Panasonic Caught Using Stock Photos As Example Shots For New Camera

Image via Panasonic

Oh snap, Panasonic. The electronic brand’s Japanese arm is facing some heat after an attempt to promote its new Lumix S9 camera. Instead of the stunning sample photos one may come to expect when new photography gear hits the scene, the exemplary imagery was—surprise, surprise—shot from other cameras.

Eagle-eyed Japanese photographers noticed a few inconsistencies on the Lumix S9 product page. One keen observer went a step further, tweeting (in Japanese) that several photos were actually stock images from Shutterstock and other such libraries.

被写体検出とかレンズの説明はダメでしょ
Lumix S5https://t.co/n6iovC0ygohttps://t.co/kWpGsOrLDJ
DC-G100DWhttps://t.co/6z7UJP4sVihttps://t.co/yFjIfWLFb2 pic.twitter.com/TMc1TJtH2r

— studio9/写真のことが全部わかる本 完全版 発売中！ (@photostudio9) May 27, 2024

It gets even more interesting—some of the animal autofocus examples apparently weren’t even captured with a Panasonic camera, let alone the S9. As Photo Rumors reports, one photo was even credited to a Nikon Ambassador.

ちなみに12-32mmの作例っぽい写真で話題になってるアレはコレらしい。

EOS 5DsR
428mm F5.3
レンズはタムロン150-600mm G2https://t.co/VxN9pxCrlw https://t.co/sAC1zMPLzY pic.twitter.com/XZXn6jQc0A

— とるなら (@FukuiAsobiWeb) May 27, 2024

The faux-tography frenzy didn’t go unnoticed by the folks of Panasonic Japan, who scrambled to admit that the company had used royalty-free pictures to illustrate the camera’s features. The brand conceded that it could have been more transparent about this usage.

While some non-S9 photos remain on the Japanese product page, they’re now clearly labeled to avoid any further confusion. Panasonic also pledged to review the content on its Lumix website and offered a sincere apology to photography enthusiasts

“As a camera manufacturer, we strive to meet the expectations of our customers,” the company stated, as translated by PetaPixel.

It’s now evident that, to keep up with the fast-moving world of marketing, sometimes companies can get a little out of focus. 

[via PetaPixel, Photo Rumors, Gizmochina, images via various sources]