Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 Review
Review Date: February 23rd 2006
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using
the 6M Fine mode, which gives an average image size of around
3Mb - 4Mb.
Noise
There are 4 ISO settings available on the Panasonic Lumix
DMC-LZ5 which you can select at any time if the camera is
in the normal shooting mode. Here are some 100% crops which
show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings
of ISO 80 and 100, but there's already quite a lot of noise
at ISO 200 and the image quality has deterioated a lot at
ISO 400.
High Sensitivity Mode
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 has a new High Sensitivity scene
mode which promises to reduce blurry images, particularly
of moving subjects indoors, by raising the ISO speed to a
maximum of 1600 and therefore allowing for a faster shutter
speed. This mode allows you to handhold the camera without
using the flash and get more natural results, whilst at the
same time freezing subject movement more successfully. There
are some obvious drawbacks with this special scene mode, notably
a significant reduction in resolution - Panasonic state that
"The picture quality is good enough for printing at the
ordinary 4" x 6" (10 x 15 cm) size". You also
need to select the scene mode and therefore have some idea
about when it is applicable to your subject. Here are some
100% crops which show the noise levels:
Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality
50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening
applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are quite
soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some
further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately
you can't increase the in-camera sharpening level.
File Quality
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 has 2 different image quality
settings available, with 6M Fine being the highest quality
option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of
the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
Chromatic Aberrations
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 handled chromatic aberrations
well during the review, with only limited purple fringing
present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast
situations.
Macro
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 offers a Macro setting that allows
you to focus on a subject that is 5cms away from the camera
when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows
how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact
flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
Flash
The flash settings on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 are Auto,
Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro.
and Red-eye Reduction + Slow Synchro. These shots of a magnolia
coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Auto Flash - Telephoto (222mm) |
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And here are some shots of yours truly. As you can see, both
the Flash On setting and the Red-Eye Reduction option caused
a tiny amount of red-eye (or to be more accurate, purple-eye).
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Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100%
Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 maximum shutter speed is 60 seconds
in the Starry Sky Mode scene mode (there are also 15 and 30
second options), which is good news if you're seriously interested
in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter
speed of 15 seconds at ISO 80. I've included a 100% crop of
the image to show what the quality is like. The DMC-LZ5 isn't
the most flexible of cameras for night shots - ideally the
exposure should have been about half of the 15 seconds, which
has resulted in an almost day-like picture! Unfortunately
15, 30 and 60 seconds are the only long exposure options available.
The camera takes the same amount of time again to apply noise
reduction, so for example at the 15 second setting the actual
exposure takes 30 seconds.
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100% Crop |
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Anti Shake
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 has an anti-shake mechanism,
which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds
than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld
shots of the same subject with the lens set to a focal length
of 222mm and the ISO speed set to 80. The first shot was taken
with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on.
Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results.
As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are
much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature
really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing
a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
Overall Image Quality
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 produced images of average quality
during the review period. The 6 megapixel images were quite
soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening
setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an
application like Adobe Photoshop, as you can't change the
in-camera setting. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 dealt well
with chromatic aberrations, with limited purple fringing effects
appearing only in high contrast situations. Macro performance
is average, allowing you to focus as close as 5 cms away from
the subject. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with
very little red-eye and good exposure. The night photograph
was good, with the maximum shutter speed of 60 seconds allowing
you to capture plenty of light, but only having 3 long exposure
settings is inflexible. Anti-shake is a feature that sets
this camera apart from its competitors and one that works
very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions
or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The Panasonic
Lumix DMC-LZ5's main drawback in terms of image quality, however,
is noise. The 1/2.5 inch, 6 megapixel sensor used in the Panasonic
Lumix DMC-LZ5 produces noisy images even at the slower ISO
settings. ISO 80 and ISO 100 look fine, but there's already
a lot of noise at ISO 200, which isn't exactly a quick speed,
and ISO 400 is virtually unusable. The new High Sensitivity
mode is only a partial solution.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5
have been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.
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