with the aim of showcasing the capabilities of the new Panasonic LUMIX GH3 as a high-performance tool for filmmakers.

In the first of these three minute films, Hertz, Vicky Lawton tells the story of an arcane experiment seemingly being conducted on an imprisoned individual. Shot almost entirely within one room, the film creates a sense of intrigue and foreboding, and the audience is left guessing as a range of human emotions are laid bare.

The film needed to create a feeling of claustrophobia and entrapment. Such an intimate shoot would present challenges for other filmmaking equipment but was ideal for the compact and highly manoeuvrable GH3. The lighting of the set was key in helping to create the right atmosphere but Vicky was reassured by the GH3’s ability to render even the finest textures in intricate detail.

Vicky said that she was “so proud of the steadicam shots achieved in this film – especially as I didn’t think they would be possible. The shots working around the actor and down to the floor were almost snake-like in movement, and these were achievable because of the size and mobility of the GH3 camera.”

Vicky went on to say, “We really pushed the GH3 to see what it could achieve, using a lot of different lenses. It kept getting better – the fact that it was so versatile made it invaluable to this.”

Watch the making of the film here.

Find out about the LUMIX GH3 here.