Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ4E-S

...research we opted for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ4 (in black) which we got from 7dayshop.com for £149 + £5 p&p.

The camera is a little larger (103.3 x 59.3 x 36.5 mm) than some of compacts on the market but that is the sacrifice for the larger 10x optical zoom (giving a range of 28mm - 280mm) but this does give it a solid feel which is further helped by the small handgrip moulded into the right hand side of the camera. The zoom is ...
...on the top right of the camera with the shutter button in the middle of it. Press the button half way to select the focus point or points (which are shown by green rectangles) and then all the way down to actually take the photo.

The camera has several modes which are selected via the single round dial located on the top of the camera, all modes are more or less fully automatic. You have the choice of Intelligent Automatic, Scene1, ... more

TZ4 - Make it Snappy

A while ago we bought a Minolta Dimage E500 compact digital camera and although we were content with it, the images under low light could often be poor and the zoom was just too short

So I set about looking for a good compact camera with a long zoom after doing my research we opted for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ4 (in black) which we got from 7dayshop.com for £149 + £5 p&p.

The camera is a little larger (103.3 x 59.3 x 36.5 mm) than some of compacts on the market but that is the sacrifice for the larger 10x optical zoom (giving a range of 28mm - 280mm) but this does give it a solid feel which is further helped by the small handgrip moulded into the right hand side of the camera. The zoom is activated by mean of a left / right rocker switch on the top right of the camera with the shutter button in the middle of it. Press the button half way to select the focus point or points (which are shown by green rectangles) and then all the way down to actually take the photo.

The camera has several modes which are selected via the single round dial located on the top of the camera, all modes are more or less fully automatic. You have the choice of Intelligent Automatic, Scene1, Scene2, 'Manual' and video.

Intelligent automatic is exactly what it says, you point and shoot with the camera automatically selecting the best mode for the photo with the choice being macro, landscape or portrait which uses the face detection. Generally this mode works very well.

The two 'scene' modes allow you to select from a massive selection of pre-configured modes such as sports, pets, landscape, night landscape, portrait, night portrait, holiday (this lets you enter the location so that it is embedded as info in any pictures taken) to name but a few. The camera can be configured so that the scene selection menu is shown every time you select one of the scene modes or so that the previous scene is selected leaving the user to call up the scene selection menu.

In all modes you can select the picture quality, the image stabilisation mode to use and whether or not to use the flash. In manual mode you get more flexibility such as setting the white balance, exposure compensation, the ISO rating to use however there is no direct way to change the shutter speed and / or dept of field.

The video mode is also good, making use of image stabilisation and unlike many cameras actually allows the zoom to be used whilst taking video. Although it should be noted that video takes up memory very quickly so a memory card of 2 GB or larger is needed really.

The image quality in all modes and circumstances is very good which is helped by the superb image stabilisation.

Switching between taking photos and playing them back on the large LCD screen is done via a dedicated vertical switch on the back of the camera

Also on the back of the camera is a main menu button surrounded by 4 other buttons that are used to navigate the menus, which are logically laid out and clear to read. The menu button itself is the acts as the select button - as mentioned above exactly what menus you see depends on which mode you are in.

There is also a quick menu button, this is a great idea - it is basically a direct means to access the functions most commonly needed for what you are currently using the camera for. For example when playing back photos it directly gives access to the menu for deleting single, multiple or all images.

Power for the TZ4 comes from a bespoke battery pack (not AA batteries) the compartment for this and the SD memory card is on the bottom, accessed by a releasing a slightly recessed spring loaded clip at the bottom. The battery pack, once in, is held in place by another spring loaded clip so that it doesn't fall out when accessing the memory card.

Physically the TZ4 looks identical to the TZ5 the only difference is that it takes HD video, takes slightly 'better' quality images being 9 Mega Pixels instead of 8 Mega Pixels and is also available in blue as well as the silver & black of the TZ4

Supplied in the box is the camera, a USB lead, a lead to connect the camera to a TV via the RGB connection, a wrist strap, battery and charger - no case or memory card is supplied.

This really is a great camera and should be top of most peoples gadget lists 

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