Product Description

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, Panasonic's DMC-TZ4 Lumix 8.1-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 15.9x, giving you even greater telephoto power. Set the TZ4 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 Intelligent big bright 2.5" LCD adjusts brightness automatically as the ambient light level changes, so images are clear, bright and easy to see. f=4.6-46mm (35mm equiv - 28-280mm) Focal Length 2.5 Diagonal Polycrystalline TFT LCD Display (230K 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 -

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #999 in Camera & Photo
• Color: Black
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: DMC-TZ4K
• Released on: 2008-03-07
• Dimensions: 4.13" h x 1.44" w x 2.34" l, .70 pounds
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• 8.1-megapixel resolution captures enough detail for photo-quality 16x 22-inch prints
• 10x optical zoom Leica DC lens; Face Detection
• New Panasonic Venus Engine IV improves noise reduction, elevates the detection accuracy and corrective effects
• 2.5-inch LCD; Mega O.I.S. and Intelligent ISO
• Captures images to SD memory cards (not included)

Manufacturer Description

The 8.1-megapixel Panasonic DMC-TZ4 packs a 28mm wide-angle, 10x optical zoom Leica DC lens in a compact design, ideal for the active photographer who needs a versatile camera. By combining a 28mm wide-angle lens, which lets you capture a wider-framed shot when compared to a traditional 35mm camera, with the TZ-Series 10x optical zoom, you're empowered to take expanded shots, both wide and far. Panasonic's Intelligent Auto technologies are also expanded, with new Intelligent Exposure and Digital Red-eye Correction.

With the addition of Intelligent Exposure and Digital Red-eye Correction, Panasonic’s Advanced Intelligent Auto mode consists of seven intuitive technologies, all which are specifically designed to help make photo-taking an enjoyable and seamless process unnoticed by the consumer -- helping them to take clear photos. When in Advanced Intelligent Auto mode, the following technologies all operate automatically; no settings need to be manually changed.

Also new to the TZ4 is the Venus Engine IV, Panasonic’s new high-performance image processing LSI. The Venus Engine IV produces higher-quality pictures than its predecessor, the Venus Engine III, by using a more advanced signal processing system. The new Venus Engine IV also improves noise reduction, elevates the detection accuracy and corrective effects in both Mega O.I.S. and Intelligent ISO and reduces the shutter release time lag. Both models also incorporate Intelligent LCD, which detects the lighting condition and controls the brightness level of the LCD in 11 fine steps, to offer optimal clarity in any situation, whether dark or light; indoors or outdoors. With a newly developed 230,000-dot high resolution in the TZ4’s 2.5-inch LCD, photos can be easily viewed on the display, regardless of the shooting environment.

The TZ4 is also capable of recording 1920 x 1080-pixel high-definition motion pictures, and because of its support of SD memory cards, is easily compatible with Panasonic Viera plasma HDTVs that have an integrated SD memory card slot, so viewing photos is simple. Also, with the newly added HD component output capability, users can also connect the TZ4 to an HDTV and watch a slideshow complete with mood-appropriate music, choosing from natural, slow, urban and swing.

Lumix DMC-TZ4A Highlights

Intelligent Exposure With this new feature, photos will no longer be under- or over-exposed. Instead, the TZ4 instantly analyzes the framed image and adjusts the brightness in areas that are too dark because of dim lighting, backlighting or the use of the flash. The camera will automatically adjust the brightness accordingly.

Digital Red-eye Correction This feature helps to eliminate the red-eye problem that sometimes results when taking flash shots at the night. Incorporated into the built-in flash, the camera emits a small preliminary flash before the main flash, detects red-eye and will digitally correct it.

Mega O.I.S. Gyrosensors detect hand-shake and the lens system shifts to compensate, helping to prevent hand-shake from creating a blurry image.

Intelligent ISO With Intelligent ISO, the TZ4 can determine if the photo subject is moving and change the ISO setting and shutter speed accordingly, thus giving a blur-free photo.

Intelligent Scene Selector Intelligent Scene Selector senses the ambient conditions, recognizes the shooting environment and will automatically select the appropriate scene mode from: Scenery, Portrait, Macro, Night Portrait or Night Scenery mode. This intuitive technology, helps you use the most common scene modes that are built into the camera, but often go unused, without making any manual adjustments.

Face Detection Panasonic’s Face Detection detects faces anywhere in the frame and automatically chooses the optimal focus and exposure settings so portraits come out clear and crisp. Detecting up to 15 faces, Panasonic’s Face Detection can even track a face if the subject is moving.

Continuous AF The Continuous AF (auto focus) system maintains focus on the subject even without pressing a shutter button halfway, thus minimizing the AF time.

Customer Reviews

Great Buy for Novice and Advanced photographers
This is a great little camera for both an advanced amateur (like me) looking for a second camera to carry everywhere you can't take your DSLR or for a complete novice (like my wife) who is looking for a camera that is really easy to use yet takes good pictures.

IN SUMMARY
What makes this camera special is that you have a full 10X zoom in a very compact form factor with a real wide-angle lens at 28mm. Most other cameras offer a smaller zoom range (around 4x), provide a semi-wide-angle at about 35mm, or are much bulkier.

PICTURE QUALITY
In reality, most cameras today take pretty decent pictures. Most people really don't need more than 2 megapixels, unless you are planning to either crop your photos or make very large prints. Therefore 8.1 megapixels are more than enough. My DSLR has 5 megapixels and I have never needed more.

The Leica lens is very high quality. The multiple built-in scene modes will make it easier to capture that sunset or use custom settings for that special picture. As with most cameras, it is always to have a photo editing program to adjust contrast (or levels if you are a bit more advanced), do some cropping and adjust sharpening.

As an advanced amateur (take a look at my Nikon DSL photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdada ) I found the quality of the pictures from the Lumix TZ4 to be excellent. AT the same time, my wife was able to use the Intelligent Auto mode to snap some pretty decent pictures. The flash does an especially good job - indoor people pictures had very nice tones and not blown out or underexposed like some other cameras.

VIDEO
With a 1Gb SD card I was able to capture a couple videos of my daughters dancing (to Hannah Montana, of course). The quality and resolution of the video is pretty amazing for a camera in this price range. You may want to use Windows Movie Maker (included with XP and Vista) to do some edits and make the video a smaller size suitable for emailing.

OTHER FEATURES
The camera feels very well built and solid. Face detection technology works incredibly well, ensuring your subjects are always in focus (as opposed to focusing to whatever is at the center of the picture). Image stabilization works . The LCD screen is very large and bright. Controls are easy to understand.

SUMMARY
I spent a long time looking at many cameras and playing with them. If you are an advanced photographer, this is not a camera to replace a DSLR, but a perfect companion to take to those places where you don't want (or can't) bring your big expensive camera. The TZ45 does not provide all the manual controls of other cameras, yet it allows enough settings for me (i.e. exposure compensation, ISO settings, etc.) .

For the average user, you can find a cheaper and a smaller camera for sure. But I doubt you will find a solid, pocket camera with a 10x zoom and a 28mm quality lens that produces such great photos with little effort. Definitely, the TZ4 is highly recommended.

UPDATE ---
I uploaded a few photos fromt he Lumix to this Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/LumixTZ4/ My other Flickr page has mostly photos taken with my Nikon D50.

Most photos I uploaded are straight from the camera. I found a simple sharpen command from any photo editing software will increase the quality of the pictures.

I have enjoyed the camera and am suprised for its great flash performance. It does an incredible job at balancing the background with a just-right flash.

Battery charge lasted for a couple hundred photos. Highly recommended.

Comparative Review: Panasonic Lumix TZ4; Canon SD 800IS and Canon SD850IS
I decided to do a little test comparing the SD 800 IS (28mm to 105 mm), SD 850 IS (35mm to 140 mm) and the Panasonic Lumix TZ4 (28mm to 280 mm). I just wanted to make sure that I got the camera that was right for me.

As part of the test, I took about 70 photos with each camera in various lighting conditions, indoor lighting behind, indoor lighting in front, outdoor, zoom, wide angle, etc. Because I usually use only 4x6 prints, I printed all the photos in 4x6 prints at a local photo lab. There was no post photo processing on any of the photos. I just wanted to see the results right out of the camera so to speak.

Thus, to me, the test was as real world as possible because that is how people use the camera, you don't shoot screens of color swatches, you shoot people, things, landscapes, grass, etc. Printing it out at a photo lab let me see the pictures as best as they could be. All cameras were set on full auto and no special modes were used for any of the shots.

The results were very intersting but hardly surprising. With the exception of a somewhat noticeable difference in the telephoto and zoom ranges, at a 4x6 size, there is essentially no discernable difference in the pictures generated by the Canon SD 850IS and the Canon SD 800IS. There was no difference indoors, outdoors, or anywhere else. This is not surprising, because the cameras are very very similar, use the same processor, and only differ in the lenses.

The Panasonic was another story. It exhibited performance issues, had zoom hunting, poor focus, fringing, etc. on the indoor shots. Outside, with plenty of light, it performed very well and produced excellent photos, but because I don't shoot exclusively outside, that was a deal killer for me. You basically cannot shoot anything moving indoors with this camera. Based on the reviews, I understood that this camera had limitations, but did not realize how much the processor hobbled this camera's indoor performance.

Here's the Review for the Panasonic Lumix TZ4:

PROS:

LENS: The quality and range of this lens are ideal. That is the absolute best part of this camera. Wide angle lens is a real treat in a point and shoot sized camera. I shot many group shots with this camera and everyone of them fit in the picture, and I did not have to walk back any steps (or wedge myself into a corner, etc. to do it). Also, outside, and especially outside, it is amazing what you will fit into a picture. There is absolutely no distortion with this lens. The outside pictures are superb.

ZOOM RANGE: You will not find better.

FEEL: The feel of this camera is of a well built quality piece. The grip is excellent and it feels good in the hand.

FAST: Pretty fast for a point and shoot. Not as fast as the Canons.

SIZE: The smallest superzoom anywhere. Smaller than Canon's superzoom the SX-1000. Looks better too.

LOOKS AND FEEL: I absolutely loved the looks and feel of this camera. It reminded me of my old SLR. It had a nice heft to it, and the controls were laid out nicely. Also love the fact that it was black and made of good quality materials.

BATTERY: Battery life is very good. Took almost 200 shots and did not even come close to using up the battery.

FLASH: Flash is very strong for a camera this size. Reaches rather far, but will not illuminate an object at the end of the 10X zoom.

CONS:

PROCESSOR: This camera is a grand slam waiting to happen if they can just put in a better processor. On indoor pictures, there is no ability to take a good candid with the camera because it hunts for focus and zoom for too long. Many of the pictures that were taken exhibited astounding amounts of fringing, or were out of focus. Because I was looking for a camera that I needed to take many indoor candid shots (where people are moving around and not posing), this was a deal breaker for me.

On outside shots, where you have plenty of light and if people don't move around too much, the camera takes excellent pictures. Many of the professional reviewers lament Panasonic's heavy handed noise reduction, but you don't see anything on the outside shots. This zoom range is an unbelievable asset to have outdoors.

Overall, many reviewers labelled this a "travel camera" and it is easy to see why. It is durable, has a great lens, and will take excellent sightseeing photos. For that purpose, it is highly recommended. I knocked it down to three stars because I need a camera that does it all very well, and the indoor performance of this camera was disappointing in view of how much I really wanted to like and keep this camera.

Hope this helps and best of luck in your shopping!

Powerhouse performance
I have a DSLR that I really, really like, but there are times when I want to travel with a minimum of gear. And then, of course, it's absolutely true that the best camera is the one you actually have with you when you see that once-in-a-lifetime shot.

I've not been a Panasonic user before this and was actually quite leery of the brand based on professional reviews that complained about other Panasonic models suffering from a watercolor effect and heavy handed noise reduction artifacts. So I went with Fuji first and then Canon, but couldn't "get happy" with any of their offerings.

So far, neither noise reduction artifacting nor watercolor effects are apparent in this iteration, the TZ-4. It is a gorgeous metal camera that is easy to hold by a guy with even fairly large hands, despite the fact that it's very compact. The menu system is quite straightforward and there are plenty of scene modes that at least approximate what a manual control camera might offer you. ISO, AF area, metering area, exposure compensation and bracketing, and white balance can all be manually set. There is no shutter or aperture priority, although you can specify the absolute minimum shutter speed the camera will choose, down to a full second.

The custom white balance set feature is very well implemented, and I had no problem getting beautifully lit, correctly exposed existing light shots indoors using the image stabilization feature and low ISO.

The LCD monitor is not as sharp as the TZ5's but plenty good for checking pictures, and the battery lasts longer in this camera than the TZ5 if that matters to you.

The AF assist light is very, very helpful and focus lock is almost always very quick and on the money. The macro feature is astounding. The controls are well placed and give good feedback.

I have three gripes: the power switch and the scene wheel can both be inadvertently activated; there need to be way firmer detents or they both have to be recesed. AF seems to struggle a bit with the movie mode, but being able to zoom during the actual video shooting is a godsend. And finally, the USB out port is irritating. It pops open very easily. I may use a piece of black electrical tape to cover it.

All in all a superb little performer for what you get for your money; chock full of features and of course the lovely 28 - 280 zoom. WOW. I highly recommend this camera as an ideal all around travel camera you might actually take with you !!