Panasonic Lumix TZ1

[can'tgetenufofwdw]

My sweet husband just bought me this camera last nite and I am overwhelmed. I began playing with it for a little while tonite and I can't decide if it intimidates me or not. It just seems like their are sooooooooooo many different settings. I can see myself now. I will take a picture, it won't come out and I will get all frustrated and cranky. It seems like I will need to know all of the settings and the corresponding "sub settings" to do this camera justice. Don't get me wrong I am very appreciative of his sweet gesture but am I in over my head???? I am the kind of person who learns more easily when someone else tells me what to do as oppose to reading the whole manual. I don't want to be dragging the book through Disney with me at the end of next week. Can anyone reassure me that I am getting crazy for nothing??? Is it a realtively easy camera once you get the hang of it???????? Help

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I' have learned that if I have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all, hence I'll be quiet now.

Sorry.

 

[can'tgetenufofwdw]

I'm not sure how I am supposed to take that. I wasn't looking for insults I was simply looking for positive comments- by saying you have nothing nice to say implies that you are refraining from being rude. I was the first to admit that I am basically camera illiterate and I didn't need you to imply that I am stupid. If this was not how you meant it then I am sorry but that is how I took your reply.

 

[TheBellhop]

I'm not sure how I am supposed to take that. I wasn't looking for insults I was simply looking for positive comments- by saying you have nothing nice to say implies that you are refraining from being rude. I was the first to admit that I am basically camera illiterate and I didn't need you to imply that I am stupid. If this was not how you meant it then I am sorry but that is how I took your reply.

I don't think it's how the poster meant it at all. After lurking on this board for quite some time, I've noticed Kelly is an avid Canon user.

So you know, brand rivalries.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I'm not sure how I am supposed to take that. I wasn't looking for insults I was simply looking for positive comments- by saying you have nothing nice to say implies that you are refraining from being rude. I was the first to admit that I am basically camera illiterate and I didn't need you to imply that I am stupid. If this was not how you meant it then I am sorry but that is how I took your reply.

no no no, I don't mean it that way. My apology if I sound that way. I have problem with the camera and the way they market it by fooling people (I would be fooled too if I didn't have the chance to test the camera -- y'know part of my job is to test various cameras). Panasonic is the distant-second brand on my black-list, first being Kodak.

Okay, let me put it out there.

1. It's a very capable camera (in terms of putting your creativity into it, almost like dSLR in terms of flexibility)
2. It's a very good camera (in terms of IQ/Image Quality) as long as you don't use high ISO
3. Using high ISO on any Panasonic camera is utterly pointless. See samples below comparing high ISO on Canon point and shoot vs Panasonic point and shoot.

Yes the Canon is "dirtier" but the noise can be cleaned easily using freeware and it will look like this:

 

[RC Fan]

Can you possibly let us know how you like the camera after you have had it for a bit? It is one of the Panasonic models I am interested in.

 

[Anewman]

My sweet husband just bought me this camera last nite and I am overwhelmed. I began playing with it for a little while tonite and I can't decide if it intimidates me or not. It just seems like their are sooooooooooo many different settings. I can see myself now. I will take a picture, it won't come out and I will get all frustrated and cranky. It seems like I will need to know all of the settings and the corresponding "sub settings" to do this camera justice. Don't get me wrong I am very appreciative of his sweet gesture but am I in over my head???? I am the kind of person who learns more easily when someone else tells me what to do as oppose to reading the whole manual. I don't want to be dragging the book through Disney with me at the end of next week. Can anyone reassure me that I am getting crazy for nothing??? Is it a realtively easy camera once you get the hang of it???????? Help

Congrats on the very nice camera. Did you get the black or silver version, BLACK LOOKS SO SLICK.

Dont worry too much about the extra settings just start with Auto at first. Biggest key when using point and shoot cameras IMO is, shoot with plenty of lighting if possible. If there is very little light get as close as possible to the subject so the in camera flash can illuminate properly. Remember the little in camera flash can not really reach the subject if over 14 feet or so away.

 

[manning]

I have this camera and am enjoying it. I like the 10x zoom and the small size. It is an easy camera to use. I haven't travelled anywhere yet to really put it thru its paces. My next trip to disney won't be until Nov and am looking forward to using it there.

I also have several sonys and one canon (g1) cameras. I like them all and have found each has good and bad points. No camera is going to be perfect. I came across someone who has panasonics and canons and this is what he had to say.

"My experience with the Panasonic line ranges from the FZ1, through FZ10, FZ15, FZ30, and now TZ1. (Still have the FZ1 & FZ30) , but in the ultra-zoom range, I've always found that Canon's detail rendering, particularly with respect to greenery like leaves & grass, tends to be somewhat muddy, lacking in fine detail. While a comparable Panasonic shot at high ISO may appear to have more noise, it also will have more preserved details, and removing what noise there may be is an easy task with a program like Neat Image, which I use on occasion."

Since my canon isn't a current one and I only have the TZ1 I can only offer the other person's experience.

I have read about satisfaction and dissatisfaction on all brands of cameras. Photography is a very subjection subject. What one likes the other doesn't.

I think you will enjoy your new camera. Anewman has given you good advise.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

"...While a comparable Panasonic shot at high ISO may appear to have more noise, it also will have more preserved details, and removing what noise there may be is an easy task with a program like Neat Image, which I use on occasion."

That doesn't sound right. Panasonic is always cleaner at high ISO by using over exagerrated noise reduction by their Venus engine as proven above by dpreview. Thus leaving no detail whatsoever (again, see pictures above)

 

[TigerLaw]

My two cents... I've owned it for a couple weeks now and played with it at our local botanical gardens and was blown away. I think the menu systems are easy to use and I would say not to give up on learning the camera. I am not thrilled w. the ISO issues discussed above, but I really think for a compact camera yet get alot more w. this than you give up (and I love the image stabilization too!)

 

[Anewman]

That doesn't sound right. Panasonic is always cleaner at high ISO by using over exagerrated noise reduction by their Venus engine as proven above by dpreview. Thus leaving no detail whatsoever (again, see pictures above)

No not always.
The TZ1 allows you to shoot RAW, there is no NR performed on RAW images.


Why are we still trying to put down the OPs camera?

 

[manning]

No not always.
The TZ1 allows you to shoot RAW, there is no NR performed on RAW images.


Why are we still trying to put down the OPs camera?

It only shoots in JPEG. You must be thinking of the FZ30.

It still is a darn good camera.

I'm as confused as you are, why are we still trying to put down the OPs camera?

 

[pisco]

Kelley,

I could not find a review for the TZ1 on the DPReview site. Can you please provide a link? I am interested in this as a backup to my Digital Rebel and would like to see the full review.

Also, do you know if there is a way to turn of the high ISO NR?

Thanks.

 

[Anewman]

It only shoots in JPEG. You must be thinking of the FZ30.

It still is a darn good camera.

You are correct, I made a mistake.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Kelley,

I could not find a review for the TZ1 on the DPReview site. Can you please provide a link? I am interested in this as a backup to my Digital Rebel and would like to see the full review.

Also, do you know if there is a way to turn of the high ISO NR?

Thanks.

You won't find it. But I did test the camera myself for my friend's store. It's my job to recommend what to sell and what not to sell.

To answer your second question, there is no way to turn off noise reduction.

to answer everybody else's question, I'm posting facts about the OP's camera in respond to TheBellhop accusation my "brand rivalries". It's not about brand rivalry, it's about objective measurable and visually presentable facts. It also seems to skipped people's memory that I actually wrote:


"1. It's a very capable camera (in terms of putting your creativity into it, almost like dSLR in terms of flexibility)
2. It's a very good camera (in terms of IQ/Image Quality) as long as you don't use high ISO"

also the OP asked about the possibility of using this camera as an introduction to dSLR, that's also part of the reason I have to bring up the high ISO problem with ALL Panasonic camera. NONE of the Panasonic camera (not even the latest Panasonic dSLR) have low high-ISO noise. They are either noise-reduced to oblivion (ISO 400 and up) or if you shoot RAW, they are very noisy even Noise Ninja etc will have more problem reducing the noise than if you're using a Nikon, Canon or Pentax.

Personally if I asked whether my 30D is good or bad and somebody (or everybody) can show me the objective and visually presentable facts that my camera sucks, then so be it. I don't want people to delude me by saying I have a great camera.

With this note, I swear that I will never again give my input whether a camera is good or bad or what camera I would suggest.

Thank you.

 

[bsbkmacgowan]

Personally if I asked whether my 30D is good or bad and somebody (or everybody) can show me the objective and visually presentable facts that my camera sucks, then so be it. I don't want people to delude me by saying I have a great camera.
QUOTE]

Kelly, I think the problem is, you yourself didn't provide "objective and visually presentable facts" as your evidence that the OP's actual camera is bad. You provided imagery from an un-named Panasonic P&S model. Your position against the TZ1 would be far more secure if you would have provided exactly what you yourself request as proof against your own camera.

I can understand why many people feel you are being overly negative about the OP's camera if for no other reason than I've read your posts and know you love Canon cameras... and that is your right. But it appears to cloud your judgement against any non-Canon camera on the market. Personally, I've been thrilled (at the time) with all the digital cameras I've ever owned... and I've owned numerous brands. Is any one of them perfect? Heavens no! And neither is the Canon 30D, probably.

To the OP - I'm sorry I cannot help you out with your question about the TZ1 (which is why I didn't respond before now) - but I can say that I have been extremely pleased with the results from both my old FZ1 and my new FZ7.

One thing that I think everyone should think about when getting a digital camera (of any brand) is how does that camera perform in the circumstances in which you will most likely be photographing??? Not everyone needs (or even wants) to shoot extremely close-up, high ISO images (such as the samples Kelly showed above). I know I rarely need or want to, personally. (But I do know there are those who do need that, so I'm glad there is a sample available for their review.)

The DPReview web site is an excellent place to find images from many cameras out there, and they do seem to provide a wide range of samples. Whenever I'm researching new cameras, I always check them out and search for samples that I know are similar to my shooting habits. It works for me!

OP - my advice... and I agree with Anewman... auto settings can be your friend... but don't be afraid to experiment (before you go to WDW, of course!) with the other settings. After all, as I always say... "It's only digital!"

Good luck, and enjoy your new "baby!" I know I love mine!

Sandy (and Brian, Bonnie & Kellie, too!)

 

[Kelly Grannell]

well, bsbkmcgowan,

everybdoy who asked about how to take a certain kind of pictures always include the question on how to take night time picture without a tripod and the background lights to be clear. This can only be achieved with ISO 400 or higher. Something that the Panasonic can't do.

Yes, on this thread I didn't mention which Panasonic model I'm talking about, however, I've been repeating myself regarding Panasonic's overbearing noise reduction.

Last but not least, although I didn't give exact sample of TZ1, I gave an example from a Panasonic with the same sensor, same engine and higher end by US$100. So if a higher end camera, more expensive camera can't do the job, would you expect for a camera 20% cheaper to perform better? especially when they come from the same manufacturer produced within the same year?

To be fair, I no longer have the exact camera image because I've discarded them a long time ago. I have the tendency of getting rid of bad pictures. I test at least 2 cameras a week and one lens a week taking at least 50 shots each. Imagine in the past 5 years I'm doing this I have to keep all the proof of the bad pictures.

To also be fair, I never said only Canon is good. I mentioned in numerous ocassions about the strengths of other brands such as Pentax, Nikon and Fuji. I even once mentioned about a Kodak series of plugins (not camera) that I considered the best on the field.

It's not about brand loyalty. Heck, I've even cursed my 30D due to its stupid metering button-press sequence.

No, no camera is perfect, but some are more perfect than others.

Like I originally posted, if you want to take outdoor, bright light scenes, then this camera is fine. Then again, which camera can't take outdoor bright light scenes? Even 0.3 MP camera phone can take decent outdoor bright light scenes.

here's a quote from digicamreview about its image quality

Image Quality: Image quality is very good, the images have good colour (rich colours, highly saturated), with good contrast and generally good detail, although noise is high and detail is lost when ISO settings are increased. Images were slightly softer than I would have liked, however isn't a major problem. Best results were achieved outside on sunny days, but inside noise was noticably high.

So do you guys still think that this is a great camera? (Well, it is a great camera, if you want to stay outdoors at all time)

 

[Kelly Grannell]

more samples of Tizzie pictures, from a different reviewer

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

quote from the reviewer:

There's some noise at ISO 200 but it's still a usable speed. At ISO 400 image quality has deterioated quite a lot as the camera blurs detail to hide the noise, and by ISO 800 photos resemble impressionistic paintings.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

CNET reviewed the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 and wrote;
“Overall, image quality from the Lumix TZ1 was acceptable though colors turned out to be slightly muted in some of our pictures. We didn’t have significant problems with purple fringing, though blooming could be noticed in some heavy backlit images.
Noise, however, was an issue especially beyond the ISO 400 range. Though it was still relatively contained between the selectable ISO 80 and ISO 400, we’ve seen other compact cameras performing better.”

 

[Kelly Grannell]

PhotographyBlog reviewed the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 and wrote;

“Image quality is on the whole good, although the inability to alter sharpness in the camera is frustrating as the images are soft. The 5 megapixel 1/2.5 inch sensor used in the DMC-TZ1 is not as noisy as those used in other Panasonic cameras that I have tested, with ISO 80-200 being perfectly usable…. The TZ1 may be just a simple point and shoot camera in terms of creativity, with no control over aperture or shutter speeds, but you may also find that the focal range is simply too liberating to ignore. Highly recommended.”

note that they only claim ISO 80-200 are usable.