Panasonic DMC-LZ2

As my observation, Panasonic's Lumix series of digital cameras have proven to be very popular option with consumers.

Thanks to a combination of competitive prices, good resolution and feature-set, and the fact that almost every current model offers optical image stabilization

I've had the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2 digital camera for less than a week. I like it for taking movies as well as photographs. So far I'm very happy with it.

Picture quality is very good. Photos are sharp and clear with good color rendition. There is no compensation for incandescent lighting, so if you shoot indoors with the incandescent lamps you will get warm pictures. This is a minor point, because if you use a decent graphic editor you can adjust the color balance to whatever suits you. The low-light, focusing is not the best, and sometimes the low light pictures look a bit grainy. Very inexpensive at $150.00 from Walmart.

It's very easy to use menu system is straight forward and gives you lots of options, or you can opt for the simplest point and shoot option with Mode dial. It's pretty quick between shots, even while recharging the flash. 6X optical Zoom combined with 4X digital zoom. It has picture stabilization, which is good when zoomed way out there. Fairly compact size, though it's not really a shirt pocket camera. Easy to hold both two and one handed. The controls are handy and well positioned. Pictures are great, and there is minimal barrel distortion on wide angle, and very slight vignetting. Not really noticeable in ordinary shots, but I used to shoot weddings and portraits professionally, so maybe I notice these things more than most. Saving pictures and movies is easy by removing the card and inserting it into a card reader.

Movie quality is OK, but small format and the microphone is very sensitive. I got 9.5 minutes of video on a 256Mb memory card. It takes SD/MMS cards, which are easy to find and pretty cheap. I'd prefer the movies be saved in .MGP format, but there are converters out there for that. The .MOV (Quicktime) format is not my favorite.

Overall impression... Good camera, and excellent price for the features, 5 mega-pixel format with 6x optical zoom, good quality photographs, picture stabilization, and it's easy to use.

Recommended.

I've had the Panasonic DMC-LZ2 digital camera for nearly a year. I don't use it frequently, but when I do I find it easy to use. The image stabilizer is good, especially in night photos.

The optical zoom x6 is a bonus over other cameras, but it gives the camera a slightly bigger size than others in its category. 5 mega-pixels is enough for its use.

It needs specified batteries to give you good battery life and operate properly.

The LCD screen doesn't give you a good idea of the photo you have taken. You will only see what you photographed when downloaded. It takes good pictures though, and it gives you a lot of settings to experiment with.

The Panasonic DMC-LZ2 is an ideal digital camera, which has all the features you can ask for. It's very easy to use. It also produces very good quality images!

Good value for money!