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 enlarge | Brand: Panasonic
Category: Photography
List Price: $349.95
Buy New: $226.95
You Save: $123.00 (35%)
New (42)
Avg. Customer Rating:  290 reviews
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Includes Software: Yes
Optical Zoom: 10
Digital Zoom: 4
Connectivity: AV
Display Size: 3
Maximum Focal Length: 47
Minimum Focal Length: 4.7
Maximum Resolution: 9.1
Has Red Eye Reduction: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 2.3 x 1.4 x 4.1
MPN: DMC-TZ5K
Model: DMC-TZ5K
UPC: 037988987665
EAN: 0037988987665
Release Date: March 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 The RIGHT one after 7 months research. July 26, 2008
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I am an "OC" kinda guy. I like to be sure that I get the most for my money when I make a purchase. I outline exactly what I want and what I expect from my purchase BEFORE I start shopping. I spent 7 months reading, comparing and researching all similar Ulta Compact and Compact cameras before I made my choice. I would have been even happier if this camera had 10 Megapixels instead of 9.1 ... only so it matched others that I was comparing (I compared 12's too, pics generally were NOT as good). Frankly, I am extremely happy with the fabulous pics this camera produces. I FIRST thought that I wish it were "a little smaller" - now I am very happy that it is not. If it were much smaller I don't believe it would be as easy and comfortable to use. Yes!. I handled nearly a dozen of its competitors, as well. I read every review (Pro and Users) I could find anywhere (online, magazines, trade journals). Be carefull with some of them. I put a lot of "weight" in reviews by the Pros, HOWEVER I found that many of the things they said about this camera were not true. Some of their comments caused me to "pause" and almost not buy this camera. Some talked about features they wish this camera had, that others did have ... only I found that SEVERAL such features ARE present in this camera. Some features that they reviewed as a "Negative", after learning how to use them turn out to be a great "POSITIVE". The ZOOM is very sharp and the Wide angle really helps me get shots that would NOT be possible with other "similar" cameras! You won't need the flash as much as with other cameras. The camera can adjust the ISO (as well as many other settings, in "IA" mode) to give you great shots when you can't use a flash (and you can set it to 6400 ISO for very dim non-flash shots). I was happy with my long-arrived-at choice the day I bought it. If I knew THEN what I know NOW ... I would have bought it much sooner! I enjoy it more everyday! I planned to use my "PRO Camera" (a $2500.00 Olympus system - 18 months of research) for "all the things that this camera would not be able to do" ... NOW I know that this Panasonic will do a fine job for 90 to 95% of all the camera tasks that I want to do! AND it is much much smaller and lighter! I find I am using my Pansonic more and more everyday!. I do suggest you get a couple of 1300 Mah batteries and a couple of 8 Gig LEXAR (Yes, the brand matters - they are much faster 20 Mb/sec) SDHC cards if you plan to do lots of serious picture taking as I do. This camera has an excellent battery life compared to others, but I take LOTS of PICS and videos and need the extra batteries. You can stop looking now. You WILL enjoy this camera! (By the way MROCK makes a perfect case for it and a spare battery and spare memory card, I am now looking for a very small case, when I want to take just the camera in a pocket). Have FUN with it!
Lumix DMC-TZ5K May 4, 2008
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is a great little camera. I was a little hesitant to purchase after reading some of the criticisms by the so called expert reviewers, but decided to purchase the camera in the end mostly because of the lens and it's capabilities. It is an easy camera to work, and it takes excellent photo's, both in automatic, and manual settings. I took a walk by the lake on a sunny day to practice shooting with the camera and used the various features-beautiful photo's! I was also concerned with the quality of indoor photo's, but the red eye worked quite well, and I am happy that the indoor shots are very good-not great, but much better than my previous canon Sureshot. Also, the zoom lens is great, make sure to take advantage of the image stabilization. All in all I love the camera so far, i'm not an expert, but this camera makes it easy to take very nice shots.
Excellent photo quality - see my photos and video taken w/ the TZ5 August 4, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
To view some photos I took with the Lumix TZ5 click on this link, and make sure you view in full screen::
http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=ACF7F02C5F5&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW
To view a video of "Frisky" the dog taken with the TZ5, click on this link:
http://www.vimeo.com/1461466
You'll see mixed reviews on the quality of the photos, but I find the quality outstanding for a compact camera, or for any camera for that matter. The photos that you'll see are all taken in the easy mode, which is called "IA" for Intelligent Auto, and they were all taken without flash - even the one inside the screened porch.
What I love most about this camera is it's ability to keep the subject in focus, even when the subject and/or the photographer is moving! I shot a butterfly fluttering around, with the zoom (in IA mode) and it came out perfectly in focus. The photo of the horse & buggy was also taken effortlessly in IA mode with the zoom. Photos from the airplane, perfect, even took a few from the moving car and there was no blur (not in the samples)! Amazing. Colors are bright and clear, and you can choose how vivid you want them to be. These photos were taken in "standard" color, incidentally. It picked up all the hues of the sunrise in the harbor and sunset on the beach.
The zoom works beautifully, very smooth and quiet. Again, automatic focus in zoom (and otherwise) is the best I've seen in any camera of this size and price range.
I love the wide angle lens. It captures so much more than I'm used to and gives a really nice, almost dimensional look to the photos.
The battery life is pretty good until you use the movie mode, and that does take a lot out of it. It's a good idea to have an extra one ready just in case.
The ergonomics are excellent, easy to shoot with one hand, and easy to navigate the menu.
The LCD screen, as you know, is one of the best out there. It works well in sunlight, and if the day is very bright, you can adjust the contrast and make the screen darker if needed. Beautiful resolution when playing back your photos on the LCD screen!
The movie feature is also quite good FOR A DIGITAL PHOTO CAMERA. The zoom is slow (which it states in the manual), but the pictures are clear. HD mode does take a lot of memory and battery obviously, but it's a great feature to have. I shot some whales from the shore with zoom at 10x and they came out pretty well even though they were quite far away (contact me if you'd like to see that video). I took the movie of Frisky indoors in the evening with the regular lighting in the home and it I think it looks very good.
In conclusion, I highly recommend the Panasonic DMC-TZ5. It is not a digital SLR, but has many of the features without the bulk or the price, so it's great for travel. I have an SLR and an older 5MP compact digital, but I never expected this much photo quality out of a compact.
Bravo Panasonic!
 Excellent camera for specific purposes May 19, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I bought this camera following the enthusiastic reviews that seemed to be everywhere on the web. It has all I wanted: good parts (the Leica lens were a good selling point), good zoom (10x!!!), decent video (I already own a camcorder) and the wide-angle (very imprtant).
It is also easy to use. Has both point-and-shoot capability (been using it a lot, especially with the pre-set scenes and auto-selection of scenes and loving it) and some manual settings to play around with when I'm in gadgety-mood (but I'm not a photographer, and don't know what half of those things mean... will learn, hopefully!)
The zoom is outstanding: I took a picture of my mother from a distance of approx. 20 meters, and I can zoom to see what time her watch is showing.
On the down side, I must admit that it is a lot heavier and bulkier than I thought it would be (or indeed, than I realized when I looked at it at the store). It does not fit completely in the palm of your hand and is certainly not light-weight. Most reviews say it's perfect for travelling and will fit in your pocket... makes me wonder what kind of pockets people use... It certainly won't fit in an average jacket pocket.. in fact, most cameras at the store could fit in the cheap no-brand cases on sale, but the TZ5 couldn't.
I'm starting to wonder whether I shouldn't have gone for the FX35 instead. The FX35 seems to have less features, and slightly worse images (but difference noticeable only in the lab), but looks a lot more portable and lightweight (also cuter design, but who really cares?).
Overall: This is an excellent camera, and results have been great. I'm convinced it's excellent value. Before purchasing, though, think twice about the use you are really going to make of it, and consider buying the Lumix FX35 instead. I know the TZ5 was a bit of an over-kill for me, and now I'm stuck with larger handbags than expected.
Great little point-and-shoot! April 25, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5K is an extremely handy and effective camera. It takes excellent pictures, once you get your settings right, and has great wide-angle and telephoto range. Image stabilization is pretty reliable. Battery seems to run down more quickly than advertized because it drains even while connected to computer for downloading. And new owners are likely to spend quite some time with the manual digesting all the instructions for use. These cavillings apart, the TZ5 is small enough to take anywhere and is pretty well up to any photographic challenge.
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