This camera re-touches your face.

Vanity is nothing new. Nor is wanting to look your best. Nobody would question brushing your hair or streaking it or putting on lipstick or a nice frock in a bid to look attractive. It’s just you but more polished, right? Well what about a bit of sneaky photoshopping INSIDE your camera? What about removing your under-eye circles and ‘brightening’ your skin tone? Oh, and it can put on make-up that you’re not actually wearing.

Some say bring it. Others, like MM’s staff writer Nicky Champ aren’t so sure:

“Ever deleted an unflattering photo of yourself? Or begged a friend to delete one off their camera? Yep, me too. We may be more vain than ever before with most of our lives playing out online in a variety of photo opportunities, from profile pictures to key milestones like graduations, birthdays, weddings, and holidays on social media sites. So it’s hardly surprising that technology has caught up in the form of a camera that now has inbuilt editing software.

The Panasonic Lumix FX77 has a retouch function that can whiten teeth, brighten complexions, remove dark circles and make the face appear smaller and eyes larger. A make-up mode also allows the user to add foundation, lipstick, blush and eye-shadow.

According to Reuters.com, a female spokesperson for the brand said:

“According to data we’ve acquired, around 50 percent of our digital camera clients are not satisfied with the way their faces look in a photograph. So we came up with the idea so our clients can fix parts they don’t like about their faces after they’ve taken the picture.”

She also said: “It’s very popular among people who use pictures in their blogs, or those taking just one commemorative photo that they need to be flawless.”

Hmm…. “a commemorative photo that they need to be flawless.” I’ve always thought the best photos are candid, natural ones, but perhaps I’m in the minority.

The ability to retouch and add makeup seems to me to be a cheap, accessible form of plastic surgery, by essentially ‘fixing’ your face after the photo is taken. No longer are yellow teeth, dark circles, small eyes or dull skin acceptable flaws to have, especially not when they can so easily be removed.

I think I’d rather have photographs where I actually look like myself, not a glamourised, stylised version. In 50 years time, I don’t want my grandchildren to think I really wasted an opportunity to earn millions of dollars as a model. Because that’s not me.

And who are we trying to impress with these ‘perfect’ photos? Is it just for us or possibly the people on Facebook who aren’t really your friends anyway?

It is a scary thing that there is now the added expectation that we need look flawless all of the time. With celebrities as young as 20 being retouched on the covers of fashion magazines, it is becoming increasingly harder to spot a real photo as opposed to a fake one. This new technology means that everyone will have access to and the ability to edit how they look. I would soooo not want to be wading through dating site profiles right now.”

About the Author: Nicky is a staff writer at Mamamia, a journalism graduate and former graphic designer. She previously worked in the fashion and textile fields before she became disillusioned and realised her true passion lay in writing. She still dabbles in Photoshop and Illustrator, but not to retouch photos of herself.You can follow her on Twitter here.

Is it just that we want to present a ‘good face’ to the world or are we presenting a purposely false representation when we retouch images of ourselves? Would you buy this camera?