1. 6.0-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 14 x 19-inch prints
2. 6x image-stabilized optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD display
3. Playback of 9, 16, and 25 images is possible on a multi-split screen
4. Consecutive shooting feature lets you take up to five shots per second
5. Powered by 2 AA-size batteries; stores images on SD memory cards (includes 14 MB of internal memory)

Editorial Review :

Your son takes his first step, or your daughter takes her encore bow at her first recital. Luckily, you were ready with your digital camera and caught this historic moment. But wait! The photo you took is blurry. In your excitement, you accidentally shook the camera just as you snapped the shutter. If this has ever happened to you--and you are by no means alone!--then you'll want to take a close look at the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 6-megapixel digital camera with 6x image-stabilized optical zoom.

The Lumix DMC-LZ5 was designed specifically to address the universal problem of "hand-shake"--the culprit of the majority of blurred digital images. At the heart of the Lumix DMC-LZ5 is Panasonic's Mega Optical Image Stabilizing System, or Mega O.I.S. A built-in gyrosensor detects any hand movement and relays a signal to a tiny microcomputer inside the camera, which instantly calculates the compensation needed. A linear motor then shifts the O.I.S. lens as necessary to guide incoming light from the image straight to the CCD. All this happens seamlessly and behind the scenes. All you'll notice will be the camera's outstanding results.

Mega O.I.S. is effective in most shooting situations, such as dimly lit indoor shots, nighttime shots, or macro shots. However, when taking indoor shots of moving subjects, such as children or pets, the movement of the subject tends also to contribute to the blurring. For this, the Lumix DMC-LZ5 features a high sensitivity mode to prevent hazy motion effects, further expanding your range of crisp, clear photo expression.

Another outstanding feature is the Lumix DMC-LZ5's 6x optical zoom. This powerful zoom--the equivalent to a 37mm to 222mm zoom on a 35mm film camera--lets you easily capture and magnify subjects in distant locations, and also produces impressive photos with soft-focused backgrounds. The zoom lens crystallizes Panasonic's optics technology, using two aspherical lenses to achieve compactness and boost optical performance. Together with the camera's 4x digital zoom, you can enjoy up to 24x zoom power--an amazing 888mm zoom equivalent on a 35mm camera.

With the consecutive shooting feature of Lumix DMC-LZ5, nothing will sneak past your photographic gaze. In one second, you can take up to five consecutive images in standard mode, and three images in fine mode with full resolution. In addition, the Unlimited Consecutive Shooting function lets you continue shooting until the memory card or built-in memory is full. All this is made possible by Panasonic's Venus Engine Plus, which reduces power consumption by about 50 percent compared with earlier Venus Engine-equipped models.

A bright 2.5-inch LCD monitor is easy to see when taking photos. The pixel-mixed readout method is used to automatically increase the brightness level of live images according to the level of ambient darkness. This allows bright, easy framing of scenes that would normally be too dark to see. The large LCD also allows the display of images even in tiny thumbnail size. Playback of 9, 16, and 25 images is possible on a multi-split screen in addition to the normal single frame playback. This helps you to search for the image you want out of a number of images stored on your SD memory card.

With the DMC-LZ5 you can also record beautiful full-sized movie at 30 frames per second. The camera's CCD enhances the picture quality not only in the resolution but also in the brightness level of the image as it gains much luminous signals. On the sound front, a built-in microphone lets you enjoy playing back movies with audio on TV or with PC.

The DMC-LZ5 is PictBridge compatible, which lets you print directly on a compatible digital printer. Print size, layout, date, and other settings can be made with the camera. The camera is powered by either two AA alkaline or two rechargeable nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries. Alkaline batteries let you take about 175 photos and nickel-metal hydride batteries allow up to 390 photos. When you don't have an SD memory card on hand, the camera's built-in memory holds up to 14 megabytes of image data, which you can later upload to an SD card or PC. You can also download images from a memory card or PC to the built-in memory, and view them on the LCD anytime you like.

What's in the Box
Lumix DMC-LZ5 digital camera, two oxyride AA batteries, and software CD-ROM.

Customer Review :

Canon Camera

This is a great camera for a great price! I'm happy with it.

Rating :

Excellent camera, terrible warranty

I bought this camera 10 months ago from Amazon (the black version of it). It was my 4th digital in seven years, and definitely my favorite one. The size is just perfect to carry around, and the 6X optical zoom with image stabilization is hard to beat. At the time, I struggled between this model and the Canon counterpart, but at the end, I was really happy with my decision. I actually stopped using my video camera, storing movies in my 4 2GB SD cards.

One week ago, the flash stopped working. I thought to myself "no problem, the one year warranty will cover it". Well, guess what, the warranty only covers parts, and the labor flat-fee from Panasonic is $170.00 USD. I can buy a new one on Amazon for less than that! I wrote to Panasonic, but didn't get a satisfactory response from them.

I am switching now to the Canon Powershot A570 IS, which supports image stabilization, and 7 Megapixel pictures. Their warranty covers EVERYTHING for one whole year, so at least I feel safer buying their product. The price is a little bit higher than this model, but totally worth it.

Something to keep in mind if you are considering to buy this model.

Rating :

Just what I was looking for 1) simple to operate, 2) great looking images, 3) good value

I was looking for a good, inexpensive digital camera and found it in the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5; I love it!

After extensive reading online, I bought one about 3 weeks (2/07). I read the manual to learn how to operate. The camera is really amazing. I have taken ~150 shots of all kinds, and still on second set of regular AA batteries with plenty of charge left. The DMC-LZ5 has several pre-set options for scenes like "night scene," "starry night," "snow," and "candle light" which look great when using a tripod. Everybody I show my inside, day, and night time images say how very sharp they look. The color is rich. I usually take more images than I need, then delete all but the very best composed. I find it friendly to operate this way: I slide the SD card out of the camera, and into my laptop's SD port. Using windows file manager, I copy images to the laptop's hard drive, backup to CD, and view... I put the SD card back into camera and delete all the images on the SD card. This process is quick to move large numbers of images using no cables. This is my second digital camera.

DMC-LZ5 has a "simple" mode that sets all the features automatically. Can you tell I am happy with my purchase? Thank goodness for all the online reviews, I almost bought wrong brand. This is 6MP, 6X optical zoom for less than $200, and it works great. I bought mine in black. Since I don't use apple, my only complaint is the "video mode" creates quicktime files; so I don't use it to capture video. Instead, I use my MiniDV video camera for video. But the "still" shots create .jpg format, which is perfect for my needs; my new hobby and my web-site development businesses.


Rating :

great camera

this is a great camera. The only thing in noticed was a couple of my pictures that i took, and i took 12, were blurred. I thhought that the stablizer would have worked. Great Camera for price, takes pictures otherwise.

Rating :

Very happy with this purchase

I am vary happy with this camera. I have Pentax Option S which is smaller and Olympus 510 which is bigger, this small Panasonic camera makes me very happy. Auto-mode makes vivd sharp pictures, trees and green comes out outstanding.

I was looking for a small camera that fits in the pocket but not too small because I came to conclusion that superlslim cameras sacrifice their optics quality for lightweighness. This camera does nto compromise image quality.It fits into pocket or pouch, I have it with me anywhere.

This camera is fast. Shooting ans saving is fast. This is very important quality. They never show in spe spec the time it takes, on average, to focus and to save images, so it is difficult to judge before you buy, and slow cameras are so irritating. This camera is fast I like it very much.

Battery life is very very good. On two AA batteries, it can go for close to 2 weeks if I switch it on immediately before the shot and off immediately after the shot.

AA batteries are preferable to me than builtin lithum batteries because lithium batteries die sooner or later and to replace them is expensive, and I do not want to carry the charger with me.
The LCD screen if big and visible in any light.

Bottom line: Thanks Panasonic.

I'd prefer than Power button had 3 positions, Off, On-Shoot, On-View, that would be comfortable for me, but no camera has it anyway.


Rating :

More reviews...

1. Leica DC Vario-Element Lens System with 11 elements in 8 groups (3 aspherical lenses/3 aspherical surfaces)
2. 12x Optical zoom (equivalent to 36mm to 432mm on a 35mm film camera lens) with aperture of F2.8 to 3.3 & 4x digital zoom
3. Compact 6mp camera with Mega Optical Image Stabilization which addresses "anti-blu" of hand & subject movement
4. LSI Venus engine II handles image processing, LCD functions, & writing to the memory card simultaneously for incredible responsiveness
5. Five software packages included, comes with battery charger& pack, 16MB Sd memoery card, AV cable, USB connection cable, AC cable, strap, CD Rom, Lens cap, lens hood, & lens hood adaptor

Customer Review :

panasonic lumix

Beautiful pictures from this camera. Perfect weight and nice feel in hands. I have highly reccomended this camera to family and friends.

Rating :

Still love it after a year and a half

I'm not an expert photographer, but in my experience using the Panasonic DMC-FZ7, I've found that:
- it takes clear, crisp photos in daylight or using the flash.
- in dim light, the photos have a lot of noise.
- the optical zoom lens is great.
- the macro feature allows incredibly detailed close-ups.
- it's best to use a tripod if you're not using the flash (to reduce blurriness).

I've owned the FZ7 for about a year and half and I still love it and have had no problems with it thus far. My best use of the camera was during a camping trip to the mountains where I got some really good photos that I'm still showing off to people.

The optical zoom feature is INCREDIBLE! I was standing quite a distance from a tree that had a huge hornet (or wasp?) nest in it and I zoomed in as close as possible and the photo was crystal clear.

Two of my absolute favorite photos taken with this camera were a super close-up (using the macro feature) of my cat's face and the photo described above of the hornet nest (using the 12x optical zoom). Awesome.

Rating :

Excellent camera for home use, but should have more dials

I bought this camera for my first-borne. And it takes EXCELLENT pictures. The present modes are special situations are time saver, but I hoped that they could be reached from a separate dial, instead of diving into the menu.

Download the new pictures to the computer is a breeze. Just plug the camera and the software will recognize it and download the new pictures and movies to the computers. The clips and the pictures are saved by their time stamp, and they are saved in folders labeled by the dates they were taken in. Being unable to modify this, or name the pictures, like 'my daughter on her wooden elephant.jpg' on the camera very annoying. Because I only download the pictures when they approach the capacity limit of the SD card (4GB), and by then they would be dozens of them (if not hundreds) and of course I won't remember which was 'my daughter on her wooden elephant'. Also, I can't save them into folders by occasions on the camera, like work, home, weekend, Amazon product reviews...etc The closest is saving them as travel story; The camera gives the option to collect a group of pictures by a specific period, starting from a departure date and arrival date that you have to set. Even with this, you'll see pictures saved in folders as 'first day, second day..etc

Previewing the stored images and clips on the TV is great except for the navigation controls. It is just basic, and could be much better, allowing for example, selecting non-sequential photos, sorting files into images and clips, using more than one marking to mark different groups of images like 1, 2, 3 or H,W,WE or Home, Work, Week end..etc, and preview each gallery alone. This is very important if you have private photos among work photos, and you want to hide them from colleagues. Because of this, I carry two SDs, one for my private family and another for my public friends and word photos and clips.

Otherwise, it's fairly fast and video clips are limited in length only by the SD capacity.

The photos are crisp and great, but not extremely professional

The videos are great for family occasions, but of course a VGA movie at 15 frames/sec cannot compete with camcoders and SLRs. VGA movies at 30 Frames are available, and they are smoother, but they heavily tax the SD capacity. I find the 15 frames a good compromise, and unless you are shouting a very fast moving person (like my daughter sometimes) it's fairly enough for most cases.

The camera is not bulky but still big. I bought a carrying case for it, but I hoped Panasonic would had provided this for me, because the camera NEEEEDs this carrying case. If it was a slim one, then I could put it anywhere in my shirt or jacket.


I recommend it for private non-critical professional work, for its low price, many options, very good photo quality and ease of use.

I did my homework before buying it, and I am satisfied with the time I invested comparing several cameras, and the decision to buy this one.


Rating :

Fully loaded camera, but pictures are not that good

The camera is small, lightweight and fully packed with manual controls and the possibility of attaching additional lenses. Battery lasts forever, I think I took 250 to 300 pictures (20% with flash) without having to recharge. The pictures come out extremely sharp, color is good not so saturated, but be adivsed that noise is a seroius issue. You dont really want to take picutres with this camera above ISO 100. At ISO 400 pit gets very grainy. Remember to leave the "Noise reduction" setting at "High" in the options menu, it helps a bit. Overall is a four star, would buy it again. I would now go with the FZ18K, which is packed with 18x zoom, sports 8 megapixel and has face detection.

Rating :

Still not sure after two years...

I've had this camera for two years now. I'll admit that I've gotten some really good shots in low-light situations, from really far distances (like concerts) -- but they were due more to luck (and taking numerous shots to get that one good one) than camera ability it seems. I'm a good amateur photographer (i.e. it's certainly not due to lack of experience or lack of knowledge). But more times than not, the images come out really really noisy (both outside and in). The flash is really harsh (even when you have it at a really low setting) leading to lots of washed out images and/or red-eye when you take pictures indoors. I've tried every setting on this camera. I figure if (after two years) I still find this camera annoying to use, then this is really not a good camera for me. My point-and-shoot digital FujiFilm camera takes better, sharper pictures than this Pansonic. The main reason I bought the Panasonic was for the 12x zoom. And that has come in-handy for sure, but the results are usually poor. The main reason to own a digital "SLR-like" camera is that it's suppose to be easier to use than a traditional SLR camera. However, after two years, I think I would rather buy a real SLR camera.

Rating :

More reviews...

1. 8.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 16 x 22-inch prints
2. 3.6x wide-angle image-stabilized optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD display
3. Intelligent Auto Mode with Face Detection and Intelligent Scene Selector
4. High-Sensitivity mode shoots at an ISO equivalent of 6400; Continuous Autofocus minimizes autofocus time
5. Stores images on SD memory cards (includes 27MB of internal memory; powered by lithium-ion battery (battery and charger included)

Editorial Review :

Tired of getting blurry nighttime portraits due to hand-shake? Had enough flash shots with washed-out faces? Hate those out-of-focus flower photos? Sometimes it's hard to know which function to use, or switching modes is a bother, so the camera just stays in Auto mode. Too often, this won't give you the sharp, clear pictures you want. Lumix's iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode solves these problems with single-button ease. The camera automatically optimizes the settings to produce beautifully sharp, blur-free pictures in typical shooting situations.

Customer Review :

Great Camera

This is a great little point and shoot camera. It's simple to use has allot of functionality and control and great image quality. For a little camera you cant ask for anything more.

Rating :

Excellent gift, perfect both quality and performance

I recommend this product, my wife and daughter are happy and enjoy it every day.

Rating :

Great point and shooter

This is the third fx Panasonic that I have purchased, all as gifts. They have all been solid cameras and my kids like the size, the wide angle and the quality of the pictures. All for a very good price.

Rating :

Good for easy point-and-shoot

I took this camera to my 7-day Japan trip and here are my
observations. In summary, this is a very good camera for
most occasions.

Pros:

- The small & lightweight nature allows me to carry this camera
in my pocket throughout the entire trip
- The lag from switch-on to ready-to-use is short and enables
me to capture many scenes that could have been missed if I use
the older Optio 450
- The image stabilization is very helpful, especially for
those moving targets. There were cases it caught flying
eagles flawlessly.
- The auto face-recognition feature is also a big plus.

Through my trip I set the camera to IA mode most of the time,
combined with abovementioned features, this camera is not only
easy to use and is also extremely handy to capture whatever
scene comes to your eyes.

Cons: (Of course, being a sub-compact digital camera, it also
has its deficits)

- It has very limited manual control which makes it not so
good on special weather conditions.
- 3x optical zoom is good but not sufficient for travellers
who want to zoom in to much farther objects (my older Optio
450 has 5x zoom)
- The battery life is much shorter than my expectation. I had
to recharge the battery twice during the trip which surprises
me very much and makes me feel that I may need to purchase and
carry a spare battery in my next trip


Rating :

great little camera

great camera for the price, a class better than other in this price range (paid $149). very small delay in taking pics, good pictures even in little light, i have no idea how it can focus even in almost total darknes, but it does!!!

Rating :

More reviews...

1. 6.0-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 14 x 19-inch prints
2. 3x image-stabilized optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD display
3. Intelligent ISO Control (I.I.C.) reduces image blur from subject movement and low light
4. Records full-size movies in wide-aspect VGA (848 x 480) at 30 frames per second
5. Stores images on SD/SDHC/MMC memory cards; 27MB internal memory

Editorial Review :

3x Optical Zoom / 2.5" LCD / Mega Optical Image Stabilization / SD Memory Card Storage / USB / PictBridge / Unit Size 3.70'' x 2.02'' x 0.95''

Customer Review :

great pocket camera

i have an fz50 and a leica d-lux 2 made along with panasonic. my wife wanted a pocket replacement for her ancient casio with a postage stamp size screen. she picked this one in spite of a lack of viewfinder. it is truly pocket size and quick reacting. beautiful results. don't expect miracles shooting in low light without a flash. turn the flash on and live with it, or practioce alot with the flash off. panasonic makes solid electronics, and leica lenses are the best.

Rating :

Have not received product!

I ordered this product in early October and received a notice about ten days later that it was delayed but have heard nothing since and it is now late November.

Rating :

Nice little camera

I bought this camera for my wife because she wanted something small and simple as an alternative to my camera. It is definitely small easily fitting in a purse or shirt pocket. The quality feels good and the option for a pink color was a nice touch. The necessary functions of the camera are easy to find and use. I know that, because if they weren't my wife would be more frustrated and lets me know when she can't figure something out. It takes decent snapshots. Not being one to work with lots of features, she manages just fine.

This is the third digital camera I bought, all Panasonic. I have done detailed pre-purchase comparisons I find that Panasonic has high quality and features for a better price than the more well-known brands such as Canon or Sony. I do select for media type and rule out anything that doesn't use SD cards because I have lots of them from several devices. It doesn't have a viewfinder, but the LCD screen is big and bright covering most of the back of the camera. Image stabilization is a good feature for someone who takes snapshots without thinking about the camera settings.

I haven't evaluated the fine points of picture quality... that's not what I bought the camera for. Her first use was to take new-born pictures of our grandson. We were all satisfied with the results.

Rating :

Great, cute, stealable.

This camera was so awesome, it was stolen from me. I'm not rich, so I'll wait to write another review until I know more, but for the week or so we were together, it took perfect pictures, had some cool settings, took a decent video(even in the dark ;)

Rating :

I just love it!

Perfect size. Great stabilizer, great photos. It takes the picture very fast and not having to wait to take the next photo. It's just great, I love it!

Rating :

More reviews...

1. 6.0-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 14 x 19-inch prints
2. 3x image-stabilized optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD display
3. High Sensitivity mode, with a manximum ISO of 1600, reduces image blur from subject movement and low light
4. Records full-size movies in wide-aspect VGA (848 x 480) at 30 frames per second
5. Stores images on SD memory cards; powered by li-ion battery pack (battery and charger included)

Customer Review :

Junk cameras, and you can forget the warrantee!

I bought this camera as a gift and it failed in a matter of months. I sent it back and after hearing nothing at all from customer service for months, the camera was sent back unrepaired. They claimed they had tried to contact me several times (nonsense, I gave them my cell number AND email address) and that the camera was "unrepairable" due to "moisture damage". When I asked if this could be caused by airborne moisture, they said yes. I live in Oregon, and none of my other digital cameras ever had any problems with this. They stonewalled me on fixing the camera. You have been warned: NEVER buy Panasonic junk!

Rating :

Great for copying text

This compact camera is a great asset which I use at the National Archives to photograph textual documents. It has a great micro-mode and uses available light. When researching at the Archives, the cost of copying has gone up to $.25 per page but this nifty camera with its anti-shake takes wonderful clear images of the documents, drawings, and/or photos. Images are recorded on an SD card and then can be uploaded to my lap top and my image files. I can then record the images to CD and send the material on to clients for $1.77 as opposed to what the paper costs used to be to ship. I also use this little gem when touring museums. It easily records images of the text describing various objects as well as the objects. This dandy camera easily fits into my pants pocket. I have carried it all over England, SCotland and Ireland and have taken about 10,000 images with this camera. I have had it about three years and it has been great.

Rating :

Love this camera

I got this camera for Mother's Day and what a suprise! I have a two-year-old and my old camera never took the picture fast enough. But this Camera keeps up with my busy daughter no problem! The picture quality is great and there are many extra features that make this camera well worth it. There is a setting that puts a year stamp on my daughter's pictures, the picture will say two-years and one-month ect. In years to come when I look back on my pictures I wont have to guess how old she was or do the never ending task of handwriting the age on the back of each photo. I love it, it fits nicely in my purse and I take it every where. I no longer miss out on those cute photo moments!

Rating :

2 months of gentle use and now it has a snag

I bought a new piece on amazon and used it for not more than 2 months and it doesn't work anymore. I haven't droped it or mis used it or anything. One day I was clicking as usual and instead of taking the picture, when i click it zooms in and stays like that. I called up Panasonic, and they had me send the camera at my own shipping expense and re-soldered the parts (thats what they told me they did) and sent it back after 20 days or so. Please make a better choice.. Don't buy this camera.

Rating :

Awesome Camera

I bought this camera because I got tired of buying disposable cameras and paying to have the pictures printed. Once I used it, I fell in love with it instantly. I dropped it several times, and it didn't break or malfunction. What a wonderful product and I recommend this camera for everyone.

Rating :

More reviews...