Panasonic Lumix® DMC-TZ5S Digital Camera

This was an impulse buy. I was looking on ebay for something completely different and this caught my eye. I decided that it looked a lot better than my old Kodak 4MP with 10x Optical lens. I am amazed at the quality of this Camera. As with any digital camera the optical zoom is the most important thing, and you won't be disappointed with this 10 x optical. Battery lasts plenty long enough also. Video quality brilliant for a camera. All round good value for money.

Photography has been my hobby for many a year, started with a Pentax Spotmatic, then moved on to Pentax MX and have all the lenses to go with from 18mm pentax fisheye to a 500mm Tamron mirror lens. I do enjoy the darkroom work (and the kids liked to see the picture develop) but I do a lot less these days.

Anyway, lugging this lot around is history now that I've got this little beauty. Like the zoom and the wide angle view. Impressive macro, focus sharp, portraits good.

Still finding more features every day.

If I have one criticism, (and its only a small one) it's the delay from pressing the shutter to taking the picture. If the delay was less it would have got an excellent rating from me. I've tried other compact digital cameras and all have this delay.

See http://www.cameras.co.uk/html/shutter-lag-comparisons.cfm for the table.

So the points I like:
Ease of use - design and build quality - overall picture quality - wide screen movies - size and length of lens - wide angle lens - LCD screen quality - which is why I got this camera.

Regards, Pete

TZ3 was the best camera for TIPA?
TZ5 may be the best camera for everyone,
superzoom, grandangle, leica optic, HD movies..
what else?
perfect!!

when camera arrived,it was the wrong colour, I had ordered a blue body colour,I got a black body instead-I was offered a £5 refund,which was not that generous,especially since all the order details referred to a blue model. Since we were going on holiday we declined the offer-the camera was obviously destined for the USA-the charging plug came with a UK adapter.

Wow, what a camera! As a keen 'ameteur' photographer I searched high & low for a compact digital camera that would give me the quality and ultimately the optical zoom Im so used to with my SLR without having the bulk when traveling! This is certainly going to mean my SLR may stay tuck up more often than expected. The controls are very easy to use and understand, the screen size really helps when reviewing pictures you want to keep or discard. Many other reviews state that you cannot zoom in video mode.....well mine does! For those who like to there are quite a few settings that allow you to control how the picture is taken, as well as lots of preset scene modes.

Delivery reasonable but the camera was the wrong colour. Too late to change it as I needed it for a specific job when on holiday to photo room set-ups for a holiday home let in Cornwall. Perhaps this is a good reason to stick to the High Street for purchases of this nature. Very disappointed.

This is a superb quality camera, that will take professional quality pictures with the simplicity of just point and press controls.
I would recommend this to any one wanting to buy a compact camera.

www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2008/04/04/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-TZ4/p1 - 26k

this was for my dad, he's been banging on about panasonic stuff for years. in a sudden need to spend some more of his pension he insisted i get him a lumix dmc-tz5s. the very next day he rings me up acting like a kid with a new toy and tells me all about how good it is. he reckons in auto mode the thing is amazing. he zoomed in on a padlock on the shed door on the other side of the garden, as he did so the camera changed it's focus settings, set the exposure etc and kicked in the image stabilizer, which my old man really rated as he fancies himself as a bit of a shaker. upon facing the camera down to review the shot he noticed the camera automatically zooming, focusing and switching to macro mode on his trouser leg so he snapped another shot. upon reviewing the photo's he couldn't believe how clear and high quality they were. everything corrected for, so easy to use, compact, great battery life and responsive he reckons and if my old man says its good, then it bloody well is. thanks.

I use the camera as a second-string to a Pentax K10D SLR. The picture quality of the DMC-TZ5 is not far off that of the Pentax. The Zeiss lens's 28-280 zoom displays little of the usual distortion, the exposure on intelligent automatic is surprisingly accurate (even when facing a bright white sky, the sensor is low in noise and the focus good. The resulting pictures usually require little or no retouching. What more can you ask for. Well, quite a lot: 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 aspect ratios even in video, very effective anti-shake making the long end of the zoom usable, 1280x720 HD video at 30fps with use of the zoom, HD playback of video and stills on an HD TV from a component-out connection (optional lead needed) or normal playback with supplied video lead from its video/USB connector ... and too many more features to list here.

The body is solid and appears to be robust. All the controls fall to hand readily; some buttons are small but my chubby fingers had no trouble using them. The display is higher than usual resolution and the backlight can be set to brighten in sunlight. At last, I can compose pictures adequately in bright sunlight with a compact digital camera.

The body is a little bit heavier than I am used to, but this is more than acceptable taking into account the quality of the lens and the solidity of the body. The only downside is that, like many of its counterparts, the rotary dial that selects the camera's mode is easily rotated accidentally when putting the camera into its case. (The case is an extra - I went for a Lowepro Rezo 40 into which the TZ5 just fits comfortably together with the supplied card case and battery case).

I am delighted with the camera and looking forward to an upcoming Spanish mountain walking holiday when it will be used for videos as well as stills. I am also delighted with eBay price which was much lower than on-line and high-street prices to boot!

In short, this camera is an excellent all-rounder - a steal at the eBay price.

I like the usability of a compact camera and the quality of a much more sophisticated camera. With 10x optical zoom and a great leica lens i am very happy with this purchase so far and am still getting to know it. Have used video at Brands Hatch A1 GP and hve captured a few good shots and of course the sound.

easy to use, fantastic zoom, great value, and if you can find one!!! has a cable that connects high deff component to tv.
Its a great unit, and the iA option does everything in auto perfect.
also as well as giving 1280x720 wide screen video, it allows zoom at same time.
all round a great camera.

The camera is amazing, it speed at which it takes pictures and transfers them to memory card is very fast, does not need to process them like my Kodak V1233 used to, also the screen on it displays pictures perfect HD.

The features on camera work like they should do and work surprisingly better compared to the Kodak 12mps, the burst feature can go into an infinite loop and doesn't need to process when transfer to memory.

It can use any memory card in the format SD and SDHC cards, I use a Kingston 8gb class 4 SDHC card and it works perfectly well with it also use and ScanDisk extreme 3 2GB SD and it works perfectly fine too, well a little faster.

So far had no problems with it and still believe this is one of the best camera around, very easy to use with menu and buttons setup and fun to use. This is a great camera funky size and shape, its a click and point camera and worth every penny may only concern is that I need a case for it.

Value for money. Quality of pixels, new super zoom mode and compact. Everthing you need for travelling with. This camera has what the DMC TZ3 did'nt have.

I can't understand why this seller has received negative feedback.

Everything about this camera is great. The zoom is excellent and the picture quality is amazing, it is comparable to a low spec SLR. Videos are as good as a dedicated cam corder and as it is SDHC you can put 16GB cards in. The best feature is the battery. a 5 day holiday with over 400 photos (not including those i took and deleted) and the battery still had enough juice to connect to the pc for an hour or two while i transfered/edited pictures. AMAZING!! Money VERY well spent!!

I am not a professional photographer so I will not bang on about the auto settings taking to much control away from the user. I do not understand how iso, and shutter speeds work in conjunction with depth of field, and focal point. What I have found with this little gem is that it does all the work for you with amazing speed and clarity. The zoom is both optical and digital and fill a tv screen with a face from a crowd with incredible detail. I am still discovering little short cuts in its many functions (ie, hit tele in review mode and you get thumbnails of everything you have taken.)Its small light and as powerful as you want to make it with memory card size, you honestly cannot go wrong.

I'll keep this simple and hopefully usefull......

The Good
10x optical zoom, means most shots are VERY sharp as you're not using any digital zoom, there's an extra zoom facility keeping the quality, but zooming further
4x digital zoom giving 40x total zoom capacity, but using digital, as we all know knocks picture quality and sharpness
Ease of use, all the buttons are easy to use and find
Menu functions are simple and obvious (must have been designed by a man lol) unless you need the more complex features the camera can be used without the instructions (although it is a good idea to read them!!)
Continental plug (UK adaptor included), which means it plugs straight into the mains socket abroad, when on holiday
Excellent quality, bright 3" screen which self adjusts for bright conditions
9.1 megapixels!!!!!

The bad
NOT pocket size (although not massive) it is very deep for a digital camera say compared to a Sony or similar which are slim
Heavy for it's size, compared to other digital cameras, too heavy to wear around neck as it bashes your chest if you move fast, although acceptable in a case on your belt
Battery life not fantastic

Summary
If you are serious about photography, and want a non SLR digital, here's your toy, it's almost like the inbetween of an SLR and pocket digital, too large to be a true pocket digital, but has alot of the facilities of a far more expensive unit.

Am I pleased with it, yes, my only disslike if that's what it is, is its size/weight.

I was after a new digital camera and the panasonic Tz5 kept getting good reviews had the features i was looking for and more excellent zoom for a compact camera and it is easy to operate so overall impression is very good .

neil