Panasonic LUMIX TZ10 Digital Camera - Black

Far too much to write about this product, so I'll keep it short. Few points - on board memory is not enough so you'll need to invest in an extra memory card that's generation 6 or above, although I'm doing fine with a 16GB generation 4 card. The battery takes about 1.5 hours or less to charge and believe me, you'll probably want to invest in an extra Panasonic battery as it can drain fairly swiftly with lots of use. Lifting off static pictures to your PC is easy, however if lifting off video, you have to install the software that comes on a CD to do this. At the moment Youtube can't recognise the video format wich is an M2TS file, so you need to convert the file to MPEG for Youtube uploads. To edit HD video your PC needs to be very fast, at least 2.3Ghz even higher I think. Software to handle M2TS files is sparse too at the moment so check what software you need and if your PC is even fast enough to handle this. I edit my videos using a stand-alone Panasonic DVD recorder/Freeview/hard-drive box and not a PC myself as my laptop is not fast enough until I upgrade.Although you can use the automatic function to take pics, this utterly defeats the object in owning a camera like this. I learnt how to control the ISO, shutter and exposure manually and this is where this camera comes into it's own. When I was controlling everything manually, the results were far superior to auto, so I suggest you go off and learn what ISO, shutter speeds and different exposures can do. I found using auto simply wasn't delivering good results for me and if you learn a bit of this, you'll take amazing pics in low level light situations without having to use a flash for instance, where the results are far more atmospheric than bleaching everything out using the flash.The pics are lush and awesome as well as the video. The zoom is simply amazing as well as the macro (I photographed a bee on a flower petal and you can clearly see grains on pollen on it's legs, when viewed back on a PC screen) Slight annoyance when videoing and zooming in as the motor noise gets recorded too but barely noticable. Pics get recorded with all properties which is great, ie, right click the pic on your PC and select details to see all information of that single picture. This camera also has GPS to geo-tag holiday pictures but keep it in the off mode as it drains the battery even when switched off.Overall, this is an awesome piece of kit and truly amazing at how much technology they can compact in such a small unit with absolutely stunning pictures. However, you will not get amazing pics if you do not learn how to control ISO, shutter speed and exposures, imho.

*** Note that this model has now been superseded by the TZ20, which appears to offer improvements without affecting quality; however, it sells for some £100 more so you have to decide if the 'extras' are worth it (until the price inevitably drops !).Panasonic Lumix TZ20 Digital Camera - Black (14.1MP MOS, 16x Optical Zoom) 3 inch Touchscreen LCDAs an alternative, you might also be interested in the Samsung WB600: Samsung WB600 Digital Camera - Black (12MP, 15x Optical Zoom) 3.0 inch LCD for which I've written a comparison review vs the TZ10; it is dated 14 Jun 11.I've also added a customer discussion post, viewable at the base of this product page, about a tip/trick regarding initialising the GPS; observations on a case and spare battery are at the end of this review.---I bought my TZ10 only a few months ago but am already very impressed with it and, despite relying quite heavily on a digital SLR with a wide-range zoom, make use of it far more than I thought I would since it is so well specified, takes such good pictures and (most notably) is capable of recording high quality HD video. For me, it has one significant 'issue', related to that video mode, which I expand on in the negative points section of my review.---A few months later and I've just got back from a month in the USA where I took some 2200 photos/video (shared with my EOS as that has a polarising filter which takes much better photos in bright/blue-sky conditions).The video capability proved to be as good as I have already hinted at below. However, I also found the panorama-assist function to be absolutely priceless.With a bit of effort you can produce stunning wide-vista shots of scenery etc. For the best chance of a seamless panorama, the trick is to use the zoom no wider than a 4x setting, so that the joining photos are not distorted by being at wide-angle and so they merge perfectly since they are all 'flat' views....Then, use the included software to automatically collate the related photos together and then produce a seamless large/panoramic photo. Left alone to do it's stuff, it takes the software about a minute or so to produce the result, whereas doing it yourself manually could take hours ! Poster enlargements I've had printed of my panorama 'collations' are extremely impressive.My trip also showed that I STILL haven't mastered all the functions of the camera. I completely forgot/was ignorant about the multitude of vital exposure settings you can make via the '+/-' button which sits above the 'Menu/Set' button.I'm used to using exposure compensation/auto-bracketing on my SLR but should have realised that the TZ10 also has those capabilities. See pages 53-55 of the user guide to ensure you don't make the same mistake that I did !---Suffice to say that like most relatively high-end compact digital cameras it has more features than you can shake a stick at, but the notable ones are :The enormous maximum and minimum range of the optically-stabilized (NOT the far less desirable digitally stabilized) zoom lens - it's made by Leica.The quality of the 'AVCHD Lite' video footage it can take - it is astonishingly good.Unrestricted access to the zoom range whilst taking video (a LOT of cameras inhibit/freeze the optical zoom setting once you are recording video or only allow digital zoom to be used, which will be inferior).*** The 3 above features are the pivotal reason I bought the TZ10.The (potential) still-picture quality - you obviously may need to fiddle with settings to achieve your aim !.An excellent panorama-assist function which has 4 recording-direction modes (Left-Right, R-L, Up-Down, D-U) and a useful 're-take last shot' option (eg if the picture alignment could be improved).Program, shutter and aperture priority program modes (these are NOT a given even on highly-specified compacts...) - plus the usual array of custom/'scene' modes.The clarity of the operating screen.It is small, well-built, sturdy (the case is predominantly made of metal) and fairly lightweight - considering metal is used in the construction !.Regarding HD video :- It is playable using the provided software (which also has limited editing functions).- If you download a 'm2ts' codec you can also playback in windows media player.- It imports into my Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10.0 - hurray !- I can't speak for all makes, but the media player in Panasonic Blu-ray players (with an SD card slot) supports playback of TZ10 photos/HD video - check the user guide to confirm.For me, the second-tier plus points are :Built-in GPS (I thought this was a questionable feature but can see it being very useful when touring as you can lose track of where you've been or what the photo is of !).The provided software is, for once, not the usual 'Mickey Mouse' offering but operates well and also gives access to GPS data, playback, a very effective panorama 'stitch' facility (which automatically collates al the related panorama-assist photos you're taken to produce a single, completely seamless panorama 'photo'), file export/conversion and copy to other folder capabilities (good for archiving, especially as it moves the associated GPS data files - you would lost that information if you copied the image files using Explorer for example).The handy placement of the dedicated video record button.The flexible GPS settings, not just always on or off but it also includes an 'activate when camera is turned on' mode.Ability to change GPS location data for individual images/videos.The worldwide GPS co-ordinate/map data is built into the firmware of the camera, so there is no need to download and install it (like some other cameras...).The handy quick-menu (eg easily change the battery-sapping GPS setting).Utilization of an external battery charger (supplied) - I prefer this as you can use the camera/charge spare batteries at the same time, but also it doesn't expose the camera to potential damage from mains-sourced electricity (spikes etc, I've been there !).No camera is perfect, so despite my laudatory comments above there are some gripes (one quite significant) :*** The screen temporarily goes blank after selecting video record. This can be a nightmare if you are tracking something (especially if zoomed-in), as your subject is VERY likely to not be in the frame anymore once recording starts and the display 're-activates' - this often causes missed coverage or having to re-acquire your subject (which may also require you to zoom back out to achieve this !); B_A_D !Auto-preview is mandatory in 'IA' mode. I dislike auto-preview as it takes up valuable time to generate the display of your last shot, which therefore delays when you can next press the shutter - useless for action shots !The instruction manual is a shambles. It caters for 3 different models, so you have to permanently check you're reading relevant information. Also, despite often being very (too ?) comprehensive it is prone to omitting pertinent information eg the panorama-assist section doesn't mention what orientation modes are available, merely that a choice exists !The 'My Scene' mode (allocate a specific scene-mode to a dedicated control dial position, saving you having to select it from the very 'populated' scene-mode menu) doesn't allow the panorama-assist mode to display the initial recording-direction menu which appears if it is selected manually from the scene-mode menu.The zoom control can be very sensitive/erratic/laggy - this makes achieving a precise zoom setting first-time quite tricky, almost impossible in fact.Even with my relatively small fingers it can be difficult to select the desired button on the rear menu/cursor button array - I often select the wrong one by mistake.....So, you can hopefully see that my plus points far outweigh the negative; although the video blank-screen 'feature' really can limit functionality, making a camcorder preferable in certain situations as they usually maintain the lens 'feed' to the screen during the transition to recording - if Amazon ratings could be made in 1/2 point increments, this aspect would make me lean to giving a score of 4-1/2, not 5, as it is so relevant for me.In summary: the HD video, zoom range/functionality and GPS aspects are 'killer' features which make this camera both versatile and highly-capable, elevating it well above the 'norm' of other compact digitals.---------A case and spare battery usually essential accessories for a camera. I have generated an Amazon Discussion (dated 30 Mar 11) with details of a suitable hard case and higher-capacity battery bought on eBay.I also got another case on Amazon (which has better accy storage), perfect for the TZ10 and competitor WB600 - see my review and usage photos :Hama Sorento 70M Bag - Black/Orange