Steves Digicams - Panasonic DMC-TZ50 Digital Camera

Review posted 7/21/2008

Introduction & Physical Views

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Panasonic has added yet another model to their award-winning TZ-family of digital cameras, the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ50. This compact "super-zoom" comes complete with Wi-Fi capabilities, standard 802.11b/g wireless LAN connectivity and access to T-Mobile HotSpot service. This will allow users to upload digital photos taken with the TZ50 directly to Picasa Web Albums', a free online photo-sharing service from Google. The 9.1 megapixel TZ50 is packed with a 28mm wide-angle lens, 10x optical zoom and the ability to record HD (1280x720) video.

Panasonic uses the T-Mobile HotSpot service and Picasa Web Albums' APIs to create a new optimal online environment and community for sharing digital photos. After taking photos with the new Panasonic LUMIX TZ50, users will be able to wirelessly send one or multiple photos at a time, directly to Google's Picasa Web Albums. Users can connect to standard wireless home networks, but furthermore, the TZ50 can also connect to the T-Mobile HotSpot Service, which provides fast and reliable Wi-Fi Internet access at more than 8,800 public locations throughout the United States, including Borders Books & Music stores, Hyatt Hotels and many major airports. The LUMIX TZ50 comes with an offer for 12-months of complimentary T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-FI service.

The TZ50 is the latest member of the LUMIX TZ-Series, which is known for packaging a 28mm wide-angle 10x optical zoom Leica DC lens (equivalent to 28-280mm on a 35mm film camera) into a compact body. The 28mm wide-angle lens captures subjects and scenes wider at the same standpoint than a normal 35mm camera. Notably, the new TZ50 integrates the capability of recording 720p HD (high-definition) motion video together with its direct output function allowing users to enjoy watching both still images and movies in impressive HD quality on a HDTV via an optional component cable or by inserting the SD Memory Card into the SD slot, which is available on all Panasonic VIERA HDTVs.

The Panasonic LUMIX TZ50 also incorporates Panasonic's advanced Intelligent Auto (iA) mode consisting of seven intuitive technologies, all which are specifically designed to help make photo-taking enjoyable and easy. When in Advanced Intelligent Auto mode, the following technologies all operate automatically; the user does not need to change any settings:

Intelligent Exposure - Photos will no longer be under- or over-exposed. Instead, the TZ50 instantly analyzes the framed image and adjusts the brightness in areas that are too dark because of dim lighting, backlighting or the use of the flash. The camera will automatically adjust the brightness accordingly.

Digital Red-eye Correction- Helps eliminate the red-eye problem that sometimes results when taking flash shots at the night. Incorporated into the built-in flash, the camera emits a small preliminary flash before the main flash, detects red-eye and will digitally correct it.

MEGA O.I.S. - Gyro-sensors detect hand-shake and the lens system shifts to compensate, helping to prevent hand-shake from creating a blurry image.

Intelligent ISO - Determines if the photo subject is moving and change the ISO setting and shutter speed accordingly.

Intelligent Scene Selector - Senses the ambient conditions, recognizes the shooting environment and will automatically select the appropriate scene mode from: Scenery, Portrait, Macro, Night Portrait or Night Scenery mode. This intuitive technology, helps the consumer use the most common scene modes that are built into the camera, but often go unused, without making any manual adjustments.

Face Detection - Detects faces anywhere in the frame and automatically chooses the optimal focus and exposure settings so portraits come out clear and crisp. Detecting up to 15 faces, Panasonic's Face Detection can even track a face if the subject is moving.

Continuous AF - The Continuous AF (auto focus) system maintains focus on the subject even without pressing a shutter button halfway, thus minimizing the AF time.

Furthermore, the DMC-TZ50 boasts Intelligent LCD function, which detects the lighting condition and controls the brightness level of the LCD in 11 fine steps, to offer a display with excellent clarity in any situation with the newly developed 460,000-dot high resolution in 3.0-inch LCD screen. This model also incorporates the Venus Engine IV, Panasonic's new high-performance image processing LSI. The Venus Engine IV produces higher-quality pictures than its predecessor, the Venus Engine III, by using a more advanced signal processing system. The new Venus Engine IV also improves noise reduction, elevates the detection accuracy and corrective effects in both MEGA O.I.S. and Intelligent ISO and reduces the shutter release time lag.

Major DMC-TZ50 Features:

9.1-megapixel effective CCD for images up to 3264x2448 pixels

Leica DC Vario-Elmarit Lens 10x "Wide" optical zoom, covering 28-280mm (35mm equivalent)

MEGA O.I.S. (Optical image stabilization) system

Built-in WiFi Mode (IEEE802.11b and IEEE802.11g connectivity)

Intelligent Exposure and Digital Red-eye Correction

9-point AF system with focus-assist lamp

3.0-inch TFT "Intelligent" color LCD monitor with (460k pixels)

Program AE (Normal Picture), Intelligent AUTO + 23 scene modes

Burst (2.5fps @ 9M; 6fps @ 2M) and AE bracketing capture modes

640x480/320x240 (4:3) or 848x480 (16:9) QuickTime movies, 30fps or 10fps with audio

HD (High Definition) 1280x720 movie mode at 30 or 15fps with audio

Shutter speeds from 1/2000 to 8 seconds (15, 30, or 60 sec. in Starry Sky mode)

Built-in flash with auto, fill, slow synchro and red-eye reduction modes

TTL Auto White Balance, 5 presets and custom set

50MB of internal memory plus SD/SDHC/MMC memory card slot

Optional DMW-MCTZ5 Underwater "Marine" Case

Plug-n-Play USB, Mass Storage compliant

PictBridge Direct-Print compatible

The Lumix DMC-TZ50 is available now in black or silver finish with a suggested retail price of US$449.95, and ships with Battery Charger, Battery Pack, Battery Carrying Case, AV & USB Cables, Strap, and CD-ROM.

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Physical Views

The DMC-TZ50 compared to a standard CD.

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Features & Controls

Lumix DMC-TZ50 Specifications

Camera Type Super Zoom

KEY FEATURES .

Camera Effective Pixels 9.1 Megapixels

Optical Image Stabilizer MEGA O.I.S. (Mode 1 / Mode 2)

Optical Zoom 10x

Image Sensor 1/2.33", 10.7 Total Megapixels CCD, Primary Color Filter

Extra Optical Zoom 4:3 Aspect Ratio: 11.3x for 7 Mega, 13.5x for 5 Mega, 16.9x for 3 Mega, 2 Mega, 0.3 Mega
3:2 Aspect Ratio: 11.6x for 6 Mega, 13.9x for 4.5 Mega, 16.9x for 2.5 Mega
16:9 Aspect Ratio: 12.1x for 5.5 Mega, 14.5x for 3.5 Mega, 16.9x for 2 Mega

Digital Zoom ¹ 4x
(Max. 40.0x combined with Optical Zoom without Extra Optical Zoom )
(Max. 67.5x combined with Extra Optical Zoom)

Focal Length f=4.7-47mm (35mm Equiv.: 28-280mm)

Lens Leica DC Vario-Elmar

Lens Construction 11 Elements in 9 Groups (3 Aspherical Lenses/4 Aspherical Surfaces, 1 ED Lens)

Aperture Range Wide: F3.3 / F8.0 (2 steps)
Tele: F4.9 / F11 (2 steps)

PERFORMANCE FEATURES .

Conversion Lens Compatibility No

Focusing Area Normal: Wide 50cm/ Tele 200cm - infinity
Macro / Intelligent AUTO / Clipboard : Wide 5cm / Max 200cm / Tele 100cm - infinity

AF Metering Face / 1-point/ 1-point high speed/ 3-point high speed/ 9-point/ Spot

Focus Normal / Macro, Continuous AF (in Intelligent Auto, On/Off)

AF Assist Lamp Yes

ISO Sensitivity Auto /100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 (High Sensitivity Mode : Auto(1600 - 6400) )

White Balance Auto / Daylight / Cloudy / Shade / Halogen / White Set / White Balance Adjustment (+10steps, except for auto set)

Exposure Program AE

Exposure Compensation 1/3 EV Step, ± 2 EV

Backlight Compensation Yes (at Intelligent AUTO mode)

Auto Bracketing (AE) +/- 1/3 EV ~ 1EV step, 3 frames

Light Metering Intelligent Multiple / Center-weighted / Spot

Shooting Mode (Mode Dial)/Rec. Mode Intelligent AUTO, Normal Picture, Scene, Motion Picture, Clipboard, Wi-Fi Mode

Scene Modes Portrait, Soft Skin, Scenery, Sports, Night Portrait, Night Scenery, Self-Portrait, Food, Party, Candle Light, Fireworks, Starry Sky, Beach, Aerial Photo, Snow, High Sensitivity, Baby1&2, Underwater, Sunset, Pet, Hi-Speed Burst, Multi Aspect

Shutter Speed/Shutter System 8 - 1/2,000 sec.
Starry Sky Mode: 15, 30, 60 sec.

>Self Timer 10 seconds / 2 seconds

Auto Review 1sec, 2sec, Zoom, Hold

Review No

Picture Adjustment No

Color Effect Mode No

Color Mode Yes

Recording Format Still Image: JPEG (design rule for camera file system, based on Exif 2.21 standard), DPOF Corresponding
Image with audio: JPEG (design rule for camera file system, based on Exif 2.21 standard)+ QuickTime
Motion Picture: QuickTime Motion JPEG

Image Quality Fine/Standard

RECORDING IMAGE SIZE (Pixels) .

4:3 Aspect Ratio (Still Image) 3456 x 2592
3072 x 2304
2560 x 1920
2048 x 1536
1600 x 1200
640 x 480

3:2 Aspect Ratio (Still Image) 3552 x 2368
3072 x 2048
2560 x 1712
2048 x 1360

16:9 Aspect Ratio (Still Image) 3712 x 2088
3072 x 1728
2560 x 1440
1920 x 1080

Motion Image (4:3 Aspect Ratio) 640 x 480, 320 x 240
30 fps, 10fps

Motion Image (16:9 Aspect Ratio) 848 x 480 - 30 fps, 10 fps
HD: 1280 x 720 - 30fps, 15fps

CONVENIENCE FEATURES .

Burst Shooting Mode Full-Resolution Image, 2.5 frames/sec Max. 5 images (Standard mode), Max 3 mages (Fine Mode)
High-speed Burst Mode: approx. 6 frames/sec (recorded in 2M for 4:3, 2.5M for 3:2, 2M for 16:9)

Unlimited Consecutive Shooting ² Yes

Intelligent Exposure Yes

Digital Red Eye Correction Yes

Easy Zoom/Zoom Resume/Motion Zoom Yes/Yes/Yes

Still Image Recording with Audio 5 seconds

Audio Dubbing Maximum of 10 Seconds

Real-time Histograms Yes

Composition Guide Lines Yes (2 patterns)

Built-in Memory approx. 50MB

Scene Mode Help Screen Yes

Auto Angle Detection Yes

Flip Animation No

Travel Date/World Time Yes/Yes

Title Edit Yes

Text Stamp/Date Stamp Yes/Yes

STANDARD FEATURES .

Built-in Flash Type/Mode Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off 0.6 - 5.3m (Wide/ISO Auto), 1.0 - 3.6m (Tele/ISO Auto)

External Flash No

Viewfinder No

LCD Monitor 3.0" Diagonal Polycrystalline TFT LCD Display (460K dots)
Field of View : approx. 100%
AUTO Power LCD mode, Power LCD mode, High angle mode

Playback Mode REC/Play Selector Switch, 30 & 12-thumbnail Display, Calendar Display, Zoomed Playback (16x max), Playback of Fav Pics, Image Rotation, Resize, Trim, Protection, Aspect Conv. DPOF Print Setting Creating Still Pics from Motion Picture, Dual Image Playback

WiFi Mode Communication Protocol: Standard IEEE802.11b/g
Security Protocol: 128/64bit WEP, TKIP, AES
No. of Channels: 11 (2412~2462MHz)
Connectivity Speed: IEEE802.11b - 11M/5.5M/2M/1M(bps)
IEEE802.11g - 54M/48M/36M/24M/18M/12M/9M/6M(bps)

OSD Language English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese

Recording Media Built-in Memory
SD Memory Card
SDHC Memory Card
MultiMediaCard (Still image only)

Microphone Yes

Speaker Yes

Interface DC Input, AV Output (NTSC/PAL), HD AV Output (Component), USB 2.0 High Speed

Direct Print PictBridge

Color Silver

Power Supply Lithium-ion Battery Pack (3.7V, 1000 mAh)(Included)
AC Adaptor (Input: 110-240V AC)(Optional)

Battery Life ³ Up to 300 pictures (CIPA Standard)

ACCESSORIES .

Included Software PhotofunStudio -viewer-, ArcSoft® MediaImpression™, ArcSoft® Panorama Maker™, USB Driver

Standard Accessories Battery Charger, Battery Pack, Battery Carrying Case, AC, AV & USB Cables, Strap, CD-ROM

SPECIFICATIONS .

Dimensions (H x W x D) 2.33'' x 4.07'' x 1.44''
Weight 0.47 lbs

Footnotes

1 As digital magnification increases, resolution significantly decreases.

2 Number of shots may vary depending on memory card size, battery power, picture size, and compression. The consecutive shooting speed varies depending on the memory card or the built-in memory.

3 Shooting conditions: 73.4°F with 50% humidity;LCD On; Using an SD Memory Card; Starting to shoot 30 seconds after turning on the power; Shooting once every 30 seconds with the flash in full operation for every other shot; Changing the zoom setting from telephoto to wide, or wide to telephoto, for each shot; Temporarily turning the power off after each 10 shots (long enough to lower the battery temperature. For DMC-LC1: Shooting once every 30 seconds, flash in operation for every shot, 77°F(25°C) ambient temperature.

(Specifications as provided by the manufacturer.)

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Introduction & Physical Views

Major DMC-TZ50 Features:

Physical Views

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Lumix DMC-TZ50 Specifications

Footnotes

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