Getting the Point and Shoot back in the Picture with the Panasonic DMC-TZ4

Author's Rating:

Pros: Fantastic Leica lens 10x,Movie mode, very good pictures.

Cons: So so low light performance. Plastic tripod mount. Intelligent Auto could be better.

The Bottom Line: 
A fine effort.  Its powerful 10x lens, and good outdoor and movie capture. Only fair low light performance.
Chunky build with ease of use anyone casually could enjoy.

Author's Review
Small Digital Point and Shoot cameras were a kind of camera I left behind years ago since my old trusty Canon G2. Long since replaced by my repertoire of replacement cameras.  The Olympus E-10 was a much touted “almost” DSLR camera with with its fast f2.0 lens with quick acting manual zoom and a build that would make any serious enthusiast if not pro take notice.

Though painfully slow in image processing in camera, and a low top shutter speed of only 1/640, this was not a camera that was going to be a sports pro's choice.

Great color and detail though makes me keep it to this day when speed is not a consideration. Made and makes a great budget studio camera.

My current crop of Nikon cameras the D200 and the mighty great and small D40 are my “go to” cameras for those great shots. More actually leaning to the D40 because of its up to date processing vs. the D200, but the D200 is my speed demon for sports events where the high 5 frames a second burst speed is king.

I want to be able again to take a camera along with me on some trips I take, and sometimes I don't need or want a big DSLR.

So a point and shoot is a logical answer.

My criteria for the new camera were, a power 10x zoom with good quality optics, relatively fast response time, ease of use, reasonable size or form factor, and good build, with at least a 2.5 inch LCD with good back light performance.

The Enhanced Definition movie would be fine since for now HD quality movies are not a priorty, for now. Waiting for DSLRs to come down more in price and getting one of them. Or buy a Camcorder with AVCHD capability.

I had narrowed my contenders down to the Canon and Panasonic family of cameras, and found the Panasonic DMC-TZ4k in black
just the ticket.

Meet the Panasonic DMC-TZ4k.

Unpacking the camera is the usual open the small retangular box and discover your operations manual, A/V cable,USB cable, Panasonic's driver and editing software and Lithium Ion battery with plug in charger module with no A.C. Cord since the module has a swing out plug prong affair.

Once out of the box.

The Camera has reasonably well balanced heft and feel to it with the bias of the weight toward the lens assembly. Though I understand that a good portion of the body is metal, I can't get over how “plastic” it still feels.  Body color is more like a dark charcoal gray vs. true black in color. The top plate is an attractive silver metal plate and silver metal accent ring on the lens and metal trimmed grip give the camera some class.  The mode dial and speaker and microphone and shutter release and zoom ring reside up here.

The requisite camera grip is of good size and makes it easy for a fine purchase given my “gorilla” hands. Though it is easy to obscure the flash element with your fingers if not cautious. The LCD screen is a 2 and half inch affair and due to its positioning and camera dimension, I still have a space for my thumb without inadvertently activating an errant switch or dial.  A/V, D.C. Power input, and mini USB out hide behind a hinged door to the right of the camera as you face the rear of the camera. A Lanyard loop on upper right for your landyard rope to keep you from dropping the camera.
Underneath the requisite cavities for battery and SD card slots reside behind a plastic trap door. The tripod mount is offset to the extreme left, and is made of plastic threads.( More later on that).
 

Lets get the specifications out of the way because if you are looking for a camera you want the specifications to get you started.

Specifications.

Megapixels
8

Print Ratios
4:3, 16:9, 3:2
File Formats
JPEG
Memory Cards
SD/SDHC
Zoom
10x
Focal Length Equivalent
28 - 280mm
Shutter Speed
1 to 1/2000 seconds Starry Sky Mode: 15, 30, 60 sec.
Aperture
Wide: F3.3 / F8.0 Tele: F4.9 / F11
Sensitivity
Auto /100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 (High Sensitivity Mode : Auto(1600 - 6400) )
White Balance Settings
Auto / Daylight / Cloudy / Shade / Halogen / White Set / White Balance Adjustment
ExposureCompensation
-2EV to +2EV (in 1/3EV steps)
Viewfinder
No
LCD Screen
2.5 inches
Flash Modes
Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off
Flash Range
6.3m
Shooting Modes
Portrait, Soft Skin, Scenery, Sports, Night Portrait, Night Scenery, Self-Portrait, Food, Party, Candle Light, Fireworks, Starry Sky, Beach, Aerial Photo, Snow, High Sensitivity, Baby 1&2, Underwater, Sunset, Pet, Hi-Speed Burst
Maximum Movie Resolution
848 x 480 pixels
Maximum Movie Frames Per Second
30 fps
Maximum Movie Duration
To capacity of memory card
Macro Focus
5cms
Metering
Intelligent Multiple, Center Weighted, Spot
ManualControls
None
Image Stabilisation
Yes, Mode 1,Mode 2
Lens Converters
No
Self Timer
10 seconds or 2 seconds
Video Out (TV Playback)
Yes
Computer Connection
Yes
Batteries
Lithium-ion Rechargeable
Dimensions
103.3 x 59.3 x 36.2
Weight 208g
   
Purely for the moment and not for anything else.

I will be honest in that the various photo scene modes this camera has for me are of dubious value because of my experience in photography, and I tend to eschew any scene mode assistance. Just for fun though I did try a few of the scene modes and came off with reasonably good results especially with skin tone, and other effects. 

The Intelligent Automatic mode at least for me was a bain because for some reason white balance kept being off, and also tended to underexpose. No worries, this camera has the ability to run also in “Auto” mode less intelligence, and I was able to tweek the white balance using the manual mode, or shifting from red to blue or vise versa through the very easy to use mode button and navigation buttons. The flash performance was average for the class in that it will illuminate your subject well but it at distance will dissapoint with a few underexposed shots, however in a family grouping or object(s) not too far away, this camera is a good performer. I got spoiled by my Nikon SB-800 flash head. It could light the world it is so good.

It's all in the glass and composition, and the eye.

The Leica 10x power zoom lens is very good. At the extremes near and far, at least I could not detect any issues such as light falloff,Moire, or distortions of any kind.

I almost wish it could have an imager and processor engine to match it. This rediculous “mega-pixel” war has ruined what truly is important in taking great pictures.  What folks don't realize is that the more pixel sites on the imager, the smaller they need to be, and the more amplification you need to help their sensitivity in low light conditions.
Also the imager site is only size of most peoples small finger nail. An APS sensor in my Nikon is almost the size of 1 and a half thumb nails.

Its like packing more Sardines in the same can.

 With this Leica Lens, this camera could have been the worlds best 3 or 4 megapixels with terrific dynamic range and still have good crop and enlargement detail for most. (Easily a great 8x10 inchers for sure.
For most folks 4 to 6 megapixels is the most that is needed to make most fine crops and enlargements that they will use.  Everything else is just marketing).

Instead, because of all those smaller pixel sites, the low light noise performance is just average for the class. The trick, don't underexpose, reduce your resolution to the 3 megapixel setting and things do get better vs. the 8 megapixel setting.

Don't be fooled that you will lose resolution if you go down to 3 megs vs. 8 megs, because the camera's “noise reduction” algorithm will smear detail by blurring the noise anyway to near that resolution anyway. Save the memory space and unneeded processing.

Point and Shoot cameras love lots of light.

This camera is no expception. Color is rich and saturated and detail that is very good. I would say, average to better than average for the class depending on the situation. Shooting constantly at ISO 100 and no higher than 400, led to some mighty impressive photos. Even my crop test, the TZ-4 did fairly well. Using my Nikon D40 DSLR in comparison told me how far we have come, but still how far we have to go. My old Canon G2 would be a failure even at 400 ISO, but at 100 ISO it would beat this camera in some regards like shadow detail and darker contrasty material. That would be it. The Panasonic TZ4 is beginning to renew my faith that this camera can be competent for more than just casual grab and go candids.

Lights, Camera, Action.

The movie modes on this camera are very good. I use the VGA 30fps most and find with my Lexar Professional 2 gig SD card, good fluid motion with just a nary of picture “judder”, and produces entertaining videos. Again, ample light is important again. Just like camcorders, this camera eats light like a black hole.

Trimming my white balance and exposure compensation which I can do handily here, I got great movies outdoors, and good movies indoors. Obviously the lower quality Qvga at 10 fps second will give you the most economy of use of your SD card, vs. the VGA at 30fps which by the is 848 x 480 res quality. If you use the latter more, get a nice SDHC card. The higher the speed or class of card, the better the movie mode will work by the way. I hear constantly a spec of class 4 or higher, and class 6 even. Most of the Sandisk,Panasonic,Lexar cards meet the requirement fine.

Speaker and Microphone performance are laughible in that the poor signal to noise ratio of the microphone amplifier creates that all inclusive hiss. The speaker of course just confirms you have sound and that is pretty much it. Again, hiss and limited frequency range prevent it from doing more.

The LCD can get washed out pretty easily outdoors in direct light. But when ambient light is right, the LCD is model of ease view and use. Menus are intuitive and easy to navigate with just a nary of study from the reasonably well written manual. By the way, this is not a touch screen like the Sony Cameras for instance.

A tip, before buying any new technology, download the owners manual,operators manual or any supplements so you can get familiar with how your new device will work, before you get it. You will be glad you did.

So in the I like catagories and other observations.

Terrific powerful zoom by Leica with Optical Image Stabilisation that does a good job. Color is well done and saturated. Detail is good even at the lowest megapixel setting. Controls,dials,buttons and menus are easy and fun to use. Making movies with this camera I think is the most fun feature. It has gotten me interested in video again. Geez, what I need another expensive toy.

A brief note about image stabilisation, is that mode 2 works the best and mode 1 less so. Mode 1 by the way is the default for movie mode and cannot be switched to mode 2. One hand shots were easy here.

The I don't likes and observatoins.

The Plastic threaded tripod mount. Those whom may shoot panoramic or use a tripod for a specific reason are cautioned “NOT” to over tighten the tripod mounting screw to the camera. You will damage the camera if you do. Gee, how hard would it have been to use a steel thread? Hmm. Also with panoramic shots the tripod mount is not located under the center point of the lens barrel. Thank goodness of the stitching program provided in the software bundle, which by the works but has limited capability. Photoshop Elements is still the reasonable editor of choice.

The painted finish makes a metal camera feel plastic a bit. Now that is a trick. Reminds me of the old saying that at Rolls Royce we make our woods shine and be rich that looks like plastic, and everyone uses plastic to make it look like wood.

So final thoughts are.

Nice camera for the vacationer and traveler and those whom grabbing a shot far away, 10x zoom remember and even 15.9 at the 3 megs resolution will find this camera a great choice. By the way the birthdate,name, vacation text information is a nice touch too for keeping an ongoing record of how things went.

Not so great camera for low light shooters whom may not take the time to optimize exposure and resolution, and even still shoot at moon light levels out of doors. Please get a DSLR for that. The form factor of the camera is a bit chuncy thick for just any pocket or purse, but there is that big 10x lens though. So overall even though I am a DSLR user most of the time, this little 10x Leica wielding slugger is making me rethink, do I really want to bring my Nikon D40 just in case? In some ways the Panasonic DMC-TZ4 is that good. Thank you for reading.

V.C.

Associated Equipment.

Nikon D200 with MB-d200 battery grip
Nikon D40
Nikon Nikkor 18-55mm Vibration Reduction lens.
Nikon Nikkor 50mm f1.8 prime lens
Nikon Nikkor 70mm to 300mm telephoto lens.
Nikon SB-800 and SB-40 Flash guns.
Manfrotto tripod and Monopod.
Memory by Sandisk, and Lexar.

And of course the Panasonic DMC-TZ4k.