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:
ISO 80 (100% crop) |
ISO 100 (100% crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% crop) |
ISO 400 (100% crop) |
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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:
| Original Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
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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.
Original
100% Crop |
Sharpened 100% Crop |
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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.
| 6M
Fine (2,595Kb) |
6M
Normal (1,489Kb) |
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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.
| Example
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Example
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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.
| Macro Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
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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.
| Flash Off - Wide Angle (37mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (37mm) |
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| Flash Off - Telephoto (222mm) |
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).
| Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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| Flash - Red-Eye Reduction |
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.
| Night Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
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.
| Shutter Speed | Anti Shake Off |
Anti Shake On |
| 1/60th |  |
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| 1/13th |  |
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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.
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