Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 Review
Review Date: April 21st 2006
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using
the 5M Fine mode, which gives an average image size of around
2Mb - 2.5Mb.
Noise
There are 5 ISO settings available on the Panasonic Lumix
DMC-TZ1 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. There's some noise at ISO 200 but it's
still a usable speed. At ISO 400 image quality has deterioated
quite a lot as the camera blurs detail to hide the noise,
and by ISO 800 photos resemble impressionistic paintings.
High Sensitivity Mode
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 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 change the in-camera sharpening level.
File Quality
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 has 2 different image quality
settings available, with 5M 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-TZ1 dealt extremely well with chromatic
aberrations during the review, with only very limited purple
fringing present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast
situations, especially at the telephoto end of the 10x zoom.
Macro
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 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-TZ1 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 (350mm) |
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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-TZ1 maximum shutter speed is 60 seconds
in the Starry Sky Mode scene mode (there are also 15 and 30
second options) and 8 seconds in the Night Scenery mode, which
is good news if you're seriously interested in night photography.
The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 8 seconds
at ISO 80. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show
what the quality is like. The camera takes the same amount
of time again to apply noise reduction, so for example at
the 8 second setting the actual exposure takes 16 seconds.
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100% Crop |
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Anti Shake
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 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 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-TZ1 produced images of above average
quality during the review period. The 5 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-TZ1 dealt very
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. 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 1/2.5 inch, 5 megapixel sensor used in
the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 produces noise-free images at
ISO 80 and ISO 100, with ISO 200 also looking quite good.
ISO 400 does have easily visible noise and ISO 800 is best
avoided at all costs, but overall this is an improvement on
other Panasonic cameras that I have reviewed. The new High
Sensitivity mode extends the ISO range and allows you to freeze
subject movement effectively, but does so by reducing the
effective image resolution.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1
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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