Product Description

Wow! A compact camera with 10x optical zoom lens. It's got a 35mm equivalent of 35mm to 350mm. That covers wide-angle to long telephoto. Let's explore the Panasonic DMC-TZ1K Lumix 5 Megapixel Digital Camera. It also has dual-mode Mega Optical Image Stabilizer. A built in computer-processor adjust for normal hand movements. That means fewer blurry images and more sharp ones. 5 Megapixel means capturing sharp details in still pictures. It can also capture movies at up to 640x480 VGA mode. All images can be stored on an SD memory card. There's a large, bright 2.5" LCD screen for taking pictures and playing them back. There's also a built-in mic for capturing sound and a speaker for listening. You can also transfer all images to your PC or Macintosh computer or view them on your TV. Optical Image Stabilizer - Dual Mode Auto and Manual Focus modes Programmed AutoExposure Scene Modes Dial - Simple, Normal Picture, Economy, Macro, SCN1, SCN2 - (Portrait, Sports, Food, Scenery, Night Scenery, Night Portrait, Fireworks, Party, Snow, Baby, Soft Skin, Starry Sky, Candle, Soft Skin, Baby, Moving Image, Playback Recording Format Still Image - JPEG (design rule for camera file system), DPOF corresponding / Still Image with Audio - JPEG (design rule for camera file system) + QuickTime / Motion Images - QuickTime Motion JPEG Built-in Multimode Electronic-Flash 2.5 Diagonal Polycrystalline TFT LCD Display On Screen Menus in English, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese (Traditional), German, Italian, French It is PictBridge compatible Recording Media - SD Memory Card or MMC Built-in Mic and Speaker for sound Output for USB and TV Unit Dimensions (H x W x D) 2.29'' x 4.41'' x 1.58'' / Unit Weight 8.5 ounces

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31480 in Camera & Photo
• Color: Silver
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: DMC-TZ1S
• Released on: 2006-04-13
• Dimensions: 3.00 pounds
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• Slim & compact 10x optical zoom (equivalent to 35mm to 350mm lens on 35mm film camera) with optical image satbilization
• World's first "high-angle" LCD mode from 2.5" LCD screen with power boost button for 40% brighter display.
• Venu Engine III allows satrt up time to just 0.5 seconds with a release time lag as low as 0.006 seconds.
• Leica DC Vario-element lens with a unique prism lens allows horizontal zooming within camera in such a small body.
• Crisp clear shots of moving subjects with ISO 800 setting/high sensitivity mode

From the Manufacturer
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1S 5MP Compact Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom features a refractive prism lens unit that allows zooming to occur horizontally within the camera. This makes it possible to pack a powerful 10x optical zoom -- equivalent to a big 35 to 350 millimeter lens on a 35mm camera -- into a compact camera. The Extended Optical Zoom function, which magnifies the image with minimal deterioration by using the center part of the high-resolution CCD, boosts the zoom power of up to 12.5x.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1S produces crisp, clear shots of moving subjects with the ISO 800 setting and high sensitivity mode, thanks to the camera's Venus Engine III. The higher ISO setting lets you use higher shutter speeds to minimize the motion blur that can occur when you're shooting a moving subject, particularly in dim lighting. Even indoors, you can get crisp, clear, beautiful shots of children, pets and other subjects that won't hold still. You can also help avoid motion blur automatically by using high sensitivity mode.

Choose from several auto focus modes -- spot, 1-point (normal or high-speed), 3-point high-speed, and 9-point -- to suit the scene you're shooting. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1S also introduces a unique linear AF system. Using a linear motor to drive the zooming, this system makes it possible to shift the 10x optical zoom from wide angle to full telephoto in a few seconds. You get the kind of quick zooming and fast focusing that lets you catch every shooting opportunity. Plus, the AF Assist Lamp helps when focusing in dimly lit places.

Thanks to the Venus Engine III, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1S takes just 0.5 second to start up after the power is switched on and has a release time lag as low as 0.006 seconds. The camera can also fire off consecutive shots at a swift three frames per second and offers unlimited consecutive shooting, so you can keep shooting until the SD memory card or built-in memory is full.

With its 2.5-inch diagonal size and 207,000 pixels, the high-resolution LCD monitor makes it easy to see text and small thumbnail images. Even bright sunlight isn't a problem. If it's difficult to see the display on a sunny day, simply press the power LCD button and the display becomes about 40 percent brighter. The world's first developed high-angle LCD mode also provides easier viewing when you're holding the camera high to shoot over the heads of people in front of you.

With a convenient built-in 14 megabytes of memory, you can take photos even when you don't have an SD memory card on hand. A travel date stamp function lets you input the time and date of your departure before you leave home, then you can use the camera to capture all the best moments of your trip. When you view the photos later, the camera will display them according to the day of the trip each photo was taken. You can even set the date and time for both your present location and your destination, choosing from 162 cities around the world in 32 time zones. A calendar view lets you arrange images you've shot by the day on which you shot them. This can be a big help when you have a large number of images to organize.

What's in the Box
DMC-TZ1S digital camera, battery charger, battery pack, lens cap, AV cable, USB cable, and strap.

Customer Reviews

Best big little camera, but downfalls are major
We had a Lumix FZ20 with a 12x zoom, which we loved to death except for three major downfalls -- it was big and clunky, it was slow to focus and wouldn't focus at all sometimes, and it had a major noise problem in lighting that never bothered our previous cameras. When we heard that the TZ1 would give us a 10X zoom at 1/3 the size and without focusing problems, we obsessed for months waiting for it to hit the market. We've now had our TZ1 for a few months and have taken 2 long vacations and about 2,500 photos with it. Here's our expansive list of thoughts...

Incredible: Having a 10x zoom that can go in a standard small case from Target and can be tossed in a daybag or purse.

Great: Panasonic has improved their focus system and added a focus assist light, and the old focus struggles are gone. The time needed to lock in a shot and capture it is now fast and accurate, and capturing subjects in low light isn't a problem any longer. What a relief.

Life Saver: How did we ever live without image stabilization? Panasonic started this movement, and now many other brands are using it. When utilizing the full 10X zoom, this feature is just plain necessary without a tripod.

Amazing: The macro/close-up mode allows you to get close enough to a bee that a 4X6 photo is all bee and the veins in its wings are crisp and clear. Our photos show things on raspberries that we couldn't even see with our naked eye. This feature, more than any other, makes people say, "What kind of camera do you have?!"

Major Downfall: Our greatest joy in this camera is the 10X zoom. But it has also proven to be our greatest disappointment because it is unusable over large distances. We didn't have this problem with our larger FZ20, and we can only assume that it's because the TZ1 lens is about 1/3 the size. If you want to zoom in on your child 25 feet from the water's edge, or a bird 15 feet up in a tree, you're in business. But if you want to zoom in on a mountain top, or crop a scenic vista, you'll be greeted with print quality that rivals the old 110 film format of 1980. Everything gets fuzzy and washed out, as if the photo was taken through a window with the sun bouncing off it.

Marjor Downfall 2: For some reason, Panasonic can't seem to get past their problems with noise in less-than-optimal lighting conditions. We've owned Pentax, Olympus, and Minolta cameras and never had this problem with them. Outdoor photos at dusk, night photos with a subject more than 6 or so feet away, and indoor photos in a room larger than about 10X10 all turn into a grainy, spotted mess. The "starry night" setting helps in specific circumstances, like shooting a city skyline at night, but there's still some noise to spare. And if there's anything red in the shot, forget it. You can manually lock in a lower ISO to counteract this effect, but then you get a photo that's too dark to use anyway -- not to mention that the whole purpose of a point-and-shoot camera is to eliminate manually setting things.

Unnecessary Hassle: While the menu system is easy to navigate, we wish we had to use it much less. The scene mode wheel at the top includes only three of the usual suspects (auto, macro, and movie) and leaves out all other obvious modes that should be at your fingertips (portrait, scenery, sport, night portrait [flash] and night scenery [no flash]). Reaching any of these requires digging through the menu. There are two "open" settings on the wheel that you can pre-set to these choices, but two isn't enough and those "open" spots would be much better utilized with unusual/personalized settings like baby (records your child's age to the day), underwater, etc.

Hassle Saver: In contrast to the bizarre shortage of settings available on the mode wheel, there is an extremely handy dedicated button for adjusting the exposure value. Too much sun? Too much shadow? Without having to go into the menu, you can bump the exposure up or down, one to three increments at a time, to achieve the balance you want.

Worry Saver: There's a great review setting that not only plays back your shot for a couple seconds after recording it, but also zooms in on it for a couple seconds to show what your quality will be after printing at 4X6. We used to think things looked fine on the little screen, then realized they were blurry after reaching print size. Now we know right away if we need to retake the photo.

Good and Bad: The 2.5-inch screen is big and wonderful, and it does a better job of gaining up and down than our previous digitals have. However, it's still hard to see in bright sunlight and we often gamble on whether we framed a shot as we wanted. The biggest inconvenience is that we often don't find out until later that we took some blurry or overexposed photos.

Irritating: The detached lens cap drives us mad. If you have even one other thing in your hands (like the case you just pulled the camera from), removing the lens cap becomes an ordeal. And once it's hanging from the strap, even the slightest breeze will blow it in front of the lens. I understand the lack of an automatic "door" for the lens saves on battery useage, but it's so not worth it.

Appreciated: The battery charger is ultra-tiny and requires no cord. The prongs flip out from the back to plug into the wall directly. This is a huge plus for us because we hate that we have to pack a whole bag in our suitcase just for chargers -- the cell phone, iPod, shaver, back-up camera (made that mistake once and never will again), etc.

Bonus: Of all the batteries we've owned over the years, this one lasts the longest. We've had 200-photo travel days where we haven't even had to use the spare we always carry. Another bonus is that the batteries are affordable, relatively speaking.

Confounding: We'll never understand why every camera over $200 isn't weather resistant. For just a few bucks more, they could be manufactured for the real world where simple things like rain and snow happen, and where real people do things like drink something cold on a hot day and get condensation water on their hands. Olympus seems to understand this, but their photo quality isn't as high. Why should we have to choose?

Overall: Despite the number of negative comments above, we really do love our TZ1. If the two "Major Downfalls" above were remedied, we would even give the TZ1 5 stars. Our current 4 stars is based on "The Big Picture" (yes, bad pun intended). Considering the $300-ish price point, and the fact that a point-and-shoot does all the work for you, you can't expect the moon served to you on a platter. Given the size of the TZ1, we can hardly believe our good fortune in having a 10X zoom packed in. Given that it's an automatic point-and-shoot, we can hardly believe our good fortune when we see the gorgeous photos we turn out with little to no effort on our part. And we can hardly believe that we got all of this for just over $300. The pros far outweigh the cons, and when this camera is good, it's VERY GOOD.

Compact, 10x Zoom, Great Outdoor Images
Looking for a compact long zoom camera with optical stabilization that takes great outdoor photos? Currently this is the only choice and a pretty good one at that. I'm very pleased with the image quality of outdoor photos. Colors compare well to the Canon SD600 that I also carry. The TZ1 takes sharp photos. A handy feature is that the zoom works even in movie mode. Indoor image quality seems ordinary. Movie mode is quite adequate so much so that I sold my video camera.

The camera has quickly won praise from professional reviewers. It also won a TIPA (Techincal Image Press Association) award for innovative design and image quality.

Update 4 May 2006: I don't think I've given enough credit to the TZ1. I'm astounded by the versatility of this camera. Photos are amazingly sharp.

Update 21 May 2006: Oy! Camera is totally dead. Some kind of power problem that requires warranty work to fix. The warranty is only 60 days from purchase! Awful.

Update 18 July 2006: Bigston (Chicago), the repair depot for Panasonic DMC-TZ1, deserves credit for getting me a loaner camera (albeit a lesser camera), making a quick repair (new electronics and lens), and shipping the repaired camera directly back to me in Paris. The whole process took 7 weeks with several major Bigston snafus.

Conclusion: This is an excellent zoom camera. I was unlucky that I got a lemon. There are no other reports of the same failure. Had I been in the US, I would have had an acceptable repair turnaround time. I was lucky to have the failure within the 60 day warranty period. THE WARRANTY IS OUTRAGEOUSLY SHORT. Had I bought the camera here in France, the warranty would have been 2+ years. I RECOMMEND BUYING ELECTRONICS ONLY IF YOU GET/PAY FOR A 1+ year warranty/exchange.

WOW, Bang for the Buck
I've spent the last year reading and looking at the Canon Powershot S2, Sony H1 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7. Looking at the new Canon Powershot S3 and the Sony H5 I found myself drawn to the new Panasonic TZ1K camera because of the new Venius III engine, fast response times and the best Lens in the business. For a Family person that takes pictures of children playing sports and takes over a hundred pictures a month but never develop pictures bigger than an 8 X 10, this is the perfect camera. Sure some people criticize Panasonic's cameras for picture noise above ISO 200 but it doesn't matter if you are doing less than 8 X10 photos. The sharpness of the photos is amazing for a camera that's under $350. After all, if noise is a concern then spend a lot more money and get a DSLR. This camera is not totally perfect and requires a little learning curve of the features but it worth the half hour of time to read the manual. The best feature of this camera is that is a megazoom that is lightweight, can easily fit in your pocket and is $150 cheaper than a Canon Powershot S3 and Sony H5. Sure the Canon and Sony have more manual features and higher megapixels but they can't fit in your pocket. I think 5-megapixels with a Leica lens will be more than satisfying for most people that take spontaneous family pictures. This TZ1K feels well made and the screen is very sharp. Good job Panasonic for making the perfect pocket do-all zoom camera!