Panasonic DMCTZ5 Digital Camera - Black (9.1MP, 10x Optical Zoom) 3.0" LCD
from Panasonic
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Customer Rating: 
Model No: DMC-TZ5EB-K
Release Date: 27/04/2008
Availability: dispatched within 24 hours
Index: Digital & Electronics
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Digital Box Price: £196.20
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Product Description Panasonic has stepped into the world of high definition videos with the Lumix DMC-TZ5. The Lumix DMC-TZ5 has a 28 mm wide-angle setting to fit sweeping landscapes into a single frame, and a telephoto setting to pull in subjects from far away and capture even the subtlest details in facial expressions. It records video in 720p and is equipped with a 10-megapixel sensor, with a high sensitivity range going up to 6400 ISO and a light detection system with several levels. Gone are the days of problems caused by backlighting and overexposure, because the Panasonic TZ5 comes with a Mega O.I.S image stabiliser and a 9-point AF focus, meaning you can pinpoint faces in photos and ensure subjects' natural skin tones are maintained. For backgrounds, the DMC-TZ5 has an intelligent flash with red-eye reduction and slow synchronisation modes, which help to prevent colour alteration. There is also a number of colour, scene and automatic modes, allowing you to really explore your creative side. As well as being compatible with Pictbrige, the Lumix DMC-TZ5 also has an HD audio/video output so you can enjoy your creations on an HD TV using an optional component video cable.
Panasonic TZ5 Sent: 07 January 2009
This is a short review, as other people have generally given my impression.
It is an excellent camera, but as with all these zoom cameras, do not obstruct the lens in any way, as it is easy to do this if knocking the "on" button while inserting in a case or holdall, and then you have a worthless camera! What I do is make sure it is on the review setting while putting in it`s case, then you have it (the zoom lens) double locked.
I could NOT be happier with this camera!  Sent: 05 January 2009
The first time I took this camera out in public (a bbq) and snapped a few photos, I had at least 3 people asking for its details with intent on buying it next day - it's that good. They were far from the last folks to show real surprize at the quality of the images. And the thing just looks great too - a fine 3 inch screen against matt black finish with brushed-silver dials and lens (Leica. German). There's a welcome solidness to it too, with just enough weight to suggest real quality. When you switch it on, you quickly realise it's as well designed on the inside too: the menu options are easy to navigate and require only common sense. It took me just minutes to get to grips with the multi-page layout...NOT THAT IT MATTERS! You'll never go there again! Why? The iAuto function! Select "iAuto" and, as far as I can see, you'll never touch the dials/menu again. In this function I took photos in countless settings both indoors and out, and was truly amazed at how the camera nailed it every time - fairgrounds, mountains, sunsets, my son's leaping around, parties etc. It appears to have a fill-in flash function, as even with a strong light source behind the subject, the final image is balanced. The ONLY thing you might want to do is cancel the "forced-flash" when taking shots of movement when there's plenty light around (and that's but one-button away). Take the ease of use, the truly wonderful quality of the photos and the sheer pleasure of the x10 optical zoom, and you have a marvel of a camera. One last thing - the choice of memory card should NOT be a casual affair. On recomendation I bought the Sandisk Extreme III (it's pretty cheap with Amazon...and incredibly expensive without!). This allows you to use what panasonic call the "burst" option - just hit the button and the camera will take (what sounds like) 2 photos per second without hiccups. Until now, I had just put any old sd card in my camera...big mistake! If you want a camera able to beautifully record both your family and travel highlights, look no further.
Amazing Sent: 02 January 2009
Just purchased this product following recommendation from friend.
I've changed my camera every year - this is the best so far.
Slightly heavier than many others - but easy to "pocket"
Instructions simple to follow (I'm generally pretty slow with instructions) Large screen superb for viewing.
Optical magnification of 10 quite amazing.
Pictures in daylight - excellent. Some disappointment with
night time and other low light shots. (perhaps i havn't quite got the "hang of it")
Will persevere to try and get improvement.
Lots of noise, grain in all pictures.  Sent: 01 January 2009
I'll keep this short. I read a lot of reviews before i bought this camera (and believe me i go into every detail!) and so i was well aware of the fact that the Panasonic TZ5 produces noisy or grainy pictures at all iso settings ,even the base iso 100. This is probably only a concern if you blow your images up to large sizes but i like to view mine via my playstation 3 and using this you are able to zoom into images. With my old Canon A80 (4 mega pixel) the images looked great even when zoomed in but the Panasonic images start to look poorer as they are enlarged. The reason i bought one was because i thought the features ,especially the 10x zoom would out weigh the slight image issue.
This is my only concern with the TZ5 and other than this its a great camera with loads of great features and good build quality, just do not listen to people who compare the images to a DSLR ......let alone a four year old Canon A80!
Excellent small camera for the price Sent: 31 December 2008
Normally I use large DSLR or bridge camera, but I wanted a small camera that would fit in my pocket when I don't want to carry a large camera with me, this camera is just about small enough to fit into a large pocket.
What attracted me to this particular model was its 10x zoom range from 28mm to 280mm (35mm equivalent) and its reasonable 9.1mp resolution.
I went out and took some pictures with this camera, and some more almost identical pictures with a Canon EOS DSLR, and the pictures from the Panasonic fared very well in comparison.
I was expecting the picture quality from a 10x zoom on such a small camera to suffer, but I was pleasantly surprised, the pictures were sharp throughout the focal range, even at its longest focal length, and there was no apparent chromatic aberrations, (colour fringing around high contrast subjects) plus the image stablizer worked well in all but very dim light conditions.
As in all compact cameras the image censor is very small, and cramming 9 or 10 megapixels onto such a small censor often causes problems with digital noise, especially at higher ISO settings, This camera also scored very well here with digital noise not apparent at all at ISO 100 or 200. gradually worsening at higher ISO settings but still well within acceptable levels for a compact camera, the cameras built in noise reduction causes some fine detail to be lost at higher ISO settings, but this is only apparent at higher magnifications of the image.
At very low light levels this camera performs reasonably well compared to some of the competition, and flash exposures are excellent, full of detail and well exposed.
The autofocus is reasonably fast and accurate in most cases, only struggling in very low contrast or difficult to focus subjects, and the face detection works well, macro will focus as close as 5cm at the 28mm setting.
The camera itself feels solidly built, the menu's are logically laid out and fairly easy to navigate, and you will soon get to grips with it.
There are more than enough modes on it to keep the budding photographer happy, with 2 auto settings and 22 auto scene modes to cover most conditions, and an exposure compensation setting of (+/- 2 at 1/3 stop increments) for those awkward situations when one of the auto modes will not give a correct exposure, although there is no manual setting.
The LCD monitor is a large 3" monitor, and is very clear, making it easy to compose your pictures and to view pictures afterwards, although such a large screen could be vulnerable to damage so a good quality padded camera case is recommended.
A seperate optical viewfinder would have been a welcome addition to make taking pictures of moving subjects easier to take, especially at longer focal lengths, but most compact cameras do not have them anymore.
It does have a video and sound recording function, but I have not tried that yet, so I cannot comment on that, except that the microphone is positioned on the top left of the camera where it could easily be covered by a finger.
PROS
Well built and easy to use.
Better picture quality than many compacts.
10x zoom covers the most usefull range from wide angle to a decent telephoto.
9.1mp resolution is more than enough for all but the biggest enlargements.
It is compatible with SDHC cards.
Large clear screen.
Video and sound recording function.
A printed manual, not one of those pdf files on a disc.
Image stablizer.
User settable ISO.
Enough exposure modes to cope with most situations.
Good as a second camera when it would not be practical to take a larger camera.
Good price for what you get.
CONS
No SD card supplied, so you will need to buy one seperately.
No viewfinder other than the LCD screen.
Microphone could have been sited better.
No manual exposure setting, but the exposure compensation does help.
Can be a little complicated at first for novice users, but the manual is good.
A little too big for small pockets.
Verdict.
This is a good camera for anyone who wants to replace a cheaper outdated camera with something that will take decent pictures and has a good zoom range, and for anyone who wants a small camera as a backup to a larger camera.
All in all this is a very good little camera for the price, with very little to be said against it, and it comes highly recommended.
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Associated digital product categories: Cameras, Photography, Compact Digital Still Cameras, Panasonic,digital camera,digi cam,photography,foto,pana,compact, 10 x Optical Zoom,28mm wide angle lens,9.1 Megapixels camera, DMC,DMCTZ,TZ,DMCTZ5,TZ5,5,DMCTZ5EB,TZ5EB,5EB,EB,DMCTZ5EBK,TZ5EBK |
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