In summary
Compact and 10x zoom makes the TZ1 a good choice for travellers.Claimed as the smallest 10x zoom digital camera on the market, Panasonic’s 5-megapixel DMC-TZ1 recently received the T.I.P.A. Award for the best ‘Superzoom’ digital camera in Europe. Among the reasons cited for the win are the camera’s Optical Image Stabiliser (which is found in all Panasonic digicams) and the new Venus Engine III processor. The ‘unlimited’ burst mode, which lets users fire off a burst of shots at half-second intervals until the memory is full, also got a Guernsey, as did the integrated retractable lens system with its folded optics technology. . . [more]
Full review
Claimed as the smallest 10x zoom digital camera on the market, Panasonic’s 5-megapixel DMC-TZ1 recently received the TIPA Award for the best ‘Superzoom’ digital camera in Europe. Among the reasons cited for the win are the camera’s Optical Image Stabiliser (which is found in all Panasonic digicams) and the new Venus Engine III processor. The ‘unlimited’ burst mode, which lets users fire off a burst of shots at half-second intervals until the memory is full also got a guernsey, as did the integrated retractable lens system with its folded optics technology.
All these features – plus the well-built metal body – make the TZ1 a good choice for travellers and the camera has a built-in world clock and facilities for logging your departure date and the time zone of your destination in the camera. You can also browse pictures with a Calendar display that shows you which days shots were taken. Less attractive is the lack of an optical viewfinder, although the 2.5-inch LCD is easy to use, thanks to Panasonic’s excellent menu system. The removable lens cap is also inconvenient as it has to be tethered to the wrist strap.
The monitor has four display settings in Normal record mode, two in Simple mode and three for Playback. A mode dial on the top panel ‘drives’ settings for Normal and Simple shooting modes, Macro, Movie and Playback, plus two Scene mode positions with the same 18 settings in each, so users can keep two frequently-used modes programmed in. New scene modes include Beach and Aerial, the former for shooting in strong sunlight. Zooming is accomplished via a ring switch around the shutter button. The top panel also carries the power on/off switch, image stabilization button, and microphone and speaker for audio recordings.
The Menu button sits inside the arrow pad and accesses five settings for each of the following controls: white balance, ISO, image size and AF modes; three aspect ratio and metering modes and two image quality settings. Four colour effects are provided, along with three Picture Adjustments (Natural, Standard and Vivid). We found the natural setting gave the best colour/contrast balance. Video can be recorded in VGA and wide-aspect (848 x 480 pixels) ratios, both at 30fps. The image stabilization system defaults to always-on in this mode and you can zoom when shooting video.
However, serious photographers will note the lack of aperture- and shutter-priority AE settings and manual controls. Tthe burst mode can only record three shots at high resolution, although the ‘infinite’ setting can record continuously at half-second intervals. However, the camera’s on-board 13.4MB is filled with four high-resolution shots so an SD card is required to use this function effectively. Panasonic’s promotion of the new high-sensitivity setting that boosts ISO to 1600 should also be read with care as we found ISO settings above 400 were noise-prone and reduced image resolution.
Shots taken with the test camera in bright conditions were quite contrasty and the camera was unable to cover a wide subject brightness range. Exposures favoured shadow detail so highlights were generally lost. The OIS system allowed sharp digital zoom shots to be taken, although they were slightly affected by compression artefacts. Imatest showed resolution to be good at ISO 100 and colours were reasonably accurate, although slightly over-saturated. Sharpening artefacts were detected but no coloured fringing was found in outdoor shots and chromatic aberration was negligible – as was barrel distortion at the wide lens setting.
White balance performance was average, with best results coming from manual measurement. The auto setting failed to correct colour casts from both incandescent and fluorescent lights, doing worse with the former. Close-up performance was very good. Image noise was apparent at ISO settings of 400 and higher and the high sensitivity mode produced visible image softening and strong sharpening artefacts, particularly with flash exposures. The flash required at least ISO 400 sensitivity to illuminate an average-sized room.
The test camera powered-up and shut down in just under 1.5 seconds and shot-to-shot times averaged 1.9 seconds without flash. We measured an average capture lag of 0.5 seconds, which reduced to 0.25 seconds with pre-focusing. Burst rates varied between 2.5fps and 2fps, depending on whether high or low speed was selected. [29]
Specifications
Image sensor: 5.76 x 4.29mm CCD with 5.36 million photosites (5.0 megapixels effective).
Lens: Leica DC Vario-Elmarit 5.2-52 mm f2.8-4.2 (35-350mm in 35mm format).
Zoom ratio: 10x optical, up to 4x digital
Dimensions (wxhxd): 112 x 58.1 x 40.2mm
Weight: 234g (without battery and card)
Image formats: Stills ““ JPEG (Exif 2.2) in 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 aspect ratios; Movies ““ VGA/QVGA at 30fps/10fps.
Shutter speed range: 8-1/2000 second.
Focus system/range: Linear AF system; range 40cm to infinity; macro 5cm to infinity.
Exposure metering/control: Intelligent Multiple, Centre-Weighted & Spot metering; Program AE plus 9 Scene modes in 2 menu banks.
White balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Halogen, White Set, White Balance Adjustment (except for Auto Mode).
Flash modes/range (ISO auto): Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction, Forced On/Off; range
ISO range: Auto, ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, 800; (800-1600 in High Sensitivity Mode).
Sequence shooting: Full Resolution Image, 3 or 2 frames/sec.; Max 5 frames (Standard Mode)/Max. 3 frames (Fine Mode).
Storage Media: 13.4MB internal memory plus SD.MMC card slot; internal memory holds
Viewfinder: n.a.
LCD monitor: 2.5-inch polycrystalline TFT colour LCD with 207,000 pixels.
Power supply: Lithium-ion battery pack (250 images).
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Rating
RRP: $659
Rating (out of 10):
- Build: 8
- Ease of use: 8.5
- Image quality: 8.5
- OVERALL: 8.5