Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS85

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Panasonic is a well known brand in consumer electronics market. Compact cameras market is very competitive and it is very difficult to survive with single kind of product. But some models really got good response from overall consumer feedback and they are still very popular at the present. Digital cameras are getting new technology every time and we can see that each new product has some ...
...time effects on the market. Panasonic has long range of digital cameras with Lumix tag. Lumix cameras have everything in their features line and we can choose right product as according to our requirements.
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It was Panasonic who broke the rules of optical zoom in compact digital cameras with its popular Lumix TZ series. TZ series cameras have really impressive features but overall they called as long zoom compact cameras. Now we are ... more

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS85

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Panasonic is a well known brand in consumer electronics market. Compact cameras market is very competitive and it is very difficult to survive with single kind of product. But some models really got good response from overall consumer feedback and they are still very popular at the present. Digital cameras are getting new technology every time and we can see that each new product has some new and extra features. Ono one will try to launch their product with traditional and old featured. We can’t buy a new camera every time, and we want some kind of good reliable and trustable camera which can be better companion for long time. It is very difficult to choose right product from vat availability of compact cameras. All products are struggling to survive in the market but some of them keep long time effects on the market. Panasonic has long range of digital cameras with Lumix tag. Lumix cameras have everything in their features line and we can choose right product as according to our requirements.
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It was Panasonic who broke the rules of optical zoom in compact digital cameras with its popular Lumix TZ series. TZ series cameras have really impressive features but overall they called as long zoom compact cameras. Now we are thinking about entry level digital compact cameras. Entry level digital cameras have one common feature and that is called as value for money. Value for money can be defined as many terms, and in digital cameras it can be defines as good features with lowest price. Price is very important in compact camera and we can decide right product but it should not be so costly as per our requirement and budget.
I am going to discuss a new product from Panasonic Lumix series and it is a totally entry level digital camera with some advanced features and value for money. I will try to put every information in my review so that it can guide you for making a right decision.
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The Camera

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS85 is a successor of previously launched popular entry level Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS80. The major improvement for this camera is its newly added intelligent auto mode. Intelligent auto mode is really very impressive and useful for new photographers as I will discuss it in deep. Some of features are common with compare to all available entry level compact cameras but some features in this camera make it different than others.
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Some good and bad points about the Camera

The very important feature of the camera is its intelligent auto mode. If you are a new in digital photography and purchased this camera, what will happen? You might be worry about the right setting of the camera and quality of pictures. But you need not to worry; Panasonic has given you a right product and right features for especially new photographers. This camera has intelligent auto mode and it adjusts all camera settings automatically according to scene and conditions. Intelligent auto mode contains four major features, MEGA O.I.S, Intelligent ISO Control, Face Detection and Intelligent Scene Selector. All four features are very important for getting quality pictures without any trouble and quality loss. MEGA OIS, called as optical image stabilizer, it is a mechanical system which actives against hand or camera shake and reduces shaking to take less blur pictures. OIS can detect any shake automatically and try to reduce it as much as possible. Almost all cameras had inbuilt image stabilize system but Mega OIS system is more effective and impressive in this camera. I usually try to keep my camera in intelligent auto mode only and no doubt that I get better pictures with compare to manual setting.
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Opinion About the Face Detection

Next impressive feature in IA (intelligent auto) mode is its face detection technology. Almost all cameras with every brand have this technology but it is very important for compact digital camera. Face detection technology can detect human face and it try to focus better on that particular point to produce better quality photographs of human faces. My first compact digital camera was canon power shot A400, and when I bought this, face detection technology was not there. I usually got frustrated with the quality of photographs especially of human shots. Camera still produce good quality photographs but maximum time it struggle to focus on faces. After that I got new camera from Panasonic and it was Panasonic Lumix TZ-5. I was really impressed with its face detection technology and quality. Technology was new and for me it was really so exciting. Now a day’s almost all cameras have this technology for better quality pictures. In entry level compact cameras, this is a really good and worthy feature. So Panasonic don’t want to lessen its popularity and it has given better featured cameras with cheap price.
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Opinion About The Intelligent ISO

Next important point of IA mode is its intelligent ISO control. Here we have to understand ISO very well before going for this feature. ISO is a light sensitivity in photography and it acts according to availability of natural light. But in digital cameras, it has some advantages and disadvantages also. For digital compact cameras, ISO 200 or lower can produce better quality photos but ISO 200 or higher is not recommended. Digital cameras are still struggling with ISO sensitivity and for compact cameras it is a major problem with higher ISO setting. ISO setting is very important in darker places to get bright pictures but it has many disadvantages also. If we put ISO 400 or higher setting than it will produce a very noisy details photograph. So there is no worth of having camera with ISO 6400 capability. The only advantage of higher ISO is goes to manufactures to fill their feature line. I never try to get picture with ISO 400 or above, but in critical conditions, where flash is prohibited and light is very low, I use maximum setting to ISO 400. In intelligent auto mode, it can adjust ISO setting according to light sensitivity and for darker places; it can set it to maximum levels and it not a good setting for getting quality pictures. So as per my opinion, try to use flash in darker condition and avoid higher ISO setting to get better quality results.
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Opinion About the intelligent scene selector

Other feature of IA mode is its intelligent scene selector and it is really impressive and useful for new photographers. Camera has many scene modes in scene selector, but it can detect scenes automatically in IA mode. We need not to worry about selecting scene mode as this is a responsibility of the camera. But I faced some problem with the accuracy of this setting and sometimes it gets wrong signal and sets wrong scene modes. So it is recommended to use particular scene mode in manual setting to have adequate setting.
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Zooming features

Zooming feature is not such important point for this camera but is has good 4x optical zoom. It can be up to 6.4x in lower settings.
Camera has slightly different zooming lens with about 33-132mm of capability and it is slightly different with compare to traditional 35mm camera lens. Many other cameras have wider zoom lens with 28mm capability and Panasonic’s own Lumix TZ-7 camera has still better and wider zoom lens with 25mm capability.
Here I want to say that CCD resolution is not such important factor for compact camera as almost every camera has an average resolution with 7 or 8 megapixel.
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Opinion About the CCD

This camera also has good CCD with 8.1 mega pixel resolution and it is an average resolution for such kind of cameras. This camera has Panasonic’s new Venus IV processing engine and it supports super-fast response time. Previously this engine was provided with most popular Lumix TZ-5 brand and it is now available with such an entry level compact cameras also, really impressive. Main advantage of this technology is the shutter release time lag is as short as 0.007 second so that it can capture any situation with as quickly as possible. The camera's quick response makes it easier to capture sudden, fast moving objects with maintaining photo quality. You will get better response in High-Speed Burst shooting mode, it fires off an incredible 4.5 shots per second. This is a really so good as we can capture continuous images until memory get full.
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' Opinion About the LCD

Coming to its LCD display features. I have seen some Nikon’s entry level digital cameras like L16 etc. The worst feature of that camera was its LCD display quality. We can’t see real quality image in LCD mode and playback mode that is very bad feature. For this camera, is has impressive 2.5 inch large 230,000-dot high-resolution LCD. LCD resolution is very good in terms of entry level digital camera and for price tag with below 100 pounds, it is worthy feature. Camera doesn’t have view finder but it has good quality of LCD display to get better view. Panasonic has a new technology in its LCD display with adjusting its brightness according to backlight condition. It can automatically boost the LCD backlighting by a maximum of 40% when shooting outdoors in bright sunshine conditions.
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How is movie mode?

Coming to its movie mode, there are nothing special with its but it is good enough and can record WVGA (848 x 480) motion pictures at 30 frames per second plus standard VGA (640 x 480). The WVGA motion picture also supports widescreen ratio (16:9). As per all entry level digital cameras, we can’t use optical zoom while recording movie clips. Panasonic Lumix TZ-1 and TZ-5 were the first cameras to introduce optical zooms in movie mode. Now Panasonic has launched two new brands in TZ series with TZ-6 and TZ-7, both cameras supports optical zooming in movie mode.
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'About the Power
Last and very important feature of this camera is its battery or power support. This camera supports two AA size power batteries. It is a feature which can really impress to anyone. The shots capacities from two AA size alkaline batteries are about 250. We can get even better number of shots with good capacity NiMH batteries. For travel purpose, AA size battery is considered as important as we can buy it from any where I the world.
Overall, this camera is a good choice for entry level category. Having all important features, especially its intelligent auto mode and AA size battery support; this will be a better choice for travelers and new photographers. Recommended.
 

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