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, the DMC-TZ5 Lumix 9.1-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 16.9x, giving you even greater telephoto power. Set the TZ5 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 TZ5 can record motion images with sensational 1280 x 720 HD resolution at 30 frames per second (fps). f=4.6-46mm (35mm equiv - 28-280mm) Focal Length 3.0 Diagonal Polycrystalline TFT LCD Display (460K 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 - 0.507 lbs

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35 in Camera & Photo
• Color: Black
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: DMC-TZ5K
• Released on: 2008-03-07
• Dimensions: 4.13" h x 1.44" w x 2.34" l, .70 pounds
• Display size: 3
• Included Software: Yes

Features

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

Manufacturer Description

The 9.1-megapixel Panasonic DMC-TZ5 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 TZ5 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 460,000-dot high resolution in the TZ5’s 3.0-inch LCD, photos can be easily viewed on the display, regardless of the shooting environment.

The TZ5 is also capable of recording 720p 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 TZ5 to an HDTV and watch a slideshow complete with mood-appropriate music, choosing from natural, slow, urban and swing.

Lumix DMC-TZ5A Highlights

Intelligent Exposure With this new feature, photos will no longer be under- or over-exposed. Instead, the TZ5 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 TZ5 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 all-purpose camera...
I'm very happy with this camera. My goal was to have a camera that would take nice still photos, along with decent video. It has been everything I expected based on other professional reviews I had read.

For me, there was a small learning curve to get the video focused the way I wanted. I've learned to frame the shot, focus, and then shoot video, without the continuous focus running. Because the video is 720p, and the camera is so small compared to a camcorder, handheld video is more likely to be a little shaky. I've learned to be a little more diligent about the way I hold the camera, and I also take advantage of the Image Stabilization feature. Compared to the video from my last mini-dv camcorder, the video is beautiful. For home videos, it is more than adequate. The audio is lower quality, which I expected based on other reviews, but I can hear people's voices and understand what they are saying, so I am fine with it.

The photos are great for a point-and-shoot. I would definitely recommend following other peoples' advice I've read, which is to keep the INTELLIGENT-ISO mode at a max of 800 to help reduce the "grainy" look. There are a LOT of features, and I haven't learned them all yet. But for the amateur photographer, it would appear that there are numerous options to help you get a great picture.

I've taken this camera on a couple of one-day trips, and it has been wonderful. Having one relatively small camera that is capable of shooting great photos and video is one of the best accessories a father of three could have. I've not had any battery issues yet. I like having a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery. I just charge it up the night before any event, and it always gets me through the next day.

Some more notes about the video as a semi-professional videographer:
A great thing for me has been that the video is in a QuickTime format that is native to my Mac (Motion JPEG). I have been able to create a preset in Final Cut Pro that allows me to work with the video in it's native format, without any transcoding. To me, that's a big plus compared to using some of the other HD camcorders out there. Something that needs to be considered, though, is that you need plenty of hard-drive space to store these videos. I bought an A-DATA 16GB Turbo SDHC Class 6 Memory Card here on Amazon to use in this camera. I was a little leery considering it only cost $30 bucks, but it has worked fine so far. Again, I took another person's advice, and I've left the card in the camera ever since I put it in. I only transfer the photos and video by plugging the camera into the computer. I figure I don't want to mess with the physical integrity of the memory card any more than I have to. Playback of the video is also something that needs to be considered. You can plug the camera into a standard TV for standard resolution playback, or you can buy an extra Component Cable, which I'm sure would yield better results for playback on an HDTV. However, when you take the files off of your memory card, you'll need to have another playback option. Personally, I plan on using a Mac Mini, with the built-in Front Row software, connected to an HDTV for my future viewing. But for now, the only way to watch my home video in full HD is on my laptop.

Overall, I think another reviewer here put it best when he wrote, "If you know what you're getting into, you'll be thrilled." It's a great option for a very portable, high quality still-photo and video camera... possibly the best in its category so far.

Lumix TZ5K Camera
The price was 35% less than anyone else and the vendor, Vanns, was terrific. Shipped on time and delivered on time. Follow-up report from the vendor was very thoughtful. Will buy more from them in the future.
I always check Amazon before buying anything on-line.

Great picture, great video, terrible sound!
Everything was great about this camera except the sound during videos. It was awful. I returned the camera.