Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ4 Review Discussion

[David Rasnake]

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ4, along with its more feature-rich sibling, the TZ5, is the latest incarnation of Panasonic's compact ultrazoom concept to begin making its way to store shelves. As with previous TZ models, the 8.1 megapixel TZ4 offers up a rather considerable 10x zoom range in a camera only slightly larger than a standard compact. While it generally embraces the performance-focused philosophy that underpins most of Panasonic's current efforts, a few serious blemishes on the TZ4's otherwise spotless performance record made me wonder whether the latest generation of TZ cameras are as good as they could be.

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[usapatriot]

It's definitely a nice camera if you want big zoom in a small size, its not exactly that small, but perfect to fit in a clip on belt case, fanny pack, or purse and will probably be many peoples choice for a small camera, big on features and zoom.

Although most people will probably get the TZ5 which is nearly identical to the TZ4.

[AaronM]

Now I really want to see iso6400 performance. I'm curious how bad it can be if they're willing to enable it on the camera
-a

[usapatriot]

A shot at ISO 6400 will look like a watercolor painting!

[jetstar]

Thanks for the review!

[Andy Stanton]

Excellent review.

There are two things about the TZ4 that disturb me. One is the small size of the controls. I recently bought a Panasonic LS75 for my daughter and had difficulty dealing with the tiny controls. The other is the focusing problems when the zoom is extended. Since I use spot focusing the problem wouldn't affect me but it's strange that such a competent company as Panasonic would let a camera from their most popular camera line out the door with such a flaw.

[David Rasnake]

...it's strange that such a competent company as Panasonic would let a camera from their most popular camera line out the door with such a flaw.

Agreed. I can't quite figure out how this wasn't caught, as it's not a particularly subtle problem. Maybe there's a firmware fix, or maybe we just got an odd/early sample.

I don't want to make too much of the issue, as the camera is otherwise very good, but as I said in the review, expectations for the TZ cameras are very high these days. If this one was a little disappointing (to me at least, which is just one opinion...), it's largely a case of Panasonic becoming the victim of their own success.

dr

[David Rasnake]

Now I really want to see iso6400 performance. I'm curious how bad it can be if they're willing to enable it on the camera
-a

I dug around to see if I'd saved any of those, but they're all gone. They weren't as atrocious as some we've seen, in part because the camera is working at reduced resolution (mask the lack of detail capture by capturing less detail), and if some shot were better than no shot at all they'd definitely work in a pinch. Overall, Panasonic's no different from many other manufacturers in offering these questionably useful extended ISO settings.

dr

[ggcc]

I want to know if the camera has imprinted date function.

Thanks
ggcc

[Andy Stanton]

In the playback menu, under "Text Stamp" you can add the shooting date and other information.