In summary
Panasonic’s 5-megapixel DMC-LZ2 – and its ‘sister’ the 4-megapixel LZ-1 (RRP $549) – are unusual in combining a moderately long zoom lens with a compact, point-and-shoot style body. The lens takes roughly two seconds to extend when the camera is switched on and packs away when it’s turned off. The Mega O.I.S. stabilisation has two modes – continuous and standby – and can be switched off to conserve power when the camera is tripod-mounted. . . [more]
Full review
Rating (out of 10)
Build: 8.5
Ease of use: 8.5
Image quality: 8.0
Value for money: 8.5
Panasonic’s 5-megapixel DMC-LZ2 – and its ‘sister’ the 4-megapixel LZ-1 (RRP $549) – are unusual in combining a moderately long zoom lens with a compact, point-and-shoot style body. The lens takes roughly two seconds to extend when the camera is switched on and packs away when it’s turned off. The ‘Mega O.I.S.’ stabilisation has two modes – continuous and standby – and can be switched off to conserve power when the camera is tripod-mounted.
Designed for ease of use, the LZ2’s top panel sports a mode dial with eight settings, covering Program AE, a simple mode (designated by a heart icon), Economy (which dims the LCD to conserve power), macro and movie capture, plus a playback position. There are two identical Scene modes, either of which can be programmed to give quick access to frequently used settings.
A 2-inch LCD covers most of the back panel, plus display, menu and drive/erase buttons, plus a four-way controller. No viewfinder is provided. The menu system is well-designed and easy to view and both rule-of-thirds guidelines and a histogram can be displayed, the latter only for still shooting. Four AF settings are provided, along with four white balance settings plus a manual mode that is simple to use.
The test camera produced pictures with reasonably accurate colours but elevated saturation levels and relatively high contrast. Imatest showed the lens/sensor combination produced very good overall image sharpness and chromatic aberration was negligible. Close-up performance was excellent and the white balance performance was similar to the FZ5. The flash required ISO 400 sensitivity to illuminate an average-sized room but did a good job with moderate close-ups, taken with the lens zoomed out. Low light shots had visible noise at ISO 400 but none at lower sensitivity settings.
We measured an average capture lag of 0.8 seconds, which reduced to 0.15 seconds with pre-focusing. The LZ2 has the same three burst modes as the FZ5 but can only record five Standard JPEG shots in the high and low modes and the frame rate in the unlimited mode is 1.5fps.[23]
IMATEST RESULTS
Resolution is generally high and the potential for aliasing (‘jaggies’) is minimal. This camera should produce high-quality prints at sizes between A4 and A3.
Chromatic aberration is low enough to be barely visible in normal photographs.
Colour accuracy is generally very good and the slightly elevated saturation will produce pleasingly-vivid prints.
The above chart confirms the camera’s excellent colour accuracy but suggests that noise will probably be an issue at high ISO settings.
Specifications
Image sensor: 5.34 x 4.01mm CCD with 5.4 million photosites (5.0 megapixels effective)
Lens: f2.8 – f4.5 (37 – 222mm in 35mm format)
Zoom ratio: 6x optical, up to 4x digital
Dimensions (wxhxd): 101 x 64 x 33mm
Weight: 224g
Image formats: Stills – JPEG (EXIF 2.2)
Shutter speed range: 8-1/2000 sec.
Focus system/range: TTL AF; range 50 cm to infinity; macro to 5 cm
Exposure metering/control: Intelligent multi-segment metering; Program AE
White balance: Auto, daylight, cloudy, halogen, white set (manual)
Flash modes/range (ISO auto): Auto, Red-Eye Auto, On, Off, Slow Sync
ISO range: Auto, ISO 80, 100, 200, 400
Sequence shooting: 2/4 fps, max 5 images
Storage Media: 14 MB Internal plus SD/MMC card slot
Viewfinder: n.a.
LCD monitor: 2.0-inch transmissive (85,000 pixels)
Power supply: 2x AA batteries (NiMH recommended)
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