Panasonic Lumix TZ8 Digital Camera (12.1MP, 12x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD – Black
Posted by Notcot on Sep 12, 2010 in Photography |
5 CommentsReply |
MenuLatest GadetsRecent Reviews
Archives
|
Notcot
Gizmos, Gadgets, Noir and Steampunk
5 CommentsReply |
|
Copyright © 2024 Notcot All rights reserved. Theme by Laptop Geek. Site by I Want This Website. | Privacy Policy.
Review by V. Tapp for Panasonic Lumix TZ8 Digital Camera (12.1MP, 12x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD – Black
(5 / 5)
Rating:
I’ve had this camera for a couple of weeks now, and have not yet fully explored everything, but thought I’d start a review and then update it at a later date, once I really know the camera.
What I was looking for
I wanted a replacement for my Sony DSC H9 which was beginning to fail me. I have an SLR but like to have a smaller camera for the times I don’t want to lug a dead weight around with me. I was looking for good image quality, big zoom, manual controls and something that I could put in my pocket rather than carry round my neck.
The ones I didn’t buy
I read several reviews and was tempted by the following, but:
TZ7 – Controls poorly designed, no manual settings.
TZ10 – More expensive and has GPS which eats up battery power and apparently has to be switched off every time you switch the camera on if you don’t want it!
Both of the above have a better LCD screen and better movie options, but this wasn’t a concern for me.
Canon Powershot SX200 – Annoying pop-up flash, no histogram, possibly poorer image quality (depending on which review you read).
What I like about the TZ8
Very nice to handle: quite small, solidly built, pleasing design. The on/off switch moves sideways, rather than being a button, so you won’t switch the camera on or off by mistake. I like the record/review switch on the back, too.
Image quality excellent, pictures remain sharp unless you really wobble when taking pictures. Macro shots also sharp and detailed. The high sensitiviy mode produced very natural colours in incandescent light, which can be a problem with some cameras.
Massive zoom seems to work well, even the boosted e-zoom.
What I haven’t yet established
There are lots of different options when it comes to auto functions, including an endless array of scene modes. I’m not convinced these make a lot of difference, though for example the the “pinhole” option does obviously alter the image quite a lot. The “intelligent auto” does seem to work well; for example identifying a macro or landscape shot by itself. Is the resulting image better than if you leave the camera on “P”? I don’t know yet.
Small things that annoy me
If you want to use intelligent auto and shoot at 3:2 aspect ratio, you have to use the full 11+ megapixels, unlike all the other modes which allow you to do this at around 5 MP.
The zoom lever is a tad over-eager, though I’m learning to use it very gently so the camera doesn’t immediately launch into 12x zoom.
The printed instructions supplied with the camera are very sparing indeed. The full manual is a pdf file on a CD, which is very irritating.
A replacement battery costs over £30 as third party manufacturers haven’t cracked the code yet. Really mean of Panasonic.
***UPDATE 20/04/10
Discovered that my Sandisk 8GB SDHC doesn’t work for movie mode – seems it’s not fast enough, so will only record a few seconds before being overwhelmed. Can’t see this mentioned in the manual, Panasonic should make it clear what type of memory is required.***
Features I would have liked
RAW capability
Optical viewfinder
Remote control
All in all this is proving to be a great camera which I would recommend to anyone looking at the same criteria as me.
Review by Mr. Andrew Gorrie for Panasonic Lumix TZ8 Digital Camera (12.1MP, 12x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD – Black
(5 / 5)
Rating:
After quite a few years, the time had come to replace our old Lumix DMC-FX3.
I fancied something with a decent zoom, HD video, wider angle lens & some control over shutter speeds etc… but also something that would give great point & shoot results in some kind of auto mode.
Prior to my Lumix FX3 I’d owned a Samsung & a Fujifilm, neither of which I particularly liked using, or the images produced. The old Lumix had done us well over it’s years, so I had no problems considering another from that line.
But things move on, so first I spoke to the salesman @ our local Jessops to advise that I was possibly looking for a TZ10 (which they didn’t stock) & asked for valid alternatives.
The suggestions were the Canon SX210 & the Nikon S8000. I was allowed to play with both & take test pictures inside & outside the store.
The Canon seemed to tick all the features & from what I saw during my play, the zoom was very strong. But for a Camera of that price, it just felt cheap & the image stabilization seemed to be struggling with my shaky hand on anything above 9x or 10x (salesman assured me that IS was turned on??). I just didn’t warm to it.
The Nikon actually felt good in my hand, although it’s looks are a talking point. Not quite as strong in the zoom dept, but it felt rugged & would stand up to an accidental drop no worries. Didn’t seem to have problems with my shaky hand either.
On the verge of buying the Nikon, a frank & honest discussion with the salesman led to him telling me that the Lumix TZ range was pretty much the market leader. He wasn’t sure if he’d personally pay an extra £100+ for a TZ10 over the Nikon S8000, but if they were the same price, he’d find it hard to argue against the Panasonic.
So, I decided to go home & see if I could buy a TZ10 for S8000 money on the net. I couldn’t. But when I looked further in to the TZ range I realised that I did not need a TZ10. I had no requirement for GPS tagging & the additional burden on the battery that it brings & was very unlikely to be making video recordings of 30mins in 1 scene. The TZ8 would produce the same images for me & was in the S8000 price territory.
I’ve now had the TZ8 a few weeks, and the images produced are fantastic in my opinion. I am struggling to find a negative to say about it. Image quality has been great on indoor or outdoor shots, light or dark, from centre to edge. Very easy to use, whether in full auto or manual mode.
For video, the documentation advises that a Class 6 SDHC card is required. I read on here about 1 or 2 people complaining about video capture due to having the card that Amazon recommend (class 2 Sandisk). I purchased a Kingston 16Gb class 4 SDHC card & have had no issues whatsover with write speeds on video capture.
If I were to really try and pick negatives… then I’d say that if capturing video on full optical zoom during motion/panning, the stabilization software can seem to get a bit confused & produces a jitter-like effect. So I find that keeping movement/panning video capture at around 9x zoom or lower eliminates this jitter.
The lens movement could be a little bit quicker, but, these are just minor points to what I feel is a great all-round camera.
Very glad I made this purchase.
Review by P. Irvine for Panasonic Lumix TZ8 Digital Camera (12.1MP, 12x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD – Black
(5 / 5)
Rating:
One big WOW for this brilliant camera. So so simple to use. Perfect layout. Superb zoom. The quality of pictures are amazing. Tryed to take a picture in near enough dark conditions. The picture came out bright and clear in an intellent auto setting. The macro feature is superb. Also taking a picture while moving the camera, is just unbelievable. I have tryed all the options on this camera and cannot find any fault. the only thing would be getting used to the zoom button but after a few goes you get the feel of it. Outstanding camera, great price from amazon and battery life good aswell. This will be camera of the year !!! I have recommended this to 3 of my friends who are also super impressed with it also. For the price, if your not a professional photographer but just love to take decent great photographs, this is for you. buy it now…. go on…
Review by Ms. Ellen J. Baskerville for Panasonic Lumix TZ8 Digital Camera (12.1MP, 12x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD – Black
(5 / 5)
still playing around with the features and things, but there are some great ones,such as the intelligent auto mode, which the camera recognizes the scene and automatically sets the mode, giving you the perfect photo, whatever your shooting. has all the classic black and white/sepia/high colour modes, as well as a few other great effects, like ‘film grain’ and ‘pin hole’, which give you really professional edited looks on your photos without any excess editing or effort 
macro mode is amazing, gives you amazing depth of field shots, was incredibly impressed. and the zoom is incredible, can zoom into things miles away, and still gives a crystal clear photo! good screen, easy to use. takes the photo really quickly after focusing, after pressing the button, unlike my old one, which is one of the reasons i wanted to replace it. lightweight, nice to hold, wasn’t as small as i expected but still a nice size. black one looks really good, lovely little camera, would recommend to anyone 
xx
Rating:
i wanted a good camera to take high quality photos with, either on holiday or nights out, and for my photography, and this is exactly what this camera gave me
Review by D. Lawrence for Panasonic Lumix TZ8 Digital Camera (12.1MP, 12x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD – Black
(4 / 5)
Rating:
I received my TZ8 a couple of days ago and it’s an excellent camera.
Unfortunately there is a function missing- that of infinity hold. This enables
you to shoot through glass. Who wants to shoot through glass? Well, quite a few
travellers will; through train windows, aircraft windows and a when shooting
aircraft on the tarmac from the departure lounge for starters.
True, the .pdf handbook gives some advice for shooting through aircraft windows;
“Stand at least 5m (16.4ft) away from the window”
Assuming that you can get 5m away from the window in an aircraft, what on earth would
be the possible point of taking such a shot if you were interested in taking ground or cloud
shots?
So in short, an excellent camera but if you feel you may be taking these sort of shots,
go for a camera with infinity /Auto Focus turn-off
PS. It may be possible to overcome this by use of various programmed modes, I shall soon be taking photos from the train/
aircraft and if successful, modify this review accordingly