Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5S Digital Camera

This is a super little camera. In auto mode the quality and colour is superb and the movie quality in HD is the best I've seen - and at this price you will be very happy. I read many reviews over the net before buying one and they were all very positive. For a compact camera you would be hard pushed to better it.

This camera replaced a Sony DSC Cyber Shot which I thought was a really good camera. Until I bought this Panasonic TZ5. It looks good, the screen viewer is huge, and absolutely crystal clear. The automatic function, which sets up your focus, photo mode, tracks faces etc etc all in an instant, works really well, and seems to find the perfect picture for you every time.

The 10x zoom, and wide angle lense are the main reason I bought the camera, and this works well as expected, with a nice touch of a one button press for instant 10x zoom to save you holding the zoom slider.

I would highly recommend this camera if you are looking for a highly accomplished compact camera. The best I have owned...so far.

Like yourselves, I read all the reviews, watched all the video clips on You-Tube, and still found it hard to make a decision.

DON'T - JUST BUY THE LUMIX TZ5.

It really is a tremendous camera.

It is so easy to point and click and take excellent photo's.
If your a gadget freek like me, there are enough settings, buttons and knobs to keep you happy for weeks!
Or if you like taking photo's the old fashioned way, you can even adjust the settings manually.

Quality of the photographs is excellent, you will not be disapointed, the hi-def video is good for a compact camera.

One thing however, make sure you have a large enough memory card! It uses around 4.5Mb for a picture and 180Mb per minute of Hi-Def video, so have plenty of storage space to hand.

Hope this help's any of you that are struggling to take the plunge to buy it.

Have fun.

Nick

Bought this camera to take with me on holiday to Greece and every penny spent on it was worth it. I read many reviews before actually deciding to purchase this camera and compared it to other digital cameras in it's range, and it was by far the best one of the lot. Really user friendly and easy to learn how to use, didn't have a chance to read the manual before I left but had no problems figuring out most of the basic stuff and took some absolutely amazing pictures. My sister has the larger FZ lumix with 18x zoom, which is also a fantastic camera, but the only thing she seemed to complain about was it's size, was a bit bulky to carry around at times depending on where we were. It's definitely great to be able to have a camera with a 10x zoom (goes up to 16.9x optical zoom with the e.zoom feature) that is compact enough to just pop into a handbag. I especially like the fact that it also has an underwater scene mode to be able to take pics while snorkelling with the appropriate underwater housing, great for anyone who is often going to places to snorkel or dive for some great under water shots. Next trip I go on I am definitely investing in an underwater housing as I would have been able to get some really great shots had I had one on my last trip. It is packed full of great scene modes and features and fantastic zoom all in one tiny camera, and I am sure once I have read the manual I will be able to take even better pics. All of our friends who were on the trip with us raved about the amazing pictures it took and I wouldn't be suprised if they all went out and bought one of their own. One point though, if you do decide to buy this camera it is a good idea to invest in a second battery, I got a bit camera happy some days and ran the battery flat in about a day and a half, so I was very glad I had an extra battery so that I always had one charged and ready at all times while I was using the other one. The battery lasted about 3 days though with normal to medium usage.
All in all a fantastic little camera that was definitely a good buy.

I bought this camera as a replacement for my perfectly good 3.2 mega pixel oldie. I am going on the holiday of a lifetime next week and wanted to be able to take better quality photographs. Like most others I read all the reviews and specifications on the most up to date mega megapixel cameras. I wanted more than the camera with the most pixels. I wanted simplicity, to be able to take clear photos without having to spend a week going through the manual and changing every setting under the sun to obtain the best results. I think I may have found it! Just put it in "Intellegent Auto" mode, point and shoot. Crisp, clear, in focus shots every time. All the buttons are located conveniently. In my view "perfection". I don't doubt some of its competitors may be as good but this camera is exactly what I was looking for and I'm absolutely delighted. In the future I will get to know the camera and it's functions better and mess about with settings for different types of shot but in the meantime totally satisfied.

I've upgraded from the Lumix TZ3, and the TZ5 does everything it says on the box! With the same excellent lens from the TZ3 the TZ5 also includes the following upgrades:

*1* HD video capture (with ability to zoom)
*2* Lens retracts while reviewing pictures
*3* Increase to 9.1 Megapixels

Overall an excellent camera at a reasonable price!

I needed to buy a decent Camera as a gift to myself - the Panasonic camcorder I already own has been sufficient up to now, but with only 800,000 pixels, I could not get decent night photos, so that is why I chose the Panasonic LUMIX Model with 9.1 Megapixels - BOY!! What a difference!!! I have Photographed my entire collection of Mineral Specimens from all over the world, and did they show well on both AUTO FLASH and FLASH-OFF!! I cannot fault this new TZ5 LUMIX Camera one iota!!!

The beauty of it is also because I was able to purchase it from the ESHOPIC Company, who generously added a spare battery, a 4GB SD Card, plus case and a cleaning kit, all for the amazing price of £199.99!!

I have since checked out prices for the same things in both CURRYS and JESSOPS, who are charging an enormous price of £380.00 for the same things!!

I would thoroughly recommend this Model of Camera to all who are interested in buying it - and furthermore, the controls are so easy to use!!

PHOTOGRAPHY is one of my favourite hobbies, that being the main reason why I bought this Model.

Terry Good.

What a brilliant digital camera,small but very powerful great zoom. Ive just printed off several A4 photos just superb.It handels great and feels like quality not like those flimsey plastic ones.The controls at the back are easy to use but you have to get used to keeping your thumb in the correct position otherwise you wil accidently activate an unwanted function.It does have red eye reduction but several of my shots red eye was there but the PC programme removed the red eye very easy.Im going to sell off my SLR camera as this does the lot.When it connects to the PC (without using the supplied disc)it is very intuitive and asks which programme you want to use.the video clip feature is very good although ive only viewed it back on the camera so far. No more big camera bags for me just my Lumix in my back pocket all the time.Do yourself a favor though and buy a backup battery on ebay although the one it came with does seem to last well.

I work in Currys, i work as a Imaging department manager and i get to play will all brand new cameras and out of all the camera i sell, the best camera i sell are the lumix range!... Very good cameras indeed!!..

The camera has Intellegent auto, this turns on 5 amazing features...
1: Face detection, this will pick up to 15 faces. Good for groups photos!
2: Advance Anti-shock, this will keep a nice smooth image!
3: Auto Scene detection, this will automaticly choose a scene for you! this means you will get the best possible images you can no matter what your taking a picture of!
4: Light detection, if your taking a picture of a shadow area, the lumix camera will turn up the ISO and will be able to see whats within shadow
5: Motion detection, when you take a picture of someone waving for example, do you get blur from where they are waving?? Lumix will keep cut out the blur meaning that you will get a very sharp image!

This camera also has wide angle lense. This means you do not need to stand back to take a picture or when taking a group picture, you dont need to get everyone to squeez in!

Please ask me for a Currys Buyer Guide and product information and i will send to you via post FREE. Or ask for a direct line to my store and i can guide threw our range, or pop down to Currys Aylesford Maidstone.

After carrying around a Canon digital SLR with various lenses on most of my frequent walks, this is a breath of fresh air because of the massive weight saving.

The 10 times zoom means that I can almost forget the bigger and heavier lenses that I normally carry around in a back pack. Beware of some cameras that offer high magnification that can only achieve it by resorting to just using the centre of the image processor which cuts down massively on the amount of pixels available.

Most of the useful functions that appear on a top end digital SLR are featured on this camera which also has a superb Leica lens.

I considered paying more for a Leica camera, but when I discovered that they use the same Panasonic processor - what's the point?

The screen size is massive at 3 inches but I do recommend applying a clear adhesive screen protector which can be bought for around £10.00 for a pack of two on ebay.

One slightly annoying thing is the delay time between pressing the shutter button and the camera taking the image which increases to around half a second when the battery is getting low. This does not sound too bad but the other day I tried to take an action picture in automatic mode of my 18 month old grandson throwing stones into some water on a beach. I quickly realised that the delay means that I missed his throw every time and so had to try and predict when he was about to throw. This was a bit frustrating. However, this is no worse than other digital compact cameras, and probably better than most.

I am soon going to try out digiscoping with my new Lumix which is something that I have always wanted to do. Compact cameras are ideal for this and so this technically great camera should really excel.

I am sure that anyone purchasing this camera will be delighted. It is technically very accomplished and easy to use.

Happy Snapping!

Superb build quality.... takes the most superb photos in auto mode.. No messing what-so-ever..... Videos are good if you switch off continous focus and update the latest firmware from Panasonic website...... 10 out of 10....

Everything about this camera is brilliant. I took a long time searching for a compact camera which was as good as an SLR and this is definately it. The 10 times optical zoom is unrivaled by any other compact and with 9.1 megapixels its capable of taking excellent quality images. The large 3 inch screen enables you to see clearly what you're veiwing and examine in detail pictures you've recorded. The controls can be very easy and take excellent images on the IA (inteligent auto) mode but absolutely everything can be changed and adapted to suit more experienced users. The camera's face detection can easily pick out people and also changes to a block system to take pics of items and things that aren't faces. The camera also has settings for two children, pets and holidays where once on their setting will record the name and the date on which it was taken.

I love this camera, it is easy to operate, produces fantastic pictures and with the anti shake I can zoom right out without the fear of blurred pictures. The face detection is brilliant too. A+++++++

I like:
- looks great (in blue)
- controls feel good
- screen is very bright
- very flexible (28mm wide angle, long zoom, good video mode)
I don't like:
- huuuuge amount of noise and "smudge" effect(from noise reduction) at ISO 400
- video is QuickTime format (install QTime on a PC and you'll be pestered with invites to install iTunes and sell you soul to Steve Jobs)

I have a 3 year old 6Mpx SLR to compare it against; and I can say the old SLR still takes much better pictures than this camera. But this thing is not meant to take pictures with passion, in manual mode on a tripod etc... It is meant to stay in my pocket and to travel light without pushing the girlfriend's patience while I take pictures :-) For that purpose it does a good job, though in low light (think: sunset on the mountains), the image quality will suffer badly from the noise issue. It is the only real problem

This is a great quality camera. With its 9mp it can produce pictures of the similar quality to my heavy Canon EOS SLR's. It can be taken where SLR's are not permitted and its zoom capabilities save carrying and changing lenses. The only thing I have not tried yet is its speed when trying to capture fast moving objects such as wildlife of sports. I don’t think it will let me down. An 8mb memory card (at maximum resolution) holds just under 1800 pictures! It is also ergonomically great. It feels well made and manufactured. No less than anything else made by Panasonic. A+++

I'm really happy with my new Panasonic Lumix TZ5.

I have no idea about cameras or photgraphy buy after just 15 mins reading the owners handbook I was taking really good photo's.

This little camera is awesome!

having owned the previous Richo R7 before its was stolen I was looking for a compact camera with big feature especially big optical zoom.

I had looked at the Panasonic before but at that time the TZ3 was a little larger than I wanted

This camera is still not the size of the real small ones, but then they are limited to 3-3.5 optical zooms. Its small enougth to fit in a coat pocket and therefore ideal for travelling, the HD video is superb as are the still still picture. I have fitted a 16GB SDHC so can take thousands of pictures and well over a hours worth of video at HD recording

Both myself and the wife found it quite intuative to use and most of the time its in the fully automatic IA mode

Great camera

This camera is absolutely brilliant, straight out of the box it is so simple to use but with loads of features I have'nt got around to trying yet. Picture quality is excellent the 3" screen is great. I was looking for a camera that was easy to use a handy size with a top spec and I bought this camera after looking at loads of reviews which were consistantly good, at an excellent price with a 4gig SD card and free delivery a real bargain. I would recommend the TZ5 to anyone.

I bought this camera as a replacement for a Sony Cybershot that went faulty. Its a heavy camera and lot bigger to use than the Sony, however, I found the picture quality excellent and having the 10x optical zoom is a real bonus for such a small camera. We took over a thousand photos on our first holiday with it to Canada which meant lots of scenery photos and person photos. All werte excellent provided you used the correct setting. I paid about £200 for this camera which came with a few extras. For the money I cant complain at all and would recommend this camera to anyone.

Panasonic have excelled with this camera being small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, but with great zoom and WIDE angle, 27 - 270 in 35mil terms.
Intelligent Auto sets the camera up for whatever your looking at and Quick Menu allows fast adaptation. 3" screen allows easy framing and High sense with up to 6400 ISO even allows night shots.

Looks snazzy, seems easy enough to operate (I have managed to get pictures onto the PC without referring to the instructions yet!).

The great wide screen at the back means you have a good view of the pictures.

I would certainly recommend this camera.

I was looking for a camera that would take photos from macro to distance shots with the least possible hassle.I'm not a highly skilled photographer but after reading reviews I decided the TZ5 was for me,I like the ease of use, the large 3" LCD and the fact I had a few SD memory cards at hand helped. I am more than happy. I have used the camera in IA mode which seems to do what I want from it. IA mode sets the camera for the scene being photographed and does a good job at it. I would recommend buying an extra battery, just to have at hand and a camera bag for the camera itself. When I get more use from the camera and have used the different settings the camera offers I'm sure I will still be impressed.The picture quality is very good and the compact size means you can carry it about handy enough. I'm glad I bought it, go on treat yourself

This is a superb compact camera. In auto mode its a point and shoot (simply,frame your picture and click)for quality focused, sharp pictures.Then when you feel adventurous enough try-out some of the multiple different settings you find in the menu presets or play with aperture settings. This little compact camera's picture quality will have you leaving your DSLR and bag full of lenses at home in favour of this in your pocket. I am what could be called a camera nerd, I have bought lots of camera's over the years, but, none have lived up to all the hype. This one does. I think for the money The TZ5 is surely the best in its class at the moment. Read the reviews on the internet, they're all positive, even from the so called experts. You'll feel like an expert when you are showing friends / family pictures YOU have took with this little beauty.