Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5K 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)
by Panasonic
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Category: Digital Camera
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: PanasonicRelease Date: 2008-03-07
Model: DMC-TZ5K
Color: Black
Product features:
- 9-megapixel resolution captures enough detail for poster-sized prints
- 10x optical zoom Leica DC lens; Face Detection
- New Panasonic Venus Engine IV improves noise reduction, elevates the detection accuracy and corrective effects
- 3.0-inch LCD; Mega O.I.S. and Intelligent ISO
- Captures images to SD memory cards (not included)
- SanDisk 4GB SDHC card
- Adobe Photoshop CS5 Upgrade [Old Version]
- Serif PhotoPlus X3
- Adobe Photoshop CS4 Upgrade [OLD VERSION]
- 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-TZ5K 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)
Customer Review: Simply put, an outstanding camera!
Summary: 5 Stars
I wanted to get a camera that was closer to a DLSR in quality and features, but that wasn't bulky. I wanted to get a camera that I could not only use casually at home and around town, but also on vacation where I tend to take a greater variety of camera shots. The TZ5 checked all the boxes and then some!
Other reviews compare it to the Canon sd870is and other cameras so I won't go into that here. Here's how I see it:
Pros:
- The lens and 10x optical zoom. Simply fantastic. I know, you may think you don't need the zoom. And I agree, for the most part, you probably don't. I'm certainly no professional photographer, but I thought about it, and those occassions when I do need more than your standard 3-4x zoom actually comes up more often than I would have thought - whether video taping an at bat for a baseball game or taking a close up photo from a moderate distance. And since I bought it, I have wound up using the zoom far more than I would have expected. Particularly in the 5-8x range for a variety of shots. This is key since many other comparable cameras only have zoom up to 4x.
- The wide angle! This is my first wide angle camera and boy does it make a difference from your standard point and shoot! I won't go back. It's more than just getting more into a shot, in many cases, its the difference between getting a shot framed properly or not. Getting the whole background or building or whatever into the shot or not.
- Pre-set camera modes are great. The TZ5 has 15+ pre-set camera modes that really are great for different environments. What's even better is that you can set two of those modes into the dial at top for quick access. This way, you don't have to keep adjusting the mode for each shot. For instance, at night, I pre-set the dial at top to "candle light" and "night portrait" and can quickly take shots that way.
- Great picture quality. I've read various commentary on the superiority of the Canon picture. I haven't done side by side comparisons but what I can say is that I've taken a lot of photos and am very satisfied. And anyways, I'm skeptical of some of these side by side comparisons on photo quality. So much of a photo is the setting, light, etc that you shouldn't be using the "standard auto setting" to get the best picture regardless. I doubt those comparisons adjusted each camera appropriately for each shot.
- Crisp, large 3" LCD screen. This is one of the primary differences between the TZ4 (comes with 2.5" screen) and TZ5.
- Long exposure shots are really, really cool. This camera takes amazing low light, night time shots. The exposure is 15 or 30 seconds but literally (if you don't move for that long), you can get AMAZING night time shots without a flash and with really cool light effects.
- Very cool "burst shooting". This is indespensible for action or fast moving shots. You can do normal burst shooting of any camera setting at about 2.5-3 pics/second and you can do it continuously! You can also do a high-burst at 6 pics/second at 2 megapixel quality. I got great shots diving off a boat in mid-air with this.
- For the lens and quality it's relatively compact. While its bigger than your standard compact point and shoot, its still small enough to fit in your pocket. Its about the size of an old school ipod, though thicker, and its way better than slugging around a DSLR. And the design is ergonomic.
And now some Cons:
- HD video recording. The quality of the HD picture on playback is great. But there are two shortcomings with this feature. 1) Sound quality is as you would expect for a camera. So its sort of like HD picture/low tech camera sound. It won't replace your HD camcorder, but its certainly good enough for casual recordings. 2) Takes up a ton of memory. I got a 16GB card and that will record about 30min of HD video. Not a lot if you want to take a lot of pics as well on a vaca. I just wind up taking normal non-HD videos, which works fine.
- Auto zoom on video recording is annoying. You need to turn the feature off when taking video, otherwise your video will be in and out of focus as you zoom. But the ability to zoom WHILE taking video is a differentiator for this camera vs. others. Also, some of the features still a work in progress. For instance, the auto face detect works some times, but not others.
- There are not many manual adjustments you can make- primarily shutter speed/exposure and other standard features common in most point and shoot cameras. Obviously I wouldn't expect this to be as flexible as a DLSR, but just something to keep in mind.
- Camera has two automated picture shot modes (where it takes a picture by itself) and the delay is either 2 or 10 seconds. I use this mode a lot - this way everyone can get into a pic! I wish they had longer delay time and more lead up warning to when the picture is going to be taken.
In summary, I would highly recommend this camera for anyone who wants the ability to take a wide variety of high quality pics but doesn't want to lug around a big camera. The cons are far outweighed by the pros. Don't hesitate - you will love this camera!
More Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5K 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black) reviews:
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Description of Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5K 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)
LEICA 28mm Wide-Angle Lens with 10x Optical Zoom 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 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 16.9xDigital Cameras
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