- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 19 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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15 out of 22 people found this review helpful
3.0 stars
"TZ3 "dumbed-down" - The TZ5 is A Disapppointment !!!!"
Pros: Construction, LCD
Cons: What were the Panasonic Engineers/Prodcut Desginers Thinking
Summary: With relatively minor improvements, the TZ3 could have been taking to the point of an effective "pocketable" substitute for a DSLR .... but .....
This camera is a step back from TZ3. I would recommend purchasing the TZ3, not the TZ5.
1 ) The implementation of the macro .... a command dial control selection on the TZ3 .... is quite inconvenient on the TZ5 .... and the macro focus performs inconsistently ....
2 ) The product designers' kids must not play sports ..... there is no Tv ( shutter speed ) selection .... and the programmed sports mode is way too slow to capture action in most sports ( and no-one in Pansonic tech assistance seems to know what the programmed shutter speed is ) ....
3 ) video capture is limited to 7 mins in best quality HD ... and 15 mins in SD ..... great if your kids play 6 minute soccer games ... These limitations did not exist in the TZ3. With 32 GB SDHC cards available, such limitations are unacceptable. Moreover, AVCHD, increasingly supported by the industry( and by Pansonic ) would have been the better video format.
Problems
As noted above, the TZ5 is a step back from TZ3 in terms of functionality ..... notwithstanding the gain of 2 megapixels of resolution ......
I recommend buying a TZ3 ..... which is an excellent camera. The TZ5 should have improved on it, but failed to do so .... a big disappointment ..... !!!
- 7 replies to this review
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I would like to say that different kinds of cameras are built for different things. The TZ5 is a great camera, and though I agree with what you said, you probably will never find a compact camera that fits all possible needs of someone. This camera is mainly for compact megazoom, high megapixels and limited manual settings, not for sports. I found the macro to work fine...
As for the video, if you want a great video, you probably should be using a camcorder. Video features, esp. HD, on a camera is a great bonus, but shouldn't be expected to be perfect- that's what camcorders are for, not cameras. -
I have read the replies as well and still agree with view The Auto can not handle movement on photo's this is Very Disappointing! But everything else is perfect. I have active children and love going on wlks with our dog. In wood land this camera struggles with movement 130 photos taken 100 Blurry !
Video is spot on though! -
The reviewer is complaining about movies, well if you want a movie camera that records an entire soccer game then go buy a real video camera. Just like cell phones with a camera built in, the movie function on this camera is just a convenience, it's not designed to replace a real movie camera. To say such negative things about this camera just goes to show that you didn't full review the camera as a whole, instead you focused only on the things you didn't like.
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concerning "primaz" comments on shutter speed, according to my manual, in the "sports" mode you can set the minimum shutter speed up to 1/200 sec ... not fast enough to stop most sports action. According to Panasonic tech assistance, there is no capability to set a fixed sutter speed. A Tv selection ( shutter speed ) on the command dial would be easy to add ... there is plenty of real estate here.
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After reading the manual I found the tZ5 to be the perfect camera. The camera has the ability to change the shutter speed, white balance, iso levels, and a lot more. If you say it has no shutter speed control you must not have read the manual.
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I have just bought TZ5 and am extremely happy I did. An absolutely excellent camera in every respect. If someone wants to shoot sport actio in HD or SD let them buy an video camcorder. But for a traveller who hates to carry around a bulky and heavy camera, TZ5 has simply no rivals and the image quality is excellent IMHO, what ever some reviews may say.
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The reviewer is "forgot" to mention that the TZ3 only takes SD video and the TZ5 takes HD. Also, even though all my kids play soccer, I have never filmed a 7+ minute video segment (just stop when the ball goes out of bounds and start before the next throw in).
Also, with the TZ3 you can not zoom while filming! With the TZ5 you can.
As for pictures the TZ3 has a lot of problems with noise. The TZ5 not only takes higher resolution pictures but fixes some (but not all) of the noise issues.
Where to buy
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 (Black):
$329.99 - $359.95
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$359.95 | Yes |
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Office Depot
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$329.99 | Yes |
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