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Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 Digital Camera

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 Digital Camera

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Key Features of the Panasonic DMC-TZ5 :
  • Ultra compact body with 10X wide angle zoom lens.
  • Large 3" High Resolution 460K pixel LCD
  • 28mm/f3.3 wide-angle Leica DC lens
  • Advanced Optical Image Stabilization and Intelligent ISO
  • Autofocus/auto exposure Face Detection
  • HD Motion Capture video mode.
  • Digital Red-eye Correction

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.



Panasonic DMC-TZ5 Photo Samples

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These are actual photos taken with Panasonic DMC-TZ5.
Photos courtesy of Flickr and belong to respective users. To view a larger image click on thumbnail.

Compare Panasonic DMC-TZ5 with similar cameras

Name: Sony DSC-H10 Panasonic DMC-TZ5
Megapixels: 8.1 9.1
Optical Zoom: 10 X 10 X
Max Res: 3264 x 2448 3456 x 2592
LCD Screen: 3.0 " 3.0 "
Digital zoom: Yes, up to 2x Yes, up to 4x
Image stabilizer: Yes, Lens Yes, Lens
Media Card: Memory Stick Duo / Pro Duo + Internal SD / MMC / SDHC card + Internal
Battery: Lithium-Ion (NP-BG1) & charger Lithium-Ion rechargeable & charger
Weight (with batteries): 296 g (10.4 oz) 245 g (8.6 oz)
Lowest Price: $219.95 $249.95
Details: View details View details

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Panasonic DMC-TZ5 User Reviews

Avg. Rating
4.5
Out of 5
This item is reviewed by 527 people so far.
Click here for complete reviews.

4
Out of 5
Great buy - great lens!
- Reviewd on: 3/4/2010 12:00:00 AM By: Laura K. Westmeyer
The lens that this panasonic series uses is the best of the best. While I PERSONALLY prefer the Lumix TZ-3 (the older model), for it's manual photography options, this is of similar quality. I bought 2 cameras in this series and they are all exceptional. Panasonic does such a great job with digial cameras. The optical zoom is its best feature.
2
Out of 5
Difficult to use - digital camera
- Reviewd on: 2/15/2010 12:00:00 AM By: T. Hall
This camera takes high quality pictures but is very dificult and confusing to operate.
Too many adjustments needed. I will replace with a Cannon next time as they have been easier to operate in the past. Battery life is okay. My wife dropped it once on our vacation and the lcd screen now has large dark line running diagnol across it. Scrren is exposed and has NO protection form impact. Not very durable.
1
Out of 5
Be Warned
- Reviewd on: 12/24/2009 12:00:00 AM By: Jennie M. Tracy
I have used a lot of digital cameras, this one makes me want to throw it at a concrete wall. I sometimes hit the button and it pauses for one to two seconds then takes the picture. I have missed entire shots. My kids running down the hall, I hit the button and the picture is an empty hall because they moved before it took the picture. I would not pay one dime for this camera, because I can't figure out why it does this. I have tried taking the exact same picture over and over with different settings with no results, and then it will randomly take it instantly when I hit the button.

The Zoom is great, the pictures look nice but I can often not get the shot I wanted. I hit the button this morning and my little girl had looked away before it took the shot. Nice, what a piece of junk.

Panasonic is off my list of quality forever for this $300 nightmare.
5
Out of 5
Now I use it all the time.
- Reviewd on: 12/20/2009 12:00:00 AM By: N Doxey
I was so disappointed with the picture quality of this camera during the first few months of use and I did not use it much at all. Then it dawned on me to look for a firmware update. I applied v1.2 update to the TZ5 and that made all the difference. Now I carry this camera with me everyday and use it all the time even though I have several DSLRs. Wow, I also missed a gem.

Panasonic needs to get with the program and get the firmware right in the first place. This is my only grip with Panasonic camera products. It is my understanding that they are not supporting many of their products with firmware updates (about one for the FZ30). Any company should write several firmware updates for every model. Do they think that we are going to throw money at them every year or so just because they have poor support.
5
Out of 5
Awesome!!
- Reviewd on: 12/13/2009 12:00:00 AM By: Girish Patwardhan
I had used this for my visits to LA, New york, Niagara. And the I really love this camera