The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 Digital Camera is remarkable in that it contains a 10x wide-angle optical zoom lens in a compact, stylish body for the ultimate in picture performance and user convenience. With 9.0 effective megapixels of resolution for incredibly detailed images, and a wide-angle Leica DC lens (equivalent to 28 - 280mm on a 35mm film camera), this versatile camera is well suited to a broad range of shooting opportunities.
You can easily capture a large group of people, or expansive architectural structures and landscapes with the wide end of the zoom range, or zoom in for sports, wildlife and event photography. In addition, the Optical Image Stabilizer feature (Mega O.I.S) minimizes the jitter from shaky hands that causes many photos to look blurred, ensuring that your images are always beautifully clear.
The DMC-TZ5 is incredibly fast thanks to the Venus Engine IV processor, which provides fast consecutive shooting, and boasts outstanding response time thus enabling easy capture of spur-of-the-moment shots. The image processor also provides for efficient power consumption, contributing to the camera's ability to take 300 pictures on a single charge of the included lithium-ion battery. The camera also includes a huge, bright and high resolution 3.0" LCD display to easily frame and view your images.
9.0 Megapixel Resolution
With a resolution of 9.0 Megapixels, you'll be able to produce high resolution images that can yield photo quality 24 x 36" prints. The camera also has resolution options that are available in three different aspect ratios - 16:9 for displaying on a wide screen monitor or TV, 3:2 for making standard photo album prints, and 4:3 for more traditional image dimensions common in picture frames.
10x Optical Zoom Lens
The Leica DC Vario-Elmar Lens includes an ED (extra-low dispersion) lens and aspherical lenses to delivers an exceptional optical performance, and the powerful 10x optical zoom (equivalent to a big 28 to 280mm lens on a 35mm camera) provides a broad range of photo capabilities from broad landscapes and group shots to nature and sports photos. The zoom ratio can be further extended up to 16.7x in 3 megapixel resolution mode with minimal deterioration thanks to the Extra Optical Zoom. Furthermore, in combination with the 4x digital zoom, an incredible zoom factor of up to 66.8x can be achieved.
Easy Zoom Button
With the first press of the Easy Zoom button the camera immediately gives you the maximum 10x power of the optical zoom. A second press delivers the maximum 16.7x power of the Extra Optical Zoom. This lets you bring your subject right up close, easily and comfortably, and is especially useful at sporting events and other outdoor activities when fast zoom may be needed to get a shot during quick paced action.
MEGA Optical Image Stabilizer
The MEGA O.I.S (Optical Image Stabilizer) feature offsets unintentional hand movement while you're taking pictures to give you clear, sharp images even when taking handheld telephoto shots or shooting at night. This system uses built-in gyrosensors to detect even tiny camera movement and then shifts a lens in the opposite direction to compensate. The system is completely optical so you get sharp, clear images with minimal degradation. It lets you reduce the shutter speed more than 3 stops below the conventionally accepted hand movement limit, greatly expanding what you can do with a handheld digital camera.
High Sensitivity Mode
When there's not a lot of light or you're using a slow shutter speed, hand movement isn't the only potential problem. There's also "motion blur" - the blurring that can result if your subject like children or pets move even a little in low lighting. The High Sensitivity mode allows you to shoot at up to ISO 6400 by using the pixel-mixed readout method, effectively raising the shutter speed. It not only minimizes motion blur, it also lets you take clearer, sharper shots in dim lighting without using a flash.
Easy-to-use Scene Modes
The DMC-TZ5 has 22 scene modes to provide the best overall image quality for common shooting situations, such as Portrait, Sports, Scenery, Night Scenery, and more. It is easy to select the best scene mode thanks to the Scene Mode list display and help screen, which shows the description of each mode on the LCD monitor.
Face Detection for Superb Portraits
The Face Detection function can detect individual faces in a scene then automatically adjust the camera settings to make sure faces appear well-lit and in focus. This advanced technology will even automatically readjust the settings if the positions of the subjects change while you are framing the shot.
Reduce Blur with MEGA OIS and Intelligent ISO
Image blur is commonly caused by either movement of the camera or movement of the subject. Camera movement is corrected with the MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilization) feature which uses built-in gyro-sensors to detect the smallest camera movement and instantaneously shifts a lens element in the opposite direction to compensate, giving you sharp, clear images without deterioration. Motion blur - caused when a subject moves as the shot is being taken - is minimized with Intelligent ISO Control. This system actually detects whether the subject is moving and automatically adjusts the ISO setting and shutter speed to minimize the motion blur effect while maintaining good exposure.
Intelligent Scene Selector
The Intelligent Scene Selector will sense the ambient conditions and automatically select either the Scenery, Portrait, Macro, Night Portrait or Night Scenery mode accordingly. With the camera choosing the settings for you, you'll get beautiful results every time you shoot, no matter what the scene or subject.
Intelligent Auto Technology
Just turn the dial to "iA" and say good-bye to complicated settings. The camera will not only help eliminate blurring from hand-shake or subject movement, but it will also initialize the Face Detection system and automatically select the focus, exposure and scene modes for the best results. In fact, the Intelligent Auto Mode automatically begins focusing even before you press the shutter button, so you'll never miss a great shot.
Super-Fast Shutter Response and Consecutive Shooting
The DMC-TZ5 is fast and responsive - thanks to the Venus Engine IV processor. The camera has an extremely fast shutter lag, so you won't miss that "perfect" moment, and it enables high ISO to minimize motion blur and take pictures under low lighting without the need for a mood-killing flash. Furthermore, the advanced processor enables the cameras high speed burst shooting at a rate of up to 10 frames per second - a superbly useful feature when shooting sports or other fast paced events.
Record High-Definition Motion Images & View with HD Output
The DMC-TZ5 can record motion images with sensational 1280 x 720 HD resolution at 30 or 15 frames per second, plus you can use the zoom while recording, and capture some truly dramatic shots. You can also record video in Wide VGA format at 30 fps or 10 fps with enhanced picture quality and brightness, and it can also shoot standard VGA and QVGA resolution for home use or e-mail/web applications. When you're done shooting for the day, just connect the camera to an HDTV (optional DMW-HDC2 component cable required) and you're ready to view your still shots and motion images in high-definition beauty.
Auto Angle Detection
Auto angle detection records whether an image was taken horizontally or vertically. This ensures that when playing back on the LCD monitor and displaying images on your TV by connecting your Lumix Digital Camera with an AV cable, vertical images are automatically displayed vertically and horizontal images are automatically displayed horizontally.
3.0" Intelligent LCD Display
The DMC-TZ5 features a Huge 3.0" diagonal high-resolution Intelligent LCD monitor that makes it easy to see your subject - day or night, indoors or outdoors - because the brightness and contrast of the LCD adjusts automatically as ambient light conditions change. The High Angle Mode improves viewability from a low angle, such as when shooting over a crowd, and the display also provides many shooting assist features such as guide lines for better image framing and a histogram function to check exposure on the fly.
Built-in and Expandable Memory
The camera includes 27MB of built-in memory, and the memory capacity can be expanded dramatically with Secure digital (SD) or Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) memory cards. You can also copy images from a memory card or PC to the built-in memory, and view them on the LCD anytime you like.
Mode Dial and Q.Menu Button
The Q.Menu Button provides a shortcut to frequently used menu settings - this single button lets you turn consecutive shooting on/off, make white balance adjustments, set the ISO sensitivity and image size, and select the compression format, while you continue to view your subject on the LCD. The Mode Dial is combined with a unique Mode Position Display, and as you operate the dial, large animated icons are displayed on the LCD Screen, making it easy to find the mode you want.
Special Travel Functions
The camera's clipboard allows you to take photos of maps, timetables and other travel info, and save them in a separate folder of the built-in memory to distinguish them from normal photos. You can print titles and other characters on the photos you shoot with the Title Edit and Stamp - great for creating your own postcards from a vacation trip. You can also manage your travel photos by inputting your departure date and destination with the Travel Date Setting so later, during photo viewing, the camera will indicate on which day of the trip each shot was taken and the location.
Print Directly From Your Camera
You can send images directly to print, right from the DMC-TZ5 camera without the need of a PC. Simply connect the camera to a PictBridge compatible printer by using the included USB cable, and then simply select the pictures you want to print.