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"Impressive zoom with image stabilization" on by jayhan
Pros: 10x zoom, image stabilization, wide-screen video, big LCD, fast
Cons: Detached lens cap, off-center tripod socket, few manual controls
Summary: This is a great camera for snapshots. The 10x optical zoom lets you capture far away objects with great clarity. The image stabilizer works great! 5MP is good enough for most home projects.
This camera has few manual controls, so don't expect to use it for art. But the image quality is decent, and it has reasonable performance in low light conditions.
You can also shoot wide-screen video (848x480) at 30fps (very large files!) which is nice if you have the TV to go with it. One very neat feature is its ability to detect the orientation of the shots (i.e., portrait vs. landscape; probably thanks to the circuitry used for image stabilization) so you don't have to manually rotate images for later use.
The tripod socket is way off-center, so you can't use pocket-sized tripods. Also, with image stabilizer and LCD at high brightness, battery life is not great, probably good for 100 shots. But the charger is very small and light, so carrying it is no big deal. I still recommend buying an extra battery for trips. Note that this is not a very pocketable camera. I usually carry it in a belt pouch.
The biggest problem of this camera is the detached lens cap, although secured by a short wire, it's a hassle to clip it on and off for taking pictures. The lens being fairly big, I guess it can't be avoided. This is the worst problem for this camera, which speaks volumes about the quality of everything else!
Highly recommended. -
"Ignore the Cnet review. They got it quite wrong. Note average user opinion is 9 (as of 7/8/06)." on by chicago user
Pros: Small size, 10X optical zoom, optical image stabilization that works all the way to full zoom, and much less noise than prior panasonic models,
Cons: Lacks manual controls for all aspects of the picture taking (but most users won't miss that, and ones who do will probably only be happy with slr's anyway).
Summary: Camera is excellent. I've had many other digital cameras, including other Panasonics, Canon's, and Nikon's. My parents have had a Sony, and so I am familiar with that brand, too. Bottom line: no other camera on the market that is this small, has a 10X optical (not digital) zoom, has OIS (that actually works all the way to full zoom level), and works this easily (you can set it do everything automatically or you can choose to take over much of the photo setup). Noise issues that you've read about with other Panasonic models has been greatly reduced with this one (I've taken many pictures, outside and in, and really do not have noticeable noise problems unless I get beyond 200 ISO or blow the picture up to something larger than 8X10). I've even cropped and enlarged sections of photo's and printed up to 8x10, and I have not noticed any problems. One thing that the reviews I've read haven't yet mentioned is how vivid the colors are in the photos this camera takes. You can dial it down, but I like the way the photo's come out naturally. I get lots of comments on my printed shots of how vibrant the pictures are. This one is a keeper. Shame on Cnet for missing the boat in their review. (P.S. I'm not alone in my opinion. Check out user reviews here, in amazon, in circuitcity.com, or anywhere else on the web where actual user reviews are posted. The overwhelming consensus of real world users is that this camera is uniquely excellent.)
Updated
UPDATE: Since originally submitting my review, Cnet has now updated the review page on this camera and is showing that the average user rating is a 9 out of 10. So, my comment about that missing has now been fixed. Rest of my review is still accurate. -
"Well, No complaints about the picture quality." on by Someshcnet
Pros: Very Good 10x optical zoom with Panasonic's Mega OIS gives a very good picture even for people with a little shaky hand.
Cons: It uses Panasonic Proprietary battery which is expensive and also a disadvantage if you go for a three day trek in a jungle :) (Panasonic claim its a traveller camera!!!, at full charge by using flash
Summary: Summary
Well, No complaints about the picture quality.
Put the pict mode to 'standard', good for shooting outdoors, put it to 'natural' and the inbulit noise reduction algorithm starts to work and is good for shooting indoors ,and if you want some extra fun with colors, use the 'vivid' mode.
Strength
1. Very Good 10x optical zoom with Panasonic's Mega OIS gives a very good picture even for people with a little shaky hand.
2. Can use the full 10x zoom even while shooting the video.
3. when you shoot at 3MP or less, you can have effective optical zoom of 12.5x
4. Lots od inbuilt scene modes, which is of gr8 help to avoid manual settings to get a good photo.
5. Start up time is very quick
6. Hand Grip is very good.
7. Its one of the few panasonic Lumix which looks good
8. Shutter can open for 15, 30 or 60 secs in 'starry sky scene mode' and 8 secs in 'night scenery scene mode'
Weakness
1. It uses Panasonic Proprietary battery which is expensive and also a disadvantage if you go for a three day trek in a jungle
(Panasonic claim its a traveller camera!!!, at full charge by using flash for alternative photos, u can click 235 photos)
2. No optical View finder, big disadvantage given the optical zoom range and using a proprietery battery.
3. Shutter speeds are fixed, and u cannot have full control over it.
4. Lens cover is not inside the camera, u have to manually out the cap from outside (cap is provided with the camera and needs to be tagged to it) -
"Lovely camera !! shoddy review by CNET" on by madhusudan13
Pros: OIS is fabulous, image quality very good, decent battery life
Cons: no viewfinder
Summary: This is an amazing new generation camera combining features, quality, zoom & pocketability.
CNET has given TZ1 4/10 for image quality when 10 other websites(including dcresource, PC Mag) have rated the image quality very good ! I have used this camera for a month now and i'm very happy with the image quality. I CHALLENGE Cnet to compare its image quality side by side with some of its top rated cameras on objective factors.
OIS is an amazing thing which lets you take brilliant pics at high zooms or when the subject is moving relative to you !! Sadly, this is ignored by CNET and various others while comparing this camera with ones without OIS like canon A700, kodak V610.
TZ1's movie mode allows zooming and 30 fps shooting at VGA+ resolution.
The battery lasted 9 days of extreme weather in mountains with more than 300 shots.
The camera lacks some manual controls but I found enough scene modes(total 18 are there) to suit different shooting environments.
Yes it also lacks a viewfinder, but the LCD is quite good and I have hardly used viewfinders in more than 3 yrs of owning digicams. -
"Sets the Bar for Zoom, Exceptional All Around" on by Nrbelex
Pros: 10X Zoom, Image Stabilization, Features, Image Qaulity, Number of Useful Modes
Cons: Lense Cap, Noise at Very High ISOs, Size
Summary: I've tested this camera out for a good while now and have found it hard to believe I ever considered less zooming capability acceptable. Very little jitter occurs even at the furthest settings due to the camera's great stabilization. The sport mode at an ISO of 200 produced good pictures with very little noise. Capturing the action wasn't much of a problem and the continuous mode worked quickly and delivered nice action shots. Noise does become a problem at ISOs over 200 but rarely does the camera's automatic settings take it into this area and even so, programs like Neat Image can usually correct the noise. Even if noise becomes a slight issue, the details are very well preserved. I don't see the noise issue as specific to this camera anyway. The macro mode usually works great and the camera really stood out here so long as lighting worked out. The menus are easy to navigate and any more complex questions are usually answered easily through the manual. One thing to note is that the camera has a detachable lens-cover which gets strung to the camera itself. It's not a major issue but it's a little different than most cameras. The battery life was adequate and acceptable for its size and charged in around two hours through a wall-attached charger. I have gotten over 300 pictures in a single charge but I'm still gonna buy a second battery. When I got the camera, I opted for a 1 gig SD card which has been compatible and allows me to store 410 images at the highest quality or around 11 minutes of (surprisingly good) video. Videos are produced as .MOVs which is slightly annoying but can be worked with and are really great from a point-and shoot camera. While filming, you can even use the zoom features, granted they are slower than usual. All around, the camera seems well made and solid and it's clear Panasonic put a lot of work into it. The modes are intuitive and even technophobes will have a hard time getting confused in "simple-mode".
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