Panasonic's parent company, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd of Japan, is one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer electronics and ranked 3rd on the Fortune 500 Electronics &Electrical Equipment Index. The company was founded in 1918 in Osaka, Japan by Konosuke Matsushita and has grown from just 3 employees to over 260,000 people worldwide. Panasonic has been marketing their own still digital cameras for several years now. Several models in the range are fitted with powerful zoom lenses and sophisticated stabilisation systems that make the cameras ideal for sports or wildlife photography. Combined with some superb Leica lenses the Panasonic cameras offer outstanding value to all photographers.