Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 - Test Shots - Detail and lens performance

A range of general test shots are shown over the next two pages. In some cases, the full size image has been reduced for bandwidth purposes, and a crop taken from the original full resolution image has been placed below it to show the overall image quality. Some other pictures may be clicked to view the original full-size image.

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Here's the usual detail test shot of the West Window of Exeter Cathedral, for you to compare with other cameras. See below for a full res crop, or click to see the whole picture.

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The excellent Leica-branded lens produces good detail, but again those 100 ISO artefacts are present and slightly spoil the effect.

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There is virtually zero barrel distortion at the wide-angle end.

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Centre sharpness is excellent.

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Corner sharpness is also very good.

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27 comments

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jungezer

9:36 AM on 27 August, 2008

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I agree with your verdict. I used to have the Pana FZ5, which served me well until it was stolen. But lets face it, though ligth and versatile, its shape makes it a bit of a bother when travelling.

So I went for the TZ5 this time. I recently returned from a trip to China (no, not the Olympics!), where it has fully proved that it is sturdy (I dropped it any numer of times, clumsy me), fast and handy. Of the 24 people in the party I travelled with, I was the one with the smalles, handiest - and cheapest - camera. I was also the only one who succeded in taking a good shot of the 'diamond' at the precise moment when the total solar eclipse ended. Admittedly, the others have some fabulous shots from the rest of the trip, but I simply would not carry the weight they did.

I enjoyed the creative possibilities of the FZ5, and at times even dreamt of something more advanced, but the FZ5 taught me that when the rare photo-op presents itself, there mostly isn't time to fidde too much with settings.

The possibilities with TZ5 match very nicely with my needs when travelling and for family shots, and I have yet to see a shot it could not make.

Warmly recommended.

Score:

SpiderJacek

11:09 AM on 27 August, 2008

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At last! Thank you, Cliff :)

Doug Ellison

11:10 AM on 27 August, 2008

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I have one myself, and it outperformed my 400D as a 'holiday' camera in and around NYC. Some focus trouble when taking movies- but other than that it is just superb.

Norbury

11:17 AM on 27 August, 2008

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This is nothing to do with the ability of the camera, but why have they made it from both stainless steel and aluminium? This means that galvanic corrosion could be a problem particularly if it gets wet. Maybe not a problem because most people will only keep it a few years, but it seems a shame to make it so sturdy then build in a problem like that.

RicFoot

4:56 PM on 27 August, 2008

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A nice review as always ... but is the TZ5 worth the extra money over and above the TZ4 ?

nambiar

6:17 PM on 27 August, 2008

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hiii.. i bought a lumix tz 5. i am satisfied with the performance,but there is one big problem.. the picture quality and colour is outstanding in the camera lcd but when i transfer it to computer, the colour is reduced significantly. why is it so? and yeah,when auto correct is done in microsoft picture viwere the colour is restored. what could be wrong? i shoots in ia mode. any settings to be changed for better colour? author please advise.

OliverSkuza

10:55 PM on 27 August, 2008

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Nambiar: Could be that your computer monitor isn't calibrated to match your camera's LCD or it could be the other way around.

mobilesalesman

10:04 PM on 28 August, 2008

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I researched digital cameras for travel and choose the tz5 and am very impressed! The camera has impressive zoom capabilities with the 10x optical and using built in settins such as the "food" setting enables the 40x zoom and is one of the best settings to take photos of flowers, butterflies where you are about 1.5 to 2' feet away and it provides great shots with the flower/butterfy in focus and the backround slightly blurred! There are many built in settings and I have only used a few so far. I am a newbie to digital cameras but have taken the best pictures thus far from any camera with the tz5. People have complained about low light but I read up on DPR review forums and got great examples and advise from many users showing great pictures taken under low light with the TZ5 that amazed me! I've used the IA mode often but when in low light I often set the manual mode to max iso 400, no flash, natural color, and auto for the various other settings and the pictures come out great! I sometimes take a quick one with the IA to compare or switch the manual back to flash and while they all are good often the no flash turns out more natural. I've seen people take shots with it set to iso of 800 and 1200 and they turned out great. I learned from the forums that many camera nuts talk about specs often comparing more finite performance differences found in large DSLR cameras that only a serious camera freak would detect.

I also love the HD movie feature of the camera! This is to me the best camera for travel and overal general use for most people not needing a big fancy bulky camera. The wide angle is a major plus as when you travel this camera enables you to capture all the people and the backround you want even when very close! I took a shot in Toronto Canada right below the CNN tower and the wide angle enabled me to take a shot that had the entire tower and I was so close I did not think I could do that! I reccomend to get at least one extra battery which can be had online often for 20-30 bucks for a factory or 5-10 for a generic. Also I got a Sandik extreme III 8gig online for about 35 bucks and that can shoot something like 1900 pictures! This to me is the best all around camera for travel with the ultra wide angle, huge optical zoom and HD movie capabilities!

Bushiee

2:47 PM on 6 September, 2008

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Hi All,

great review, I really like the tz5 and Im very close to buying it but need to know just one thing.

My lads ride BMX freestyle,I need to know would this camera be able to cope with this sort of action shot(with it not having manual set up)?

kev6wgc

1:49 PM on 8 September, 2008

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i have read the reviews on the TZ2 TZ3 TZ4 and TZ5 and i am stuck on which one to get its either the TZ3 and the TZ5, which one would you strongly recommend me getting

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