Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5S 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized...

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5S 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver) | Excellent camera

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	Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5S 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver) Panasonic Panasonic, 2008 average customer review:based on 282 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Now you can fit sweeping landscapes into a single frame with the 28mm wide-angle setting. Pull in subjects from far away to capture even subtle facial expressions with the dynamic 280mm telephoto setting. Ideal for traveling, the DMC-TZ5 Lumix 9.1-megapixel digital camera combines a wide-ranging LEICA DC Vario-Elmar lens with a handy, compact body. The Extra Optical Zoom function also extends the zoom to as much as 16.9x, giving you even greater telephoto power. Set the TZ5 to iA mode and let the five Intelligent Auto functions team up to help prevent shooting errors. Intelligent Exposure corrects lighting differences, so images come out just the way you see them; Intelligent Scene Selector chooses the mode that best fits the situation; MEGA Optical Image Stabilization helps prevent blurring from hand-shake; Intelligent ISO Control helps prevent motion blur; and Face Detection helps produce clear portraits by optimizing the focus and exposure settings. The TZ5 can record motion images with sensational 1280 x 720 HD resolution at 30 frames per second (fps). f=4.6-46mm (35mm equiv - 28-280mm) Focal Length 3.0 Diagonal Polycrystalline TFT LCD Display (460K dots) Focusing Area Normal - Wide 50cm/Tele 200cm - infinity, Macro/Intelligent AUTO / Clipboard - Wide 5cm / Max 200cm / Tele 100cm - infinity 8 - 1/2,000 sec. Starry Sky Mode - 15, 30, 60sec. Shutter Speed Auto /100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 (High Sensitivity Mode - Auto(1600 - 6400) ) ISO 27MB Internal Memory (additional memory recommended to store more photos and video) Built-in Microphone and Speaker SD/SDHC, MultiMedia Card Slot Built-in Flash with Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Forced Off modes DC Input, AV Output (NTSC/PAL), HD AV Output (Component), USB Connections PictBridge Compatible Approximate Battery Life - 300 Shots (CIPA Standard) Approximate Unit Weight - 0.507 lbs

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Love it!

Takes great pictures with lots of options. Nice and small it fits in a shirt pocket with ease even a pocket tee shirt. Dont know what kind of pockets other reviewers have that they say it wont fit in? Takes good movies even in low light. Feels very sturdy and yes the lens cover is very fragile but works fine. I bought the blue case that is made for the camera and it protects the camera fine. If you are thinking about buying this camera you wont be dissapointed unless you are a total nit picker like some!

Excellent camera

We havent tried all its featueres yet, but this panasonic lumix meets our expectations in every way. Its wide angle is fantastic and the zoom a dream. We love it and highly recommend it.

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Lumix TZ5K Camera

The price was 35% less than anyone else and the vendor, Vanns, was terrific. Shipped on time and delivered on time. Follow-up report from the vendor was very thoughtful. Will buy more from them in the future.
I always check Amazon before buying anything on-line.

Great all-purpose camera...

I'm very happy with this camera. My goal was to have a camera that would take nice still photos, along with decent video. It has been everything I expected based on other professional reviews I had read.

For me, there was a small learning curve to get the video focused the way I wanted. I've learned to frame the shot, focus, and then shoot video, without the continuous focus running. Because the video is 720p, and the camera is so small compared to a camcorder, handheld video is more likely to be a little shaky. I've learned to be a little more diligent about the way I hold the camera, and I also take advantage of the Image Stabilization feature. Compared to the video from my last mini-dv camcorder, the video is beautiful. For home videos, it is more than adequate. The audio is lower quality, which I expected based on other reviews, but I can hear people's voices and understand what they are saying, so I am fine with it.

The photos are great for a point-and-shoot. I would definitely recommend following other peoples' advice I've read, which is to keep the INTELLIGENT-ISO mode at a max of 800 to help reduce the "grainy" look. There are a LOT of features, and I haven't learned them all yet. But for the amateur photographer, it would appear that there are numerous options to help you get a great picture.

I've taken this camera on a couple of one-day trips, and it has been wonderful. Having one relatively small camera that is capable of shooting great photos and video is one of the best accessories a father of three could have. I've not had any battery issues yet. I like having a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery. I just charge it up the night before any event, and it always gets me through the next day.

Some more notes about the video as a semi-professional videographer:
A great thing for me has been that the video is in a QuickTime format that is native to my Mac (Motion JPEG). I have been able to create a preset in Final Cut Pro that allows me to work with the video in it's native format, without any transcoding. To me, that's a big plus compared to using some of the other HD camcorders out there. Something that needs to be considered, though, is that you need plenty of hard-drive space to store these videos. I bought an A-DATA 16GB Turbo SDHC Class 6 Memory Card here on Amazon to use in this camera. I was a little leery considering it only cost $30 bucks, but it has worked fine so far. Again, I took another person's advice, and I've left the card in the camera ever since I put it in. I only transfer the photos and video by plugging the camera into the computer. I figure I don't want to mess with the physical integrity of the memory card any more than I have to. Playback of the video is also something that needs to be considered. You can plug the camera into a standard TV for standard resolution playback, or you can buy an extra Component Cable, which I'm sure would yield better results for playback on an HDTV. However, when you take the files off of your memory card, you'll need to have another playback option. Personally, I plan on using a Mac Mini, with the built-in Front Row software, connected to an HDTV for my future viewing. But for now, the only way to watch my home video in full HD is on my laptop.

Overall, I think another reviewer here put it best when he wrote, "If you know what you're getting into, you'll be thrilled." It's a great option for a very portable, high quality still-photo and video camera... possibly the best in its category so far.

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Solid performance in a compact ultra-zoom camera

The Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ5 with 10X optical zoom was purchased in May 2008 from Amazon to replace my outdated 6 year old 4.1 Megapixel Canon Elph. This review is based upon 6 MONTHS of use.

I wanted more than the 3X from conventional compact digital cameras. After traveling to places such as India, Portugal, and Cancun, for example, 3X is not versatile enough to capture some of the landscapes, landmarks and distant subjects that I wanted to capture.

To be honest, resolution was not a factor in purchasing a camera but with 9.1 Megapixels, this camera was more than adequate for my purposes since I only print 4x6" photographs.

OPERATION:

This camera is great as a point and shoot camera. Shutter lag is reasonable for a camera of this class, unlike others I experimented with before buying this one.

FEATURES

Battery life indicator: You may take this feature for granted but my prior camera (Canon Digital Elph), did not have a battery life indicator. When traveling, battery life is a very important factor so that you don't miss shots. I bought 2 spare batteries with my camera.

The 27 megabytes of internal memory is inadequate for any practical purpose allowing for only about 8-10 photos at high resolution or a few seconds of video.

This camera has a user friendly menu system that is easy to navigate given the 4 directional buttons and central menu/enter button. There are two scene modes, Intelligent automatic mode, movie mode, clipboard mode and custom mode. A quick menu button is great for on-the-fly adjustments.

The intelligent auto-mode is where I keep the camera, for a majority of photographs keeping the operation simple - this is the point and shoot mode for a majority of casual users, like myself. On this mode, picture size (9 MP, 5MP, 3MP and 0.3 MP), aspect ratio (4:3, 3:2, and 16:9), burst mode, and color mode (standard, natural, vivid, black/white and sepia), can be toggled in the menu.

The custom mode allows me to change other factors such as ISO, continuous auto focus, metering mode, white balance, audio recording, and intelligent exposure, to name a few.

The glass LCD has various modes to allow you to see the settings, a 9 segmented partition and no data. I like seeing a histogram in real time to determine the color range of the photograph.

The auto-focus mode has face detection, 3 area high speed, 1 area high speed, spot, 1 area, and 9 area. I personally keep it in face detection unless I am taking a photo of a landmark or other outdoor subject.

Movie mode is versatile and I use this as a back up camcorder for times when I want to take a quick video. However, due to the small microphone, the sound quality is not optimal for say, a piano recital or speech where sound is essential. The picture quality is excellent. The aspect ratio (4:3, 16:9), picture mode (30 fps/16:9 high or low quality 15 fps/16:9 high or low quality), white balance, metering mode and auto-focus mode can be adjusted.

QUALITY

Picture quality is excellent for the purposes of casual use (i.e. parties, performances, events, stills, pets, children, outdoors. Zoom photographs is limited by low light given the built in flash.

Movie mode is a versatile feature since it records in high definition 720p. The video format is in Quicktime mode. Image quality is limited by low light.

CONSTRUCTION:

The body is made of metal and has a nice heavier weight that allows me to hold it steady. The textured grip in the front allows me to operate the camera one handed.

A toggle switch allows the user to take photos or view the photos. This is a convenient and well thought out feature since cumbersome menus (or even multifunctioned buttons) on other cameras make this reviewer/user confused. This camera, once you understand what button to use doesn't require the user/operator to have to look at all of the buttons to operate it.

There are 3 output ports, including AV out/digital, component out and DC in. The battery cover is easy to open and close. The small Lithium battery and SD card fit in the same compartment. In the past 6 months of heavy use, I have not had problems with getting the battery or card out.

There is an eccentrically placed port to allow mounting on a tripod. The location is not useful for handheld tripods but works for conventional full featured tripods.

PROS

Image quality
10X zoom for a compact camera
720p HD quality movies
Solid construction
Vivid glass LCD screen
Menu system and 5 button navigation
Excellent battery life
Battery life indicator

CONS
Poor sound quality with video
Low light limitations with zoom and video
Wheel selection feature turns 360 degrees (needs to be 'locked' to operate)
Slightly heavier than its compact counterparts

RECOMMENDATIONS:

If you want to use this camera for HD video, I highly recommend SDHC memory cards. I purchased 2 Transcend SDHC cards with this camera:

Transcend 8 GB SDHC SD Class 6 Flash Memory Card TS8GSDHC6E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]

The biggest pitfall I found (since I do not use the USB connection to upload to my computer) is transferring my photos using a USB card reader. The high capacity SD cards, SDHC, are recognized by the card reader. I bought the following reader since it can read my SDHC card and my old memory cards:

15-1 USB 2 (XD CAPABLE)

Instead of the Panasonic battery, the follow battery, I purchased, is a more economical alternative for a mere fraction of the cost of the original OEM:

Li-Ion Battery for Panasonic CGA-S007 / CGR-S007

VERDICT

For the low price, versatility for a compact point and shoot, this camera goes above and beyond for its price point and is an excellent value.

Two thumbs up.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

If you want to use this camera for HD video, I highly recommend SDHC memory cards. I purchased 2 Transcend SDHC cards with this camera:

Transcend 8 GB SDHC SD Class 6 Flash Memory Card TS8GSDHC6E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]

Instead of the Panasonic battery, the follow battery, I purchased, is a more economical alternative for a mere fraction of the cost of the original OEM:

Li-Ion Battery for Panasonic CGA-S007 / CGR-S007

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