Ssssh!

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 13:46:52 -0500

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The TZ2 & TZ3 are here!

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:11:41 -0600

Of course two weeks after I bought the TZ1, the TZ2 & TZ3 were announced today. I don't feel that bad about it, though, because cameras always get one-upped for one and these don't appear to have massive changes for two. About the biggest change I can suss out on the pair is that there's now a Program AE mode, which is great news. There's also a wider lens, down to 28mm from the Tizzy's 35mm. The usual megapixel upgrades are there too but I don't really care.

The body is identical outside of larger LCDs. Meh.

I knew that a TZ1 successor would be coming but still feel good about my purchase. Besides, I could always wait for a bigger better camera or just buy one and start shooting.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Lumix TZ1: First Impressions

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 10:38:52 -0600

The Man in Black

As part of my two-camera strategy (one general purpose, one DSLR), I decided on the Panasonic Lumix DSC-TZ1, or "TZ1" or "Tizzy" for short. It was a tough decision, honestly, but after the E18 error on the S2 IS I didn't want to even consider a Canon. The error may have been a fluke, but it was an expensive fluke, and why bother?

By far the biggest concern I had about the Tizzy was noise. This is an issue with all of the Lumix cameras, per the reviews; however there were plenty of clean images up on the flickr taken with the Tizzy and cameras such as the FZ7, which was the other contender.

In the end I was willing to give up full manual controls (remember, I'll get a DSLR in time!) in order to get the 10X optical zoom (!) in a package that is roughly the width and length of my iPod. (Sure, it's deeper.) That's impressive. Here are my first impressions from shooting with it.

The size is great. I missed having a pretty small camera.
The detail and design is stellar. Truly, it feels like an honest-to-gosh camera. My friend Marcus has long talked about the "old world feel" of his FZ20 (30? forgot) and I can understand that here. The whole thing looks expensive outside of the lame "10x optical zoom" label. The camera has a great weight about it: not too light, not too heavy. Pocketable for my big jacket pockets.
Quick startup time. Flip to on, pretty much ready to go.
The big LCD is nice. It's easy to read, the menus are pretty clear (outside of a few questionable abbreviations), and it's nice.
Everything was dark. The big problem with the first batch of photos is that almost all of them are too dark; I need to figure out why. Adjusting levels in iPhoto worked wonders, but even photos with the EV up +2 (!) were still dark. Detail wasn't lost, though.
I miss the easy play/record switch that Canon has. ~~Putting playback in the middle of a rotary dial is strange, just strange. I don't get it. Put it at the end of the dial or the front. Please.~~ Update: Yep, the little "review" button lets me do what I need to do. Never mind!
Noise is present, but not yet to a fault. Can't be denied: there's noise, yes. But it's not to a point where it kills the image (yet), and given I take so many photos in good light this was something I felt I could deal with. I might invest in some noise-reduction software just for kicks.

Above all that, I really like the camera. It's a great little tool. It feels elegant and well-crafted and has been a joy to use. Unlike the D50 post, I'll be sure to check in with everyone on the Tizzy in the future.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

3 Stations East

Ssssh!

The TZ2 & TZ3 are here!

Lumix TZ1: First Impressions