Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ6 Review

#1 Motte Valois

Great website to visit! Wow!
A friend of mine just bought one Lumix and she is really impressed with the quality, here in New zeland is a little pricy still, but she reckons its worth it. I have bouth a Canon A470 in a bargain of $129 (around US80) and I hae to confess the quality is really goof=d for its specs. I will certainly visit your blog in a daily basis from now!

Cheers

12:32 am - Thursday, April 9, 2009

#2 kelsci

This camera should have featured high-def video recording like the tz5. This is something that even Canon’s SX-200 has this year.

9:11 am - Thursday, April 9, 2009

#3 reddy

Very beautiful digital camera , I like this compact camera more than the huge one!

6:23 am - Friday, April 17, 2009

#4 Rex

I wasn’t able to wait for this camera to come out in the market so I got it from ebay. I’m very happy with it especially with the compact and versatile lens.

1:01 am - Sunday, April 26, 2009

#5 Sajid

Excellent Camera. Used it extensively and recommend it highly. I like its MOV quicktime format vs avi on other cameras. Only downside, battery life is not that great.

12:36 am - Monday, April 27, 2009

#6 Marc

interesting camera, but the lack of manual control (aperture and exposure) means that it has no interest at all for any amateur-photographer.

11:31 am - Tuesday, May 19, 2009

#7 Kat

Is it true that Panasonic have stopped manufacturing batteries for the TZ6? I really want to get this one instead of the TZ7 but if I can’t get back up batteries then it’s obsolete!!

12:04 am - Friday, July 10, 2009

#8 D. Stark

@Kat:

I’m 99.9% certain the TZ6 & TZ7 use the same battery. It’s out there, but it does seem to be a little hard to find. I found an original Panny-branded one here in the U.S. for $30. Battery is the DMW-BCG10. Good luck!

4:45 pm - Thursday, July 23, 2009

#9 Kike

Hi there!

I want to buy a compact camera and very confused because I like both TZ6 and TZ7.

I’d be very grateful if someone could tell me the real differences between those models and what will you buy for these prices.

In Spain: TZ6: EUR240. TZ7: EUR320.

Will you pay 80 EUR more for the TZ7?

Thank you and sorry for my english

8:21 pm - Thursday, July 23, 2009

#10 D. Stark

@Kike

I asked myself the same question many times.

The lenses are identical. The TZ7 has HD video capture with stereo sound, while the TZ6 only has DVD-quality video capture & mono sound.

They use slightly different CCDs, with the CCD of the TZ7 being slightly larger. However, all of the side-by-side tests of the TZ6/TZ7 I have seen show the picture quality to be basically the same.

If you want to capture video, go for the TZ7. If you just want to purchase a camera, go for the TZ6 and save the 80EUR!

Hasta Luego!

7:02 pm - Friday, July 24, 2009

#11 Kike

Hi D. Stark!

Thank you for your comments. I’ve read carefully both reviews and only see the differences you said.

I want this camera for taking good photos, but I’d like to capture video too but the DVD quality is much more than I need, as we need the most of the videos to share on the internet.

Another question is if the internal components of the camera will suffer with the vibrations if I put it on my motorbike. I want to record videos like this for I have a GoPro Wide, but want to use TZ’s for fitting it only on the tank or steering position. Look the video sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxqwYbUljHs

As I said, I’d like to put the camera only on the first position you can see on this video.

What do you think?

7:23 pm - Friday, July 24, 2009

#12 kelsci

I was over at Steve’s Digicams. I think an alternative to the TZ6 might be the Casion Ex-S12.It has high-def video recording too. It reminds me of the TZ5. I particulaly liked the sample picture of the chinese restaurant. I could read the license plates of the parked cars.

8:14 pm - Friday, July 24, 2009

#13 VK

If you are looking for a good comparison between the two Panasonic TravelZoom models (as well as others), look at
  http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q209grouplongzoom/

8:59 pm - Wednesday, August 5, 2009

#14 martin

Hi, i’m slightly confused.  On this website it tells me it includes Face Recognition.  I’ve just bought the camera - Litterally.. not charged it up yet and the Manual tells me Face Recognition is only available on the T7.  Another website confirms this.  Anybody confirm one way or the other before I try it? ta

4:30 pm - Tuesday, August 11, 2009

#15 D. Stark

@martin:

Face recognition is definitely there when in iA or one of the portrait scene modes. However, only the TZ7 can remember people’s faces and add their names to the EXIF data. Not a big loss, IMHO.

I just got back from a 4-day backpacking trip. Oh, the things my ZS1 (TZ6 in the US) was capable of capturing!

7:15 pm - Tuesday, August 11, 2009

#16 silvia

I want to buy the TZ6. Anybody can tell me if battery life is not great even using the camera onky for shots and not for videos?

12:32 am - Friday, August 14, 2009

#17 Dai Owen

Great little camera but I still miss an eyelevel viewfinder. The display is very bright but strong sunshine is a bit of a problem. My main gripe is the price of a genuine batttery. I tried a replacement but it was rejected by the new firmware(June 2009). Panasonic fed up with fake Panasonic batteries. This is unfair on genuine 3rd party manufacturers. £70 for a genuine battery , the camera only cost £190!!

3:00 pm - Monday, September 14, 2009

#18 MaxDiscount

If you step back the firmware to 1.1 (do a search for tz6 firmware 1.1) fake batteries will work. Firmware 1.2 stops them working.

9:39 pm - Wednesday, September 16, 2009