Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1 12.1MP Digital Camera with 8x POWER Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Black)

by Panasonic

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.8 x 2.1 x 1 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B002IKLJT6
• Item model number: DMC-ZR1P-K
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #359 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 27, 2009

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1 digital camera features the world’s first 0.3mm thin aspherical lens, allowing for a compact body that still features a powerful, 25mm-ultra-wide-angle, 8x optical zoom Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens. Known for its long-zoom, yet compact digital cameras, Panasonic’s newest ZR1 compact digital camera delivers increased flexibility.

With a zoom range of 25-200mm, the ZR1 allows for both expansive scenery photos as well as close-ups. This powerful zoom also works during video recording. The 12.1-megapixel resolution allows photos to be greatly enlarged while still retaining outstanding detail.

Another key feature of the ZR1 is its fast, high-speed Auto Focus (AF). This, combined with a high-speed start-up of only 1.1 second, helps the ZR1 to catch even the quick action shots. Making this camera even more versatile and easy-to-use, the ZR1 has a 2.7-inch Intelligent LCD, and a powerful battery life with the highly energy-efficient image processing LSI--Venus Engine V--which takes approximately 330 pictures during a single charge. As found in all Panasonic Lumix cameras, the ZR1 features Intelligent Auto (iA) Mode, now with POWER Optical Image Stabilizer (O.I.S.), which features double the repression power, compared to MEGA O.I.S., the previous image stabilization system, to help capture blur-free images.

Ultra-clear 8x zoom, Power O.I.S., and a 25mm wide-angle Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens
The compact body of the ZR1 houses a Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens that ranges from 25mm wide-angle all the way to 200mm telephoto. In addition to its superb image rendering, the Leica DC lens lets you capture photos clearly without having to worry about hand-shake in all kinds of travel situations, thanks to the double* corrective power of Power O.I.S. as compared to previous models.
_{*Panasonic comparison}

High-speed performance captures every shooting opportunity
Enjoy high-speed 1.1-second start-ups, AF speeds of approximately 0.27 second, and up to five consecutive shots at 2.3 frames per second with full resolution. You can also take up to 330 photos with a single battery charge (CIPA). This comfortable level of performance lets you capture even the most fleeting shutter chances.

Let iA mode do all the work--get stunning shots every time
Simply switch to iA mode, and leave everything up to the camera. It automatically activates six detection and correction functions including Power O.I.S., and lets you easily preserve your magnificent travel memories.

My Travel mode sorts your travel memories
The camera automatically arranges photos and movies using data such as the dates and locations of where they were taken. This makes it easier to enjoy your travel images in slideshows of photos and movies.

Additional Features

• Additional Intelligent Auto (iA) Mode Features
• Hand-Shake Component: Answers the problem of natural hand-shaking that goes along with pressing the shutter button.
• Face Recognition: Up to six faces can be registered, and up to three can be simultaneously recognized to show their names once registered.
• Travel Mode: Users can quickly organize information related to travel, including destination, date and time. Playback of these photos is just as easy, by designating the date or period of travel on the calendar menu interface.
• High Dynamic Mode: Helps to capture a scene with moderate exposure even when the scene may contain both bright and dark areas.
• PHOTOfunSTUDIO 4.0: Included software allows the user to view, edit and archive captured photos and videos. It features dramatic speed-up of operation and also allows users to store and sort photos by a specific, recognized face in the image.

Product Description

Ultra-clear 8x zoom, POWER O.I.S., and a 25mm wide-angle LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens. The compact body of the ZR1 houses a LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens that ranges from 25mm wide-angle all the way to 200mm telephoto. In addition to its superb image rendering, the Leica DC lens lets you capture photos clearly without having to worry about hand-shake in all kinds of travel situations, thanks to the double* corrective power of POWER O.I.S. as compared to previous models. *Panasonic comparison High-speed performance captures every shooting opportunity Enjoy high-speed 1.1-second start-ups, AF speeds of approximately 0.27 second, and up to five consecutive shots at 2.3 frames per second with full resolution. You can also take up to 330 photos with a single battery charge (CIPA). This comfortable level of performance lets you capture even the most fleeting shutter chances. Let iA mode do all the work get stunning shots every time Simply switch to iA mode, and leave everything up to the camera. It automatically activates six detection and correction functions including POWER O.I.S., and lets you easily preserve your magnificent travel memories. My Travel mode sorts your travel memories The camera automatically arranges photos and movies using data such as the dates and locations of where they were taken. This makes it easier to enjoy your travel images in slideshows of photos and movies.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine Camera, what a Point and Shoot is supposed to be, September 1, 2009

By	Juan Carlos R. Laguardia "Stat Grad Student" (Santa Cruz, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1 12.1MP Digital Camera with 8x POWER Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Black) (Electronics)

Already being an owner and user of two different camera types, DSLR and film, I felt I was missing out on the point and shoot category. So, I researched upcoming cameras in June and heard about Panasonic's new Lumix lineup and didn't wait any time to pre order this guy. It is very compact (smaller than a deck of cards) with a serious range 8x zoom. Just be sure you want a camera that takes all the manual control of picture taking before you buy it. There is almost no manual settings, other than choosing which "scene" you think your shot will be. Panasonic has some fun settings - Pin Hole, film grain, and the key word that people love "High Dynamic" mode, which is their attempt to create a High Dynamic Range type of shot. They also have an underwater setting, for those who will later shell out the money for the casing to take this baby in the pool or some other form of wet. The Leica name on the lens is what got me looking at panasonic cameras, and as far as I can tell, its a fine lens. It is no DSLR, but it is a great incognito camera.

Video is Average, but I wasn't really concerned about it. -- When I say average, I'm comparing it to video I've seen taken from a camcorder. The HD component is nice, but you'd need to be still holding it and hope whatever you're filming is not moving too fast for a great recording.

72 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buying decision: 720p HD Video, 8x Zoom, Power O.I.S., October 27, 2009

By	I. Besenfelder (detroit, mi) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1 12.1MP Digital Camera with 8x POWER Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Black) (Electronics)

The Lumix ZR1 is a very good snapshot and HD video camera.
I got the ZR1 around a month ago and I am still enthusiastic. The most important things besides picture quality were for me, that the cam should be fast and able to zoom while recording HD video. I hate the low res VGA videos, the older generation cams made. You can't use them for anything. My first reference was the Lumix ZS3, which is a really good camera and it had all I wanted... Until I found out, that some experts claimed that the "Mega Optical Image Stabilizer" works a bit slow, so that when taking snapshots there is a longer focus time. But I was lucky, that Panasonic just released this little beauty here. The ZR1 uses a newer much faster OIS, called "Power OIS", which is even faster than most other snapshot cameras, while canceling camera shakes very well. So for me there was no time to wait and get this thing.
If you are not so focused on speed, check out the ZS3!


Main differences between the SR1 and the ZS3:
SR1:
- 12MP
- Zoom-able 720p HD Video
- Power O.I.S.
- 8x Zoom
- 2.7" display

ZS3:
- 10MP
- Zoom-able 720p HD Video
- Mega O.I.S.
- 12x Zoom
- 3" display

Comments on the comparison:

- Megapixels aren't the point anyway, because even 8MP are very enough for the normal user, but I had to mention the difference.
- Both cams record the same HD Video, so that's also no point
- The OIS made a difference for me: "Power" is faster than "Mega". I think they just fixed a software issue here.
- Zooming while recording video is a nice and (by this time) rare feature at snapshot cameras. Either zoom, 8x and 12x is huge! Of course 12x would be better than 8x, so this point goes to the ZS3.
- Also the display of the ZS3 is bigger.

Conclusion: If you don't care how fast your stabilized auto focus is (perhaps you use tripods so that you don't need a OIS, or have always time to make your shoot - it's really NOT that bad, it's just a bit slower), get the ZS3 (zoom and display is better)! Otherwise the ZR1 is perfect (fast and still fat zooming).

155 of 167 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not up to expectations, November 6, 2009

By	Ganesh Ramamoorthy "Scientifix" (Salem, NH, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1 12.1MP Digital Camera with 8x POWER Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Black) (Electronics)

After reading the reviews of both Panasonic ZS3 and Panasonic ZR1 and I decided to check out the ZR1 as it was supposed to have the newer/better image stabilization and smaller in size. The size was definitely small enough and image stabilization was decent. The picture quality was quite good in bright light conditions but lower in low-light conditions, but this seems to be an issue with any of the digital cameras at this price point.
But where it really disappointed was in the video mode. I noticed that when I switch the mode dial to the video mode the brightness of what was displayed on the camera's LCD screen became much lower compared to the photo mode. First I thought that this may be just an issue I'm seeing on LCD screen but when I transferred the video and watched it on my laptop and my TV I saw that the videos in fact looked dulled out compared to the photos. So pretty much any video that is shot indoors looked dull and kinda of poor quality.
I then decided to try out the ZS3 also and immediately saw that this issue isn't there in the ZS3. To capture video on the ZS3 you don't have to change the mode dial but simply have to press a "record" button and I don't know if this has anything to do with this, but the videos were as bright as the photos on the ZS3. So the videos shot indoors are much better, both brighter and better quality, with the ZS3 compared to the ZR1.
I also did comparisons of photos taken by the two models and surprisingly I felt the ZS3 was better there too (despite the fact that ZR1 boasts 2MP more). Also, I didn't find the image stabilization of ZS3 in anyway inferior to that of ZR1.
So after all my side-by-side comparisons I found the ZS3 to be definitely a better camera which I have kept and returned the ZR1. The ZR1 is definitely more compact than the ZS3 and does have quicker start up times (and possibly even faster zoom times). But, at the end of the day, in my opinion the ZS3 is a superior camera when it comes to videos and even photos, with the additional zoom capabilities (12X of ZS3 vs 8X in ZR1).