Panasonic Expands its Award-Winning TZ-Family of LUMIX Digital Cameras

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New LUMIX TZ5 and TZ4 Offer 10x Optical Zoom, 28mm Wide-Angle Lenses and Advanced Intelligent Auto Mode Technologies for Increased Ease-of-Use

Panasonic is serious about digital photography. A friend of mine recently went camera shopping and took home a Panasonic point and shoot digital camera and two other similar digital cameras (from two other very well-known brands). After shooting with all three over a weekend, he purchased the Panasonic and has been more than pleased with his decision. Earlier this month, at PMA (the annual photo trade show) the company introduced two additions to its award-winning TZ-family of LUMIX digital cameras, the DMC-TZ5 and DMC-TZ4 – both packing a 28mm wide-angle, 10X optical zoom Leica lens in a compact design. By combining a 28mm wide-angle lens, which lets you capture a wider-framed shot as opposed to most other compact digital cameras, using the TZ-Series 10x optical zoom –you can take expanded shots, both wide and far. Adding to these feature-rich digital cameras, Panasonic also expanded its Intelligent Auto technologies with new Intelligent Exposure and Digital Red-eye Correction.

One of the senior leaders at Panasonic, Alex Fried, told me “Panasonic is taking digital photography to a new level and recognizes that everyone, not just professionals, should be equipped with a digital camera powerful enough to take high-quality photos, but compact enough to carry with them everyday”. During the convention I tried out the DMC-TZ5 in and around Las Vegas, the home of PMA. The camera went from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and was a pleasure to use, yielding excellent results.

The author standing in the bottom of the Grand Canyon as photographed by the Panasonic TZ5.

With the addition of Intelligent Exposure and Digital Red-eye Correction, Panasonic’s Advanced Intelligent Auto mode consists of seven intuitive technologies, all which are designed to help make picture taking an enjoyable and foolproof process. When in Advanced Intelligent Auto mode, the following technologies all operate automatically; and you do not need to change any settings:

Intelligent Exposure – With this new feature, the TZ5 and TZ4, instantly analyze the scene and adjust the brightness in areas that are too dark.
MEGA O.I.S. – Gyrosensors detect hand-shake and the lens system shifts to compensate, helping to prevent hand-shake from creating a blurry image.
Intelligent ISO – With Intelligent ISO, the TZ4 and TZ5 can determine if the subject is moving and change the ISO setting and shutter speed accordingly, thus giving a blur-free photo.
Intelligent Scene Selector – The Intelligent Scene Selector senses lighting conditions, recognizes the shooting environment and automatically selectd the appropriate scene mode from: Scenery, Portrait, Macro, Night Portrait or Night Scenery mode. This intuitive technology, helps you use the most common scene modes that are built into the camera, but often go unused, without making any manual adjustments.
Face Detection – Panasonic’s Face Detection detects faces anywhere in the frame and automatically chooses the optimal focus and exposure settings so you're subjects come out clear and crisp. Detecting up to 15 faces, Panasonic’s Face Detection can even track a face if the person is moving.
Continuous AF – The Continuous AF (auto focus) system maintains focus on the subject even without pressing a shutter button halfway, thus minimizing the AF time.

Also new to the TZ5 and the TZ4 is the Venus Engine IV, Panasonic’s new high-performance image processing chip. The Venus Engine IV produces higher-quality pictures than its predecessor, the Venus Engine III, by using a more advanced signal processing system. The new Venus Engine IV improves noise reduction, elevates the detection accuracy and corrective effects in both MEGA O.I.S. and Intelligent ISO and reduces the shutter release time lag.

The TZ5, with 9.1 megapixels is capable of recording 720p High Definition motion pictures, and because of its support of SD Memory Cards, is easily compatible with Panasonic VIERA Plasma HDTVs that have an integrated SD Memory Card slot, so viewing photos is simple. The TZ4, with 8.1 megapixels, joins the TZ5 in its ability to take 1920 x 1080 pixel High Definition-ready photos that perfectly fit a wide-screen (16:9) HDTV. Also, with the newly added HD component output capability, users can also connect the TZ models to an HDTV and watch a slideshow complete with mood-appropriate music, choosing from natural, slow, urban and swing.

The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ5 is available in blue, black and silver models for (MSRP) $349.95, while the DMC-TZ4 is available in black and silver for (MSRP) $299.95. Both models will be available in late March 2008. For more information check out www.panasonic.com/dsc.

John Lentz