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Customer Reviews:
4.5 stars, great camera, see sample pictures uploaded.
I saw some pictures taken with the Sony DSC bridge camera and I thought the pictures, while good, weren’t as crisp as I’d like so I decided to look at the Lumix cameras. Both Lumix cameras, the TZ5 and FZ18 (bridge model) Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18K 8.1MP Digital Camera with 18x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black) are great. I wanted a camera with more zoom than the 3x or 4x on most point & shoot cameras. I owned a Leica point & shoot when film was still the way to go and always loved the great pictures I got from that camera so the Leica lens was a great draw. You may have to use a tripod or monopod to steady your camera at full zoom to get a nice shot–if you don’t care for this consider sticking with more MPs with less zoom and crop–you should be able to crop quite a bit and still get a decent shot. I don’t recommend using full optical and digital zoom with any camera as the pictures get more “grainy”, but if you have to get that tight shot you have that option.

Pros for TZ5: Ready to go out of the box in AI mode–goes automatically from landscape to macro and mega OIS stabilization is very good. Has 10x zoom and can go to full zoom using optical & digital zoom (I believe this gives you 28x). Has an E.Zoom button that will take you to full optical and/or extended zoom using optical and digital zoom without having to use the zoom lever. Amazed at how well the macro mode worked and loved the options to switch to wider panorama type shots. There are 2 other scene modes you can program & save with your preferences so you can quickly & easily shift to your pre-adjusted modes using the camera dial. Large LCD screen. Menus were relatively easy to learn and can easily switch to different camera options. Pictures were crisp and clean. You can also be creative using B&W, sepia, and vivid and other camera options. Burst mode and bracketing options available. Small size you can fit in your purse or pocket. If you prefer to have some options but don’t want to fuss a lot with a camera this is a great point & shoot camera.

Cons for TZ5: The FZ18 shot better with lower light and overall the shots had noise, but still not bad for a point & shoot and not a big issue unless you do a lot of low light shooting. You can also try high sensitivity and sport scene options to as well as focusing options to get better indoor or low light shots. Details in dark colored models were not as easily seen on LCD–I couldn’t see the details clearly on some skinny red orchids and just pressed the shutter on faith–I still got some nice detailed shots. Also, autofocus didn’t do as well on dark colored objects and in dim light. Pale yellow didn’t photograph as well in AI mode–at least not close up–I had to step back to get better color rendition on a pale yellow hibiscus. LCD has clear, shiny “window” over it that helps brighten and sharpen the image, but gets “fingerprinty” and may scratch–I use a microfiber eyeglass cloth to keep it clean.

I uploaded photos, mostly of flowers and plants I photographed in my yard so you can judge–the photos are un-retouched and not cropped. The day was bright & hazy, a breeze blowing so the flowers were not always sitting still. All were taken handheld. There is one handheld, indoors in dim light of my laptop screen.

I have not used the video function so can’t comment on it. I also haven’t used all the scene options so I can’t say if all work well. Backlight function worked pretty well.

I notice the silver TZ5 camera is cheaper than the black for some reason–if you don’t mind silver and want to save a few bucks, that may be the way to go. I will leave some comments on the FZ18 for those that want some info on that camera.

Verdict: A KEEPER. Much better than the previous Canon Power Shot I owned, which was slow and clunky.

Thanks to everyone for posting their pictures and comments on Amazon, I appreciate the assistance and I hope I have been of some help to other consumers in return.

Very Fine Camera and Fun Too!
I’ve had the TZ5K a couple of months now. It’s a beautiful piece of technologoy. The lens is very sharp. Image stabilization is phenomenal. Settings are easy to access, quick and intuitive. I have big hands and the camera fits me well. I have never accidentally pushed a button. The camera also fits easily in a pocket. The battery that comes with the camera is long lasting and only takes two hours to charge even from total discharge. The best features of the camera to me are the zoom capability and the macro capability. Both deliver sharp pictures. The macro is so good you can capture the inside of a flower and with no worries about stability and blur. I’d recommend this camera to my friends.

Good Camera
First off, this thing is a lot smaller then I thought it would be. I can easily hold it in one hand and take a picture. The video feature is awesome.I have a camcorder but I never use it cause I hate carrying it around. Now I take video all the time and easily transfer it on the the computer. The 10x zoom is very nice. I no longer have to get right up close to someone to take a picture. The lcd screen is large and vivid.

The auto setting is pretty good but I prefer to use the quick menu to setup the picture the way I want. There are also a lot of preset settings you can chose from. The dial on the top lets you preselect two presets so you can get to them quickly.

Overall picture quality is great in good light. I’m still messing with the camera to get low light the way I want it. Face recognition works like a charm.

My only complaint is the sound on the video is not the best. If your outside and its windy forget about it. Other then that it is a good camera and worth the price.

TZ5 is much better than the TZ3
Key new features of the TZ5 that really work. 1) Zoom during movies: If used sparingly, zooming can produce very nice results. 2) Improved viewing screen: The improved resolution makes it much easier to use this camera. 3) IA (Intelligent Auto): This was missing from the TZ3. IA combined with the new engine (V4) manages the camera work quite well for most picture taking situations. 4) The mode switch on the back, which switches between taking pictures to viewing pictures, is an excellent addition of a frequently used function to a dedicated button. It is duplicated on the little wheel, but you will always use the new switch. 5) The quick menu button - very handy for changing the most common settings. 6) The TZ5 has an improve menu structure on the amazingly clear screen. 7) I almost forgot, the TZ5 takes better sharper pictures than the TZ3, especially in low light situations without the flash. By far, this is the best super zoom small pocket-size camera to buy.

Great camera with minor weaknesses
First off, the good: Shoots great, very detailed pictures, excellent videos, I love the high speed burst mode to shoot short series of pictures, the 10x OPTICAL zoom is awesome! The display is large and crisp. Is ready to shoot as soon as you hit the On button.

The not so good: The packaged software Panorama Maker 4 is unsuitable for newer Intel Macs and Panasonic and the maker of the software both deny any support responsibility. The USB connectivity reports the camera as “NO NAME” which looks pretty cheap. Triggering a shot through the USB cable is not possible. I am comparing this to my Canon Powershot S50 which is much more mature in this regard. Basic functionality is available through Mac OS X and the Canon PhotoStitch software works fine with the Panasonic images.

The lens cover is very flimsy. The camera fell onto the ground from about 1′ high and it took me 30 minutes of shaking and manually pushing the parts of the lens cover back and forth until it finally recovered and worked again.

I have decided to keep the Canon Powershot for situations where I feel a more rugged camera would be good and have the Panasonic to take pictures of the finer things in life.