Customer Reviews

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2 5MP Digital Camera with 6x Image Stabilized Optical Zoom (Silver)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I've known what I wanted in a digital camera for several years:
1. Fast shutter release (my Canon S-200 takes 3+ sec., 5+ flash).
2. Small and light (for backpacking, travel).
3. Point and shoot zoom(5X plus with image stabilization).
4. 4+ megapixel, under $250.
5. No proprietary batteries, 2 AA preferred.

Up until now, nothing has come close. Then I read in Business Week that the LZ1 and LZ2 had become the best selling cameras in Japan within several months of their introduction. No independant reviews were available (even CNET) so I bought the LZ1 on the strength of it's technical spec's and my previous experiences with Panasonic products.

I took the LZ1 to the rodeo several days ago to test it under demanding conditions. I used the "sports" setting and burst mode(four exposures in about 1 1/2 seconds under those circumstances), all freehand. The results were stunning! No noticeable shutter lag, no blurry or out of focus pictures, all action frozen. Simply put: point, shoot, you got it!

Notes: Actual weight with 2 batteries is 8.2 ozs. The user interface is the best I've seen- full functioned and simple. Flash shots have shutter lag of approx. 1/2 second. I use Panasonic 2300 mah nmh rechargeable batteries purchased at Costco. Panasonic specs claim 370 pictures with those batteries, 30 seconds between shots, flash every shot, full zoom in and out each shot. This camera has no optical view finder. I use a 512mb Sandisc Ultra II SD memory card- a little more expensive, but after having a Viking card quit and swallow 200 pics on another camera, I don't pinch pennies on memory.

This is one great camera! I also have a Canon Powershot A75, so I have another great camera to compare it to. I thought the Powershot took excellent pictures until I got the Panasonic DMC-LZ2. The LZ2's pictures are even better. The 6x optical zoom is one of the reasons I wanted the LZ2, and it works great! I took some pictures of my kids racing (swimming) in the pool using Auto, and they came out beautifully. They were not blurry at all, and you can even see the splashes of water in the air. I thought they might be blurry since I didn't use the "Sports" mode, but they were not. I also took several pictures of them from about 100 feet away and zoomed in the whole way with the optical zoom. The pictures are very close, clear, and look terrific. I am no where near a professional photographer. I am just a Mom who wants to take great-looking pictures of her family in all situations. I am very impressed with this camera, and I highly recommend it.

Even though I have no basis for comparison as this is my first and only Digital Camera, I must say "WHY DID I NOT BUY A DIGITAL CAMERA BEFORE!!!!" These things are GREAT!.

Anyway, I decided to buy the DMC LZ2 after all of my research. The cameras I was considering and why I didn't buy them were:

Canon SD400-Pretty pricey, reports of a fragile LCD and proprietary batteries. Also test pix on various review sites from the panasonic seemed to be better.

Canon A520-Only 4mp's and when I went into best buy to play with it I couldn't figure out how to turn off the flash. If you have to fiddle with a camera for the first time and 15 minutes later you figure out how to shut off the flash, I shudder to think how hard the other features might be to figure out. Granted, I didn't look at the manual, but some features should just be easy to do. Plus I think it was too much camera. More options then I need as a simple point and shoot photographer.

Kodak C360-Good price point and nice features but has a proprietary USB cable and batteries. Also some complaints about low light photography. Also, little leary about buying first year models.

As for the Panasonic itself I'm happy with my purchase. I bought a 512 mb SD Ultra II card as well. When it arrived, I put the batteries in, and started taking pix. It was a sense of euphoria, I just was snapping away, and when I came to a picture I didn't like, delete it and "poof" it was gone. The camera is performing flawlessly. It does have it's downfalls, and they are stated by other reviewers these are my negatives:

Movie Mode: The movies at 30fps are good enough for me, but I have a digital video camera, and to be honest, the movies are not a must in a digital camera.

LCD: The resolution to my untrained eye is not notieceable. The pix look good when I review them. However, in bright direct sunlight I do have to cup my hand over it too see it. Took me a while to figure out that if I just rotated my body to form a shadow on the camera that worked great!

No optical viewfinder: Ok, I admit it, for the first 50 shots or so, I kept bringing the camera up to my face, bumping my nose in a futile search for a viewfinder. Took me a couple of days to stop doing this learned response after years with a 35mm Camera. No viewfiner is not that bad, but in direct sunlight, it is a little difficult to see the shot and then take it, but overall, not that bad.

Indoor/Low Light Photography: Works great with the flash as long as objects are within the flash range, which, if you are indoors that should be fine. Now I haven't taken it too a large indoor arena or anything, but most of those type of events are lit pretty well aren't they? In dimlight and the object is a distance away, you do have to kinda guess when framing up the photo but it doesn't take long to figure it out and I haven't had that much problem.

Overall: A good camera, the burst mode is great!!!! and the 6x zoom with the Image Stabilization, awesome. It can't be understated how HUGE that feature is. I'm glad I chose this camera over the others in hindsight. I now send my photo's to costco via the internet to develop what I want, which is awesome. If you're a first timer to Digital Photography, this is a great camera for you.

Take Care, Sean

I've been an avid 35mm user, and wanted to take the plunge into digital, but didn't want to spend a lot of money. What got me interested in the LZ2 were the reviews on other Web sites with example photos, and comparisons with other cameras. I have to tell you, I'm not disappointed! The controls are very easy to find & use, and I don't miss the viewfinder like I thought I would; the LCD is big and bright enough, even outdoors here in Phoenix. Plus, even though I use reading glasses, I can get by without them to use this camera, as the controls & menu are well-organized and easy to read.

The LZ2 has no manual capabilities, which is typical for this price range. However, you can make up for it to some degree by using things like "Sports" mode when you want a faster relative shutter release, etc. It also allows for changing color mode, which gets rid of the yellow effect of incandescent lights and things of that nature.

Close-up shots are flawless, and long-distance shots with the 6x optical zoom are crystal clear, even when enlarged 200%. Digital zoom has a lot of noise, and is best reserved for when using a tripod. For all pictures, the LZ2 has image stabilizer to help reduce blurring from camera shake. It's better than nothing, but the best way to hold a camera steady is to lean it against something, or use a tripod. That's the problem with LCD-only cameras -- it's difficult to hold anything steady when when you have to hold it out away from your body.

Image quality is sharp with well-saturated colors, normal for digital cameras. Also typical is a very narrow exposure gradient -- When shooting in bright sunlight, shadows come out very dark; the LZ2 is better than most of the digital images I've seen, but still not on par with film images. In any case, for the price range, the images it takes are are excellent.

Battery life is excellent, provided you throw away the "Oxyride" batteries it comes with and put in some Alkaline or rechargeable NiMH instead. The Oxyride are worthless; they gave out after 20 shots, but the generic Alkaline I replaced them with have 70 or more and haven't given me the 1/2-full notice yet.

It comes with software for image editing, but if you're using Windows XP all you have to do is hook it up via the USB cable and Windows reads immediately it like any other removable drive. For editing, I use Photoshop, and haven't had a chance to try the bundled software yet. With all the image-editing software available, don't let the bundled software of this or any other camera sway you; there's a LOT to choose from out there.

Pros:
* 6x Optical zoom, with 4x digital
* Compact & light weight -- you can drop it in a pocket or purse and take it anywhere.
* Big & bright LCD screen.
* Uses 2 AA batteries, which can be found anywhere, cheap.
* Long battery life, even using zoom & flash.
* Can hook it up to a PC or a TV for viewing images.
* Very convenient (for me) location of controls and ease of use.
* Lots of menu options.
* Very sharp images, even with enlarging.
* Good skin tones for portraits, with or without flash.
* Power-save mode: Can be set to go on standby if no activity for 1-2 minutes.

Cons:
* No manual controls.
* Limited autofocus accuracy in low light. This is exacerbated by the fact that there is no manual control capability.
* On-board memory is only 14MB. However, most people opt for the extra cards anyway. In my case, a 512MB SD chip will store over 200 high-res images, depending on the light.
* Flash doesn't diminish enough when using Macro settings; it's plenty bright for everything else.
* Digital zoom is very grainy, but the 6x Optical makes up for it.

Overall, this is the best little "fun" camera I've seen, and with its light weight and ease of use, I can take it anywhere. Well worth the price!

I purchased this camera during my deployment in Iraq. It's very compact with excellent zoom capability. The rotary menu selection is easy to use with multiple options and settings. I especially love the sharp 2" LCD screen, great on view my shots and videos. It has faced both hot & cold climate (yes it does get cold on December in Iraq), sandstorms, and of course my abuse. In all cases my camera performed above and beyond it's call of duty. One note: If you're living in a very sunny area, I suggest to buy an LCD shade/cover.

I was tired of lugging my Olympus E-10 around and wanted a pocketable camera that took either Compact Flash or SD cards (since I have the E-10 and a Palm). I love Olympus but they and Fuji were knocked out of the running due to their use of xD cards. I also like using AA NiMH so that was a requirement as well... goodbye proprietary batteries. I wasn't really enthralled with the plethora of 3x lenses and am a fan of image stabilization so decided to give Panasonic a try.

I'm very happy after about 500 photos. I try to remember to manually set the ISO because at the higher speeds, the noise is very noticeable. The Image Stabilization system rocks... it's unbelievable how sharp the pictures can be at higher focal lengths and low shutter speeds. The size is great... although if you don't want the longer lens, certainly there are smaller cameras. Exposures are good and if you need to manually adjust based on the playback, it is easy to do.

I don't miss the optical viewfinder at all... the LCD on the back is large and easy to use. In extreme sunlight, you sometimes find yourself guessing or trying to shade the viewfinder, but it works extremely well.

Pros:
- SD card, std AA batteries, long battery life.
- good optics (can not be overemphasized) with a 6x range.
- Image stabilization works extremely well
- good color, white balance
- nice size for the features
- LCD viewfinder works well
- Menu system well done, commonly used features are one button push away
- unprocessed images look good out of the camera (although a little Photoshop can improve anything)
- Like the HDTV mode since I believe my future HD television will be the primary way that I enjoy pictures in the future. This makes pictures the "right size" for 1020 viewing
- Simple enough to use right out of the box (I'll read the manual sometime)
- Camera and controls have a good feel (like all quality cameras)
- Great value for those looking for >135mm focal length.
- Little shutter lag for single shots

Cons:
- A little bulkier than other 5MP cameras
- LCD does not twist and turn which is a great feature on the Canon A95. You have to be behind the camera to see what's in the frame.
- More noise at high ISO settings (200, 400) than I like but I really don't know how the Panasonic compares to others in this regard
- Dynamic Range not as good as professional cameras but am not sure how Panasonic compares to others in this regard.
- flash recycle time

WOW ......... this would be the one word to describe this camera. This camera had almost everything I was looking for at a price that is very competitive with other brands. I was looking for something that was semi-small, had a good optical zoom (at least 4x +), at least 5mp, and that was below $250.00. This was one of the few camera's to meet all my criteria.

The optical zoom on this is amazing for a compact camera, while most in this category are a 3x optical, this gives you 6x. The optical image stabilization is an awesome feature, usually found only in more expensive camera's. Even while skaking it up and down, it still delivers a crisp, detailed picture (yep, I tried it for fun) This feature in a compact camera was unique only to Panasonic. Both the 6x optical zoom, and the optical image stabilization deliver as promised. The digital zoom is somewhat noisy, and tends to not be as high definition, but this is true of all digital zooms, and for most situations the 6x optical is more than enough.

Lag time between photos is about average, but still could stand to be a little quicker. This is especially true when using the flash. This is one downside of digital camera's, that I expect in newer generations will not be a problem. The 5mp is more than enough for good quality prints.

The Camera itself is slightly (very slightly) a bit bigger than others in it's class, but this is neccesary to add the increased features. You could fit this inot a pocket if needed, but overall it is too bulky for this. It's all plastic body does not appear or feel cheaply made. I do wish they would have used some metal, but overall this keeps the camera weight down.

Features are very user friendly for a novice (such as myself), and the camera interface is very easy to learn and use. Buttons are well laid out, and for the most part are similiar to all digital camera's.

The lack of an optical view finder does take some getting used too, but you will find you do not miss it at all after only a few hours. The LCD screen is large (2") and the picture is clear and bright. The only trouble I have experienced is in darker situations it can be hard to compose the picture, but this is also true of all LCD's.

The built in memory is small, only good for a handful of pictures.I would recommend purchasing an SD card no smaller than 125mb, but if price is not a factor go for a 512mb or higher.

I am not one on technical aspects, but the camera does give a user some choice over photo layouts, but for the most part is a simple to use point and shoot camera, with many extra useful bells and whistles. So far I am very pleased with this camera, it performs remarkable, had all the features I was looking for, and will not be obsolete in a few months.

Pro's

- 6x optical zoom (cannot say enough about it)
- optical image stabilization ( a selling point alone)
- Well laid out, easy to use interface
- Large LCD screen
- Crisp, clear pictures
- Histogram (checks exposure, and lets you know when it is correct)
- Beats all camera's in it's price range hands down on features
- Uses AA batteries, and not a properitary battery. ( I did not think I would like this, but AA's are easy to find, and the rechargeable's are modestly priced compared to other batteries.

Con's

- Slightly bigger than most competitors
- Average picture lag time between shots, especially when using the flash
- No speaker to hear recorded video
- lack of optical viewfinder ( not really a con in some cases)

In all if you are looking for a great camera, with many extra features not usually found in this price range, this is the camera for you. This camera would suit an enthusiast who is looking for a small back up camera, or a beginner who wants a nice camera for everday snapshot pictures. A great all around digital camera !!!

This is a very good camera from Panasonic. For the range of price you wouldn't find a 5MP piece with a 6X and that picture quality. Further more, if you want to add the 4X digital zoom (not recommended) there it is giving the total 24x. I recently used it at the Champ Car Grand Prix in Mexico City and I took wonderful pictures. The stabilizer function works well and I happen to get the most of the burst mode (it takes about 2 pics. per second) while there was a pit stop so I captured around 12 pictures in those seconds. I was a pit official so I had to check later no irregularities to the rulebook and was great! I think in the real world you can capture those moments when the kids are blowing away the candles of the birthday cake. Imagine the scenes you can capture at a rate of 2 pictures/second (not with the flash on).
The setbacks are it has lots of functions (read the manual, that's what it is intended for, didn't it?). No viewfinder (you'll only miss it at very bright days). Buy a rechargeable set of NmH batteries, you'll save a lot! Excellent quality. I printed some pictures taken at the highest resolution on an Epson plotter at a size of almost A3 and were great!
Memory fact: I ordered along a Kingston 512 MB module. It didn't worked properly so I had to replace it for a Sandisk from Circuit City or try the Panasonic brand.

Panasonic blows the big name competitors away with this model digital camera. This is the only compact digital camera on the market to offer 6x optical zoom. It is also the only camera in this price range equipped with image stabilization and all for well under $300.
The picture quality is simply remarkable. Camera has both simple menus for the novice user as well as many manual controls and advanced menus for the pro.
The camera is super fast, not only at initial startup, but also shot to shot pictures. Huge 2- inch LCD display with great battery life. Excellent camera with lots of features, good design, compact and very light weight. I have no regrets neither will you.

Strengths:
6x optical zoom, image stabilizer, sharp clear images, compact size, extended battery life, 2-inch LCD, SD media, 5MP, movie mode with audio, works with regular AA batteries, 4x digital zoom.

Weaknesses:
No viewfinder but you won't need it because of the camera's huge LCD and extended battery life. The LCD however is only average resolution, but does display sharp, clear images in low lighting or direct sunlight. A higher resolution LCD screen wouldn't hurt.

Get this camera. You will not have any regrets.

I really do my research before I buy my digital camera. And I have used many brands in the past few years. When I first came across this, I was hesitant and questioned 'Panasonic' makes cameras? I went to Circuit City and tested it in my own hands and then decided that I should give Panaonic a chance. I am glad that I did! The buttons are very easy to understand and navigate. The lag time between shots is not as bad as some other reviewers have mentioned. Only when you use the flash, it needs about 2-3 seconds to recharge. But then again, that is the case for alot of other cameras. I take indoor photos alot, when I use my Sony, the flash gives certain area of the image super bright and the background dark. This camera actually gives it a very even exposure. The pictures come out very natural. The AA batteries are a big plus for I can carry a spare set easily. The power consumption is very good! The LCD is bright and clear. And of course the motion stablizer really works!! It is not a pocket size, but it is light weight and easy to carry with you. I want to mention this camera is MADE IN JAPAN! I don't trust high end electonic stuff to be made in China. Japan is still the only country of manufacturer I truly trust. I cannot believe this camera is retailed at such low price. Get it! You won't regret it!!