Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8S 8.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)
by Panasonic
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: PanasonicRelease Date: 2008-03-03
Model: DMC-LZ8S
Color: Silver
Product features:
- 8.0-megapixel resolution captures enough detail for photo-quality 16x 22-inch prints
- 5x wide-angle optical zoom; Mega Optical Image Stabilized
- 2.5-inch Intelligent LCD screen; Face Detection
- Intelligent ISO; Intelligent Scene Selector
- Captures images to SD memory cards (not included)
- SanDisk 4GB SDHC card
- Adobe Photoshop CS5 Upgrade [Old Version]
- Serif PhotoPlus X3
- Transcend 8 GB Class 6 SDHC Flash Memory Card with USB 2.0 Card Reader TS8GSDHC6-S5W
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8S 8.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)
Customer Review: Excellent "budget" camera with great features
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been wanting something like the Canon PowerShot A series camera for a while. Another hobby of mine involves photographing small objects in a mini-studio settings (not unlike jewel photography, but less demanding/sophisticated). I wanted something that:
- has aperture/shutter priority modes, and manual mode;
- can set custom white balance
- shows live histogram in recording mode.
The Canon PowerShot A720IS and A570IS looked great, but neither had all three features I wanted. A query here on a photography forum last month led to a reply that pointed me to the then-just-announced Panasonic DMC-LZ8. On paper, it looked GREAT: All the features I wanted, 2.5" LCD with 230K pixels (the Canon ones, while having large screens, have low pixel counts), and priced well under $200 to boot. It seemed so perfect that I preordered it, which I normally don't do--I usually prefer the manufacturers to go through a few production batches and iron out all the bugs before buying a camera.
The camera came today from Amazon.com, and I had a chance to take a few quick shots and get an initial feel for the camera. Here are my observation and thoughts. I also have the DMC-FX33, so a bit of the review will be comparing the two. Not that they are in the same category, but the FX33 represents last year's Panasonic design trends and philosophies, and LZ8 this year's, so I thought it'd be interesting to note the contrasts.
The camera feels GREAT in my hand. I'm 6' tall and have I guess about average hand-size for my height, and the protruding grip felt very comfortable. The thumb naturally rests right above the Record/Review switch, which provides a nice counter-pressure point to the grip.
The LZ8 uses two AA sized batteries and SD/SDHC cards. The battery compartment and memory compartments are separate, which I like a lot. The left side of the camera has a door that hides the USB/AV-out port. There's now a dedicated button near the shutter for Panasonic's Extended Optical Zoom, which allows you to "zoom" in further than the 5x optical lens zoom without the traditional degradation in image quality associated with digital zoom. The flipside is that as you zoom out using Extended Optical Zoom, the image size becomes smaller (at the maximum Extended Optical Zoom, the camera produces 3MP images).
Unlike the FX33, the LZ8 does not have a Clipboard mode (at least not that I could find!). I actually really liked that! It was an easy way to carry some photos with me and use the camera as a digital photo album. Not that you can't do that with storing photos on the regular memory card, but the Clipboard mode made it easier. Oh well.
Unlike the FX33, the down button on the four-way controller no longer acts as a quick review button while in recording mode. But, also unlike the FX33, you can enter the full Review (Playback) mode by using a dedicated switch, rather than having to turn the mode dial to Playback mode. The Exposure button controls the aperture or shutter or both values, in aperture/shutter priority modes and the manual mode. The Q. Menu button seems faster (more responsive) to bring up the quick menu than the FX33.
The screen menus have changed little other than the background color. The LZ8 has the same size LCD as the FX33 (2.5"), but 30K more pixels (230K vs. 200K). The menu does certainly seem sharper. A pure eye-candy: When you shut down the camera, now there's a reflection of the word "Lumix" on the screen.
A gripe I have with the FX33 was how narrow the viewing angle was for the LCD. I'm happy to report that the LZ8 is significantly better in this regard.
The images straight out of the camera look great. I know it's a subjective matter, so be sure to check out various review sites and also photo hosting sites that let you view pictures by the camera model to see if you like the image quality. I've also uploaded some 20 images to accompany this review.
So far I'm extremely happy with how the camera feels in my hand, how responsive it is, and how feature-packed it is. I haven't really tested high ISO performance, as that will not matter in the applications I have for the camera (mini-studio). I'm sure pixel-peeping the images to death will reveal all manners of shortcomings and imperfections, but for real-world usage, it rates very favorably against the PowerShot series. Well done Panasonic!
More Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8S 8.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver) reviews:
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1 2 3 4
Description of Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8S 8.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)
! Lumix 8.1-Megapixel Compact Digital Camera with 32mm Wide-Angle Lens 5x Optical Zoom Intelligent Auto Mode and 2.5" Diagonal Intelligent LCD SilverDigital Cameras
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