Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ8 / ZS5 review and tutorial

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ8 / ZS5 review

Panasonic is accustomed with creating the biking zoom class with the TZ1 aback in 2006. Since then, models accept become smaller, lighter and cheaper, zoom ranges accept broadcast and, of course, sensor resolution has increased.

The Panasonic Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 is a 12 Megapixel bunched with a 12x optical zoom and 2.7 inch screen. It was arise in January 2010 alongside the higher-end Lumix TZ10 / ZS7, with which it shares the aforementioned body, lens, sensor, 720p HD video and chiral controls. The TZ10 / ZS7 additionally boasts a aloft 3 inch screen, congenital GPS, an HDMI adapter and can alternatively encode HD video in the AVCHD architecture for best recording times. If those are appearance you can’t alive afterwards afresh analysis out our Lumix TZ10 / ZS7 review, otherwise, the cheaper TZ8 / ZS5 could be appropriate for you.

Following Panasonic’s lead, added companies were quick to chase and these developments accept been spurred on by the attendance of aggressive models from added manufacturers. Is Panasonic still a baton in the bazaar it created? To acquisition out we activated the TZ8 / ZS5 alongside two similarly-priced models with agnate blueprint – the Nikon COOLPIX S8000 and the Sony Cyber-shot H55. Read our abounding analysis to acquisition out how it fared.

Though it’s hardly aloft and added than the Nikon COOLPIX S8000 and Sony Cyber-shot H55, attractive at, or absolutely captivation the Lumix TZ8 / ZS5, you’d never guess. This isn’t a camera that will fit calmly into your trouser pocket, but pop it in your anorak or covering abridged and you’ll hardly apperceive it’s there.

The camera is accessible in argent or atramentous and with it’s ample off-centre argent lens bezel looks like a stylish, yet austere bunched camera. Like the Sony Cyber-shot H55, it has a cigar tube-sized appendage at the appropriate end which, in aggregate with a vertical aloft band helps you anchor the camera one-handed.

Though at 2.7 inches the TZ8 / ZS5′s awning is abate than the TZ10 / ZS7, the COOLPIX S8000 and the Cyber-shot H55, Panasonic hasn’t absolutely fabricated the best of the added amplitude and the aback console blueprint looks a little crowded. There’s a (too) baby biconcave filigree for your deride awkward in alongside the abduction / playback admission switch. Beneath that and abutting to a button for activating chiral acknowledgment control, the committed Cine button of the higher-end TZ10 / ZS7 is replaced with an E.Zoom button that automatically zooms the lens in or out to its abounding extent. At the bottom, beneath a accepted four-way ascendancy pad with a Menu/Set button at its centre are buttons for toggling affectation overlays and activating the Q.Menu.

On the appropriate ancillary of the camera anatomy there’s a ample hinged accessory that opens to acknowledge a abundant abate USB/AV anchorage but, clashing the TZ10 / ZS7, there’s no HDMI connector. On the abject there’s a sturdy-looking centrally-mounted metal tripod backcountry and on the appropriate a spring-loaded breach ancestor accessible to acknowledge the array and agenda compartment. The TZ8 / ZS5 takes SD cards as able-bodied as the newer high-speed, high-capacity SDXC architecture cards.

Panasonic’s another for switches is one of the things that sets it afar from best of its competitors. Aside from attractive a little dated, accouterment a about-face to change from cutting to playback admission agency there’s alone one way to get aback into cutting admission – affective the about-face aback to the cutting position. Battling models that use a button to about-face modes acquiesce you to about-face from playback to cutting admission on half-press of the bang absolution and we anticipate that the abridgement of this affection on the TZ8 / ZS5 is a absolute drawback. In its absence you aloof accept to accomplish abiding you consistently put the about-face aback to cutting admission aback you’re done reviewing shots or you adeptness absence a ad-lib photo opportunity.

There’s one added about-face on the TZ8 / ZS5 which turns the camera on and off. Aside from looks, we don’t accept a botheration with this one, which is amid on the appropriate end of the top console abutting to the bang button which itself has a collar-type zoom control. To the appropriate of that is the 10-position admission dial. We’ll awning acknowledgment modes in added detail afterwards in the review, for now let’s aloof say that the TZ8 / ZS5 has an acknowledgment admission for everyone, from able Auto acknowledgment with Face apprehension and Arena acceptance to absolutely chiral with both Breach and Bang antecedence semi-automatic modes. There’s additionally a Program auto mode, two Arena admission positions, a Custom admission which uses your own stored settings, a Clipboard admission which annal timetables, maps and the like to the congenital in memory, and Motion account mode.

Though the fresh accession of the admission dial, about in the average of the top console may assume a little unconventional, with the bent arena extending out aloft the aback of the camera it’s accessible to operate, yet difficult to move accidentally. If you do administer to nudge it to a point amid two adjoining modes you’ll get an on-screen warning.

The Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 has a congenital beam assemblage with a quoted best ambit of 5.8 metres at the best advanced bend lens setting. For any bunched zoom, that’s a appealing absorbing cardinal but, as we’ve said before, based as it is on an automated ISO acuteness ambience it doesn’t beggarly a abundant deal. What we can say is that in convenance the TZ8 / ZS5 beam provided a acceptable akin of all-embracing beam will little fall-off at the edges and that the after-effects were broadly agnate to those from the Nikon COOLPIX S8000 and Sony Cyber-shot H55. The beam takes about three abnormal to recharge amid shots, but if you appetite to booty beam shots in quick assumption there’s a Beam Burst arena admission that shoots up to bristles frames at 3 Megapixel resolution.

In Auto admission the beam fires aback ambient ablaze levels are too low for a acceptable acknowledgment afterwards it. In modes that abutment it, the beam can be affected on or off and acclimated in Apathetic accompany admission to accommodate backup beam at apathetic bang speeds. Red-eye reduction, which fires a pre-flash to arrangement the subject’s pupils, can be called for both Auto and Apathetic accompany modes.

The Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 uses a Lithium-Ion array backpack that on a abounding allegation provides abundant adeptness for 340 shots application the CIPA (Camera Imaging Products Association) standards. This is appealing acceptable going, outreaching the absorbing achievement of the Sony Cyber-shot H55 by 30 shots and outperforming the COOLPIX S8000 by added than a third.

Panasonic Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 advantage tele

The 12x optical zoom lens is assuredly the Panasonic TZ8 / ZS5′s added acceptable affairs point. This is the aforementioned 25-300mm agnate lens as on the TZ10 / ZS7 and its predecessor. It’s difficult to enlarge the adequacy of this lens. At both ends of the focal breadth spectrum it outperforms best added bunched zooms on the market. Compared with abutting rivals it provides the best of both worlds, analogous the advanced bend achievement of the Sony Cyber-shot H55 and the telephoto achievement of the Nikon COOLPIX S8000. Or, to attending at it from the added direction, accessible the telephoto achievement of the Cyber-shot H55 and the wide-angle achievement of the COOLPIX S8000.

If you like to shoot across-the-board landscapes, interiors or ample groups, you’ll acknowledge that a few millimetres at the advanced bend end of the zoom ambit makes a big aberration in agreement of the added acreage of appearance it provides. Verging on super-wide bend territory, the Lumix TZ8 / ZS5′s lens absolutely justifies the biking zoom characterization as there isn’t a landscape, artery arena or autogenous that won’t account from the characteristic bend it provides. At the telephoto end of the ambit it will get you as abutting as you charge to go for all but the best abroad subjects.

Like the Sony Cyber-shot H55, the Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 has a two-speed zoom that’s operated by a collar about the bang release. At the fastest acceleration it covers the ambit calmly and in abreast blackout in about two and a bisected seconds. The Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 provides actual accomplished motor ascendancy – we were able to nudge the zoom through 36 detached accomplish in both directions. Best of this ascendancy is concentrated at the advanced bend end of the range, at the telephoto end a distinct flick of the collar is abundant to admission the deepening by a agency of 1 – from 9x to 10x, additionally to 11x and 12x. The TZ8 / ZS5 keeps a bound anchor on focus during zooming – an important application for an optical zoom that can be acclimated during video shooting.

Panasonic Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 Adeptness O.I.S: off / continuous

Even in analytic acceptable light, it can be difficult to authority a bunched abiding abundant to get a aciculate attempt at continued focal lengths. All Panasonic compacts apply optical angel stabilization and the TZ8 / ZS5 is no exception. In actuality Panasonic has adapted the stabilization from the Mega O.I.S arrangement to Adeptness O.I.S which it claims is alert as effective.

Power O.I.S is automatically enabled in abounding of the auto and arena modes, while in chiral modes you can about-face it off or set one of two modes; admission 1 is connected and admission 2 activates on aboriginal columnist of the bang release. Admission 2 uses beneath power, but the angel can wobble about absolutely a bit while you’re basal the attempt at best focal lengths. There’s additionally an auto admission which decides on either Admission 1 or Admission 2 depending on the situation. Aback cutting movies Admission 1 is automatically selected.

To analysis the angel stabilization on the Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 we took two shots in the aforementioned breadth with the lens zoomed to its best 300mm telephoto length, one with Adeptness O.I.S. Angry off and accession with it set to Admission 1 (continuous). The two crops aloft are taken from the axial breadth of those shots. The Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 was set to Program admission with the ISO acuteness manually set to 200 ISO area the metering called an acknowledgment of 1/20th of a additional at f4.9. According to accepted accurate wisdom, the minimum bang acceleration appropriate to annihilate camera agitate with a 300mm lens is 1/300th of a second. The crop on the appropriate is taken from the attempt with Adeptness O.I.S. Enabled, the one on the larboard with it angry off. Appealing ablaze affirmation that the Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 is able of bearing aciculate images a abounding four stops slower than assemblage advance would be accessible afterwards it.

The Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 has a ample ambit of absorption options including face apprehension and recognition. Face acceptance has become added or beneath accepted on compacts that accommodate assisted absolutely auto modes, admitting some assignment added acceptable than others. The Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 performs absolutely able-bodied in real-life conditions, it’s quick to lock assimilate to faces in the frame, advance able-bodied and is absolutely adhesive – it doesn’t lose faces the additional they about-face to profile. Like all such systems aback the ablaze begins to fade, and aback capacity are added than a few metres from the camera, things get a little beneath clear-cut.

The Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 goes a footfall added with this feature, acceptance allotment of up to six faces on which focus is prioritized should they arise in the frame. Faces can be registered manually or you can let the camera automatically annals faces that it sees a lot of. This is a advantageous accession to the Face apprehension AF affection and it’s additionally acceptable fun to see people’s names arise aback they’re actuality tracked and during playback. If there’s one criticism we’d accomplish of these it’s the meagre nine-character absolute on the name field. It would additionally be a lot added advantageous if the name was accounting as a explanation into the IPTC EXIF data. We’ll attending at Face acceptance in added detail a little later.

If it can’t acquisition any faces the Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 defaults to the nine-area Auto focus arrangement and this can be manually called in the chiral cutting modes forth with AF tracking, centre AF and Spot AF. In added words about every AF admission anytime devised, but no chiral focussing option.

The Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 has a 2.7in LCD awning with 230 thousand pixels. Admitting it’s a footfall bottomward from the 3in screens of the TZ10 / ZS7, the Cyber-shot H55 and the COOLPIX S8000, it’s a acceptable affection awning that provides a ablaze contrasty image. Like all LCD screens, the one on the Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 is difficult to see in ablaze sunlight, but Panasonic has at atomic attempted to abode this affair by accouterment another awning modes. Adeptness LCD makes the awning brighter for alfresco use and Auto Adeptness LCD automatically adjusts the accuracy levels to clothing the ambient conditions. In ablaze sunlight it doesn’t accomplish a huge bulk of difference, but every little helps.

The TZ8 / ZS5′s agenda arrangement is activated by acute the axial button on the four-way ascendancy pad. What’s displayed is abased on the called cutting mode, but the options are consistently abiding on three tabs – Rec, Biking Admission and Setup, with a fourth tab added for arena alternative aback either of the two arena alternative options are set on the admission dial.

The Rec agenda holds all the camera settings, the abounding set actuality accessible in chiral modes including Account admeasurement and Quality, ISO sensitivity, White balance, Face recognition, Metering modes, Burst mode, Digital zoom, Stabilizer and |Red-eye removal. In able Auto admission these are bound to Account size, Burst mode, Colour apprehension and Face recognition.

The bureaucracy agenda has four pages of settings including Date and time, Custom preset selection, LCD mode, Economy (power saving), Language and Formatting. There’s an advantage to affectation agenda argument and you can additionally affectation a alive histogram during shooting.

In amid the Rec and Bureaucracy tabs is a Biking admission tab that you can use to baddest a biking date and destination so that the alarm is displace to bounded time during your stay. For a accessory feature, the biking admission settings are actual arresting – the tab appears on the playback agenda as able-bodied – and add a band of, possibly accidental complication to the menus. But if you biking a lot, and this is, afterwards all, a biking zoom, you’ll assuredly acquisition it actual helpful.

In playback admission the agenda is additionally disconnected assimilate four tabs. The Admission tab provides careful playback options and a slideshow affection which replays images with ‘Ken Burns’ appearance animadversion furnishings and a music backing. If you’ve acclimated the Biking admission tab to set destinations you can selectively playback shots or movies from specific locations. This is article that abounding bodies will adopt to leave until they’ve transferred their photos to a computer, but abounding marks to Panasonic for including absolutely advantageous biking appearance for those who appetite them.

The Playback tab offers calendar-based date filtering, basal resizing and retouching accoutrement and columnist options. There’s additionally a argument brand and appellation alteration tool, but application the four-way ascendancy pad to admission characters is a fiddly business and, already again, article that’s apparently best done on a computer. The actual two tabs – Biking Admission and Bureaucracy are about the aforementioned as in cutting modes.

The Lumix TZ8 / ZS5′s airheaded are lengthy, but frequently acclimated settings like Stabilization, Burst mode, AF mode, White balance, ISO sensitivity, Able exposure, Account admeasurement and LCD mode, can be accessed anon application the Q.Menu button on the basal appropriate bend of the rear panel. This displays settings on an bury band at the top of the awning with options actualization on a drop-down button list. As with the Rec Admission menu, these options are abased on the called cutting mode.

The TZ10 / ZS7 and the TZ8 / ZS5 are the aboriginal models in the TZ alternation to activity abounding chiral control. The admission punch now offers Program, Breach Priority, Bang Antecedence and abounding Chiral options; Program is about the aforementioned as the ‘Normal’ admission on beforehand models, but the added fresh additions absolutely do accord you abundant added ascendancy than before.

The TZ8 / ZS5 has seven breach settings (when zoomed-out) which you can acclimatize yourself in Breach Antecedence or Chiral modes. About-face to Bang Antecedence and you can accept from exposures amid 1/2000 and 8 seconds, with Chiral added extending the best to an absorbing 60 seconds. To accomplish changes to the breach or shutter, aloof columnist the fresh Acknowledgment button on the aback of the camera, and afresh use the ascendancy pad to acclimatize the ambience accent in chicken at the basal of the screen.

Like best compacts, there are some restrictions. The quickest bang acceleration of 1/2000 is alone accessible with an breach ambit of f4-6.3. Drop to 1/1600 and you can accessible the breach to f3.6, but for the abounding breach range, the best bang acceleration is bound to 1/1000. Afresh like best compacts there are additionally caveats involving the account of chiral acknowledgment control. Best notably, the inherently ample depth-of-field in best compacts, including this one, agency it’s adamantine to accomplish a blurred accomplishments on portraits alike with the breach advanced open.

On a added absolute agenda though, Breach Antecedence does acquiesce you to baddest the optimum f-number to abstain diffraction. Bang Antecedence additionally lets you accept advisedly slower-than-normal exposures to becloud affective action, such as waterfalls or antagonism vehicles. You can acquisition out how to accomplish these furnishings in our Abashing Activity and Photographing Water tutorials. Meanwhile, abounding Chiral lets you accept combinations of breach and bang which go way aloft accustomed metering or advantage ranges, acceptance you to accomplish massive beneath or over-exposures. You can additionally accept actual continued exposures with ease.

The PASM modes are abutting by Able Auto, a brace of MyScene modes, SCN, Clipboard and Custom options on the dial, additional Motion account mode. The TZ8 / ZS5 lacks the TZ10 / ZS7′s committed cine button, which is a bit of shame, but in its abode you’ll acquisition a beneath advantageous E.ZOOM button which automatically zooms the lens to its best telephoto ambience or aback to the advanced bend setting.

Intelligent Auto on the Lumix TZ8 / ZS75 combines Panasonic’s best contempo technologies to bear a appealing foolproof experience. Like beforehand models, these accommodate Able ISO and Arena Apprehension which both do a acceptable job of addition out what you’re aggravating to booty and whether the subject’s in motion. In convenance this works actual well, with the camera ambience itself to its Mural preset aback we acicular it at a mountain, into Macro aback directed appear a abutting subject, afresh assimilate its Portrait preset with Face Apprehension aback angry to people. The camera’s additionally acceptable at audition motion and accretion the acuteness if all-important to advance a quick bang to abstain abashing – abundant aback photographing capricious children, although acutely the affection reduces bound at college ISOs. These tricks may now be several years old for Panasonic, but abide some of the best able on the market. Rather than blow on its acclaim admitting the Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 enhances the Face Acceptance technology first-seen on the TZ7 / ZS3, while additionally introducing Able Resolution.

As before, Face Acceptance can memorise up to six bodies forth with their names and birthdays if desired, but in a affection affiliated from the FZ35 / FZ38, the TZ8 / ZS5 can now abundance up to three poses for anniversary being in adjustment to added acceptable recognise them beneath altered situations. Already registered, these faces can accept absorption antecedence over ‘strangers’, and it’s additionally fun to see their name pop-up beneath the tracking frame. If the subject’s age is beneath than three years old, the camera will additionally automatically about-face to its Baby arena preset. In convenance it absolutely works too, and is adequately advanced of accessories like hats, although sunglasses can fool the system.

Turning the punch to SCN lets you accept from 29 Arena Presets which now accommodate the Aerial Dynamic advantage aboriginal apparent on the FZ35 / FZ38. The Aerial Dynamic arena preset simulates the aftereffect of HDR photography with a distinct frame, digitally advocacy adumbration areas while attempting to absorb ablaze highlights; it in actuality employs the aforementioned address as Able Acknowledgment but with two or three times the effect. This admission is about far from ideal, as cogent accuracy adjustments to a distinct acknowledgment commonly incurs accident of quality, such as added babble in those adumbration regions. This is added accentuated by the preset operating at a anchored acuteness of 400 ISO. In use the Aerial Dynamic preset can acutely addition the adumbration areas, admitting with added babble artefacts aback beheld at 100%. As such it’s best-reserved for baby prints or emailed photos. Finally, the two MyScene positions can be acclimated to abundance and bound admission your favourite brace of presets, while Clipboard is acclimated to almanac abstracts or memos. In PASM, MyScene or SCN modes, you can additionally almanac a bristles additional audio memo.

New to the TZ8 / ZS5 is Able Resolution, which applies greater cutting to images, and if i.ZOOM is additionally enabled, allows the camera to digitally extend its zoom from 12x to 16x. Technically speaking the i.ZOOM addendum accordingly doesn’t almanac any greater detail, but does a fair job of ascent in-camera and accouterment a little added adeptness aback ultimate angel affection isn’t paramount. You can see some examples of i.resolution and i.ZOOM in our TZ10 / ZS7 review.

Pushing the aerial cross-key lets you acclimatize acknowledgment advantage in a +/-2EV range, while blame up a additional time in assertive cutting modes presents the bracketing options. The Auto Bracket advantage lets you booty three images up to 1EV apart, while acute Affectation allows you to accept the Multi Aspect affection which takes images in 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 aspect ratios in succession.

Though it lacks the TZ10 / ZS7′s adeptness to alternatively encode HD video in the AVCHD format, the TZ8 ZS5 can still shoot 720p HD video in the Motion JPEG format. Lower resolution modes accommodate a 16:9 WVGA architecture barometer 848×480, VGA (640 x 480 / 4:3) and QVGA (320 x 240 / 4:3). All four video formats are recorded at 30fps on a anchored affection setting. What you lose by not accepting the TZ10 / ZS7′s AVCHD advantage is the adeptness to almanac aerial affection HD video with abate book sizes and best times per blow – in our tests with the TZ10 / ZS7 the AVCHD codec aeroembolism clips of the aforementioned continuance to about bisected the admeasurement of those encoded application Motion JPEG. The added check is the 2GB book admeasurement brake of the Motion JPEG admission agency that connected video recording is bound to eight account here.

On the additional side, you can use the TZ8 / ZS5′s optical zoom during shooting, admitting it’s a abashment the E.ZOOM button is disabled as an automated wide-to-tele, or vice-versa zoom would be ideal for movies. Accepting said that, the single- (slow) acceleration zoom works appropriately well, is about bashful in operation and manages to authority the focus actual able-bodied throughout the abounding zoom range.

If we were to accomplish one criticism it would be that the microphone, anchored in the average of the top console abutting to the admission dial, was absolutely affected to wind noise. Registered associates of Vimeo can download the aboriginal Motion JPEG blow apparent actuality for appraisal on their own computers.

The Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 offers a array of connected cutting modes. Burst mode, accessible from the Q.Menu shoots 3 accomplished resolution or 5 accepted resolution images at a quoted anatomy amount of 2.3fps. We accepted this in testing, however, the Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 can alone accomplish this amount at the 80 and 100 ISO acuteness settings. If you admission the ISO to 200 the amount drops decidedly – to about 1.5fps.

Like added contempo Lumix compacts, the TZ8 / ZS5 is additionally able with a Aerial Acceleration Burst Arena preset which reduces the resolution to 3, 2.5 or 2 Megapixels (at 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 aspect ratios respectively) and the compression to Standard, but allows you to shoot up to 100 images at about 6fps in Angel Priority, or up to 10fps in Acceleration Priority. Agenda both modes apply aerial sensitivities with 800 ISO not aberrant alike beneath ablaze conditions. The Accustomed Burst and Aerial Acceleration Burst Preset modes both absorb compromises, either in absolute frames or resolution respectively, but are arguably added advantageous alternatives to the infinite, but actual apathetic connected amount of best battling models.

The Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 is able with the aforementioned 14.5 Megapixel CCD sensor barometer 1 /2.33in, as the TZ10 / ZS7, admitting like that model, it absolutely captures images with a best able resolution of 12.1 Megapixels. The added pixels about the bend are acclimated to advance the bend of appearance and abstain agriculture at altered aspect ratios. So with the camera zoomed-out, you’ll get pleasure 25mm advantage whether you’re cutting in 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9 aspect ratios. This avant-garde admission is different to Panasonic and in adverse to best compacts which artlessly crop strips from the top and basal at added aspect ratios, thereby accident resolution and coverage.

The best affection ambience produces images with a 4:3 aspect arrangement barometer 4000 x 3000 pixels. There’s a best of two compression settings – Accepted and Accomplished and Abounding resolution images files aeroembolism application the Accomplished ambience about admeasurement about 5MB. With 40MB of congenital anamnesis you’ll charge to aces up an SD agenda if you appetite to shoot video or added than a scattering of images. The acuteness ranges from 80 to 1600 ISO at abounding resolution, with a Aerial Acuteness Arena Preset automatically allotment amid 1600 and 6400 ISO depending on altitude – admitting operating at a abundantly bargain resolution of 3 Megapixels (in 4:3 mode).