Almost perfect little camera - love it
Pros:
Excellent photo quality, 10x optical zoom, 28m wide angle, easy to use.
Cons:
None, unless one is expecting professional quality movie video out of a digital photo camera.
The Bottom Line:
Highly recommend this camera because of its fail-proof IA mode and the excellent photo quality.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
To view some photos I took with the Lumix TZ5 click on this link, and make sure you view in full screen::
http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=ACF7F02C5F5&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW
To view a video of "Frisky" the dog taken with the TZ5, click on this link:
http://www.vimeo.com/1461466
You'll see mixed reviews on the quality of the photos, but I find the quality outstanding for a compact camera, or for any camera for that matter. The photos that you'll see are all taken in the easy mode, which is called "IA" for Intelligent Auto, and they were all taken without flash - even the one inside the screened porch.
What I love most about this camera is it's ability to keep the subject in focus, even when the subject and/or the photographer is moving! I shot a butterfly fluttering around, with the zoom (in IA mode) and it came out perfectly in focus. The photo of the horse & buggy was also taken effortlessly in IA mode with the zoom. Photos from the airplane, perfect, even took a few from the moving car and there was no blur (not in the samples)! Amazing. Colors are bright and clear, and you can choose how vivid you want them to be. These photos were taken in "standard" color, incidentally. It picked up all the hues of the sunrise in the harbor and sunset on the beach.
The zoom works beautifully, very smooth and quiet. Again, automatic focus in zoom (and otherwise) is the best I've seen in any camera of this size and price range.
I love the wide angle lens. It captures so much more than I'm used to and gives a really nice, almost dimensional look to the photos.
The battery life is pretty good until you use the movie mode, and that does take a lot out of it. It's a good idea to have an extra one ready just in case.
The ergonomics are excellent, easy to shoot with one hand, and easy to navigate the menu.
The LCD screen, as you know, is one of the best out there. It works well in sunlight, and if the day is very bright, you can adjust the contrast and make the screen darker if needed. Beautiful resolution when playing back your photos on the LCD screen!
The movie feature is also quite good FOR A DIGITAL PHOTO CAMERA. The zoom is slow (which it states in the manual), but the pictures are clear. HD mode does take a lot of memory and battery obviously, but it's a great feature to have. I shot some whales from the shore with zoom at 10x and they came out pretty well even though they were quite far away (contact me if you'd like to see that video). I took the movie of Frisky indoors in the evening with the regular lighting in the home and it I think it looks very good.
In conclusion, I highly recommend the Panasonic DMC-TZ5. It is not a digital SLR, but has many of the features without the bulk or the price, so it's great for travel. I have an SLR and an older 5MP compact digital, but I never expected this much photo quality out of a compact.
Bravo Panasonic!
