Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5K

CNET Editors' Rating 6.6/10 Good Editorial policies >>
Average user rating from 5 users 8.4/10 Excellent Read user opinions >>

Product Summary

The good: Optical image stabilization; long-range, relatively fast lens; lots of handy features.

The bad: Mediocre performance; cheap build quality; some problems with image quality.

The bottom line: Poor low-light performance hinders the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5's useful features.

Specs: Digital camera type: Compact; Resolution: 6 megapixels; Optical zoom: 6 x See full specs >>

Price range: $319.90

See all products in the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 series

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: Shams Tarek
Edited by: Lori Grunin
Reviewed on: 03/27/2006
Released on: 02/24/2006

The modest Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 tops Panasonic's midrange line of compact, 6X-zoom snapshot cameras; its 6-megapixel resolution and about $50 are all that differentiate it from its 5-megapixel sibling, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ3. Both incorporate a 37mm-to-222mm (35mm equivalent) Leica lens, optical image stabilization, and numerous ways to control image capture, though they lack manual exposure modes. The DMC-LZ5 fares moderately well in bright environments, but poor performance and average photo quality lessen the allure of this attractively priced model. Little about its design distinguishes the fairly standard-looking Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 from its competitors in the crowded sub-$300 digital camera market. Compact but not ultrathin, the DMC-LZ5 fits easily in a coat pocket or a purse. In addition to its mundane aesthetic, its 8.2-ounce, matte-plastic body feels cheap compared to that of metal-bodied competitors. A 2.5-inch LCD dominates the back of the camera, with no viewfinder in sight. A standard four-way-plus-OK button pad for navigating the menus and the shooting options sits next to the screen. The mode dial and the zoom rocker sit on top of the camera, along with a dedicated image-stabilization button. Despite the numerous controls on the surface, the DMC-LZ5 buries many of its features under a menu system that's easy but tedious to use, especially when you want to shoot quickly.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 has the typical array of controls.

Panasonic loads the 6-megapixel Lumix DMC-LZ5 with useful but sometimes quirky features designed with real-world shooting situations in mind. It pairs a relatively fast (f/2.8 to f/4.5), long lens (the equivalent of 37mm to 222mm) with Panasonic's signature Mega Optical Image Stabilization to keep telephoto shots from blurring too much. The camera has 15 scene modes, including a unique Starry Sky option that lets you choose exposure times of 15, 30, or 60 seconds for astrophotography. Oddly, that last mode forces the camera to start a self-timer with a countdown equal to the exposure time.

You can adjust the camera's white-balance settings manually or even fine-tune them, as on a digital SLR. The camera also has standard preset settings such as Automatic and Halogen, usually referred to as Incandescent or Tungsten on other cameras. Unfortunately, the camera lacks a fluorescent white-balance preset.

The DMC-LZ5's five autofocus settings include a wide five-point array and a narrow spot mode. A live histogram helps you see what an exposure will look like, though the camera's low-resolution LCD renders it relatively useless.

Panasonic incorporates other small conveniences as well, such as grid lines that it displays on the screen to aid composition and a High Angle LCD mode that brightens the screen for easier viewing in above-your-head shots. The camera also has 14MB of built-in memory, although you'll want a decent-size Secure Digital card if you want to take more than a handful of shots at a time or capture movies in 30fps VGA. The camera uses two AA batteries for easy battery swapping. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 disappoints when it comes to performance. It takes 3 seconds to wake up and has a long shutter lag of about a second. Shooting feels even more sluggish at telephoto distances, where the autofocus takes a long time to lock on to simple targets. Panasonic claims the technology will add three stops of handheld shooting latitude, but in our tests, it delivered only about one stop. The DMC-LZ5's mediocre 2.6-second shot-to-shot time doubles to an even worse 5.2 seconds when you use the camera's built-in flash. For some odd reason, the LCD blacks out while the flash recycles.

Continuous-shooting performance fares better. The DMC-LZ5 has two burst modes: a high-speed mode that achieved 3fps in our CNET Labs tests, and a low-speed burst that tested at 1.6fps. A slower but unlimited continuous mode shoots until your memory card runs out of space.

Unfortunately, the LCD has a low resolution of 85,000 pixels, and we experienced noticeable motion trails when framing our shots.

Shooting speed in seconds (Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (typical)

Olympus FE-120

2.6

4.9

1.3

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5

2.6

3.0

0.9

Nikon Coolpix S4

2.8

2.5

0.8

Sanyo Xacti VPC-E6

2.3

2.0

0.7

Casio Exilim EX-Z110

1.8

1.7

0.6

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-S600

1.3

1.8

0.4

Typical continuous-shooting speed in frames per second (Longer bars indicate better performance)

Sanyo Xacti VPC-E6

3.0

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5

1.6

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-S600

1.5

Olympus FE-120

1.2

Nikon Coolpix S4

1.1

Casio Exilim EX-Z110

0.7

Image quality in good light is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5's strength. Well-lit shots have a very pleasing look, with natural, accurate color rendition and very few JPEG-compression artifacts. While the camera tends to underexpose sometimes and burn out highlights other times, flesh tones are very neutral and colors seem to pop with just the right amount of contrast and saturation. Those wanting to customize the color look can select a Vivid picture setting with increased saturation and sharpening.

The DMC-LZ5 has pretty typical lens geometry for a compact model. There's a bit of vignetting, the darkening and softening of the corners of the image frame at the wide end of the lens's range, but it's negligible at the telephoto end. There's some barrel distortion at the wide end but little pincushioning when zoomed out. However, focus falls off sharply on the left side, which aggravates the otherwise modest amount of chromatic aberration, the colored fringing often seen around heavily backlit objects, such as bare branches against a sky. However, photos look relatively sharp overall, especially in macro shots.

Note the combination of image noise and compression artifacts, even at the lowest setting of ISO 80, resulting in the yellow splotches in the book.

Flash performance is disappointing, with indoor pictures often coming out flat and unattractive. The sensor is extremely noisy at high sensitivities, making low-light shots all but impossible. Shots at ISO 80 and 100 are tolerable, but at ISO 200, images start to show noticeable noise and softness. ISO 400 shots have excessive noise as well as image problems such as softness, lower contrast, and color shift. Extended ISO settings of 800 and 1,600 are available, but noise above ISO 400 makes them all but unusable.

See more CNET content tagged:: Panasonic,; Panasonic Lumix,; noise

User opinions

8.4/10 Average user rating from 5 users Excellent

WRITE YOUR OWN REVIEW How would you rate this product?

8/10 Excellent May 19, 2006

by MadJoe (see profile)

"Overall a good camera" Read more >>
8/10 Excellent May 23, 2006

by furs4u (see profile)

"Everything you need in a camera under $300" Read more >>
9/10 Spectacular July 29, 2006

by dedapr (see profile)

"This camera is fantastic!" Read more >>
WRITE YOUR OWN REVIEW See all 5 user opinions >>