Panasonic Announces Even More New Compact Cameras Comments

Panasonic seem to specialise in ugly tech, and by the look of this update, today is no exception.

Well, IMHO, "Handsome is as handsome does", as they say. And in this department, Panasonic is really bringing home the bacon.( This AFTER they ditched the thrice-accursed Venus II and III with their osmium-handed NR, which made their high-iso shots look like they had been taken of blobs of paint run over by a Mack truck.) Now the positive aspects of their cameras really stand out, such as the excellent lens (great range and crispness - though still rather "slow", aperture-wise), their ease of use, their build quality, thir speed and their great IS. All of that had been essentially watered down by the crummy IQ at anything above base ISO. Hopefully this Venus V won't revert to impressionistic renderings of images.

Some sites are saying that the new 'AVCHD Lite' mode shoots 720p at 60fps.

I've had a look on the Panasonic site and 720p at 60fps would appear to be correct. I wonder can you use the zoom whilst recording?

According to Sweedish manual p52 for TZ-5 is 720p 30fps max performance. Zoom is operating slower, and zoom noise "might be" recorded according to same page.

@Espen Ruud - we're talking about new TZ6/TZ7 here, not TZ5 :)

Hey PS3½ - from Panasonic's own site, it specifically states that the optical zoom CAN be used while recording for the TZ6 and the TZ7, which is pretty ace news. Linky: http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/2032049/index.html

I can't believe it. They're releasing the DMC-TZ7 with what looks like better sound quality for video capture. Only bought my TZ5 back in December!