Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 – Straight Compact Megazoom
Thumbs Up:
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 gets manual and semi-manual controls, 25mm equivalent wide-angle lens along with a 12x zoom and plenty of other heavy features to experiment with.
Thumbs Down:
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 delivers substandard low-light photos.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Manufacturer: Panasonic
Part Number: DMC-ZS5S
Price: $221.89 – $299.95
Product Type: Compact Digital camera
Weight: 6.7 oz
Dimensions (W x D x H) in inches: 4.1 x 1.3 x 2.4 inches
Optical Sensor Type: CCD
White balance: Custom, Presets and Automatic
White Balance Presets: Shade, Halogen, Cloudy and Daylight
Recording modes: Program, Intelligent Auto, Shutter priority, Aperture priority, Scene, Manual, MySCN, Custom and Clipboard, Movie
Metering Modes: Multi, Spot and Center-weighted average
Color effects: Black & White, Standard, Cool, Sepia, Happy (only in iA Mode) and Warm
Software: Panasonic PHOTOfunSTUDIO 5.0 and Drivers & Utilities
Connector Type: 1 x Composite audio/video output and 1 x USB
Storage media: SD, SDXC and SDHC
Focus Adjustment: Automatic
Flash Modes: Fill-in mode, Auto mode, Flash OFF mode, and slow synchro and Red-eye reduction
Camera Flash: Built-in flash
Additional Features: Audio recording, DPOF support, time/date stamp, Contrast control, Built-in speaker, Cropping an image, Face Recognition, Resizing an image, Histogram display, Exif Print support, Sharpness control, Saturation control, PictBridge support, Face Detection AF/AE,Built-in help guide, Digital image rotation, USB 2.0 compatibility, Digital noise reduction, 720p HD movie recording, In-camera red-eye removal, RGB primary color filter, Intelligent Scene Selector, Text input to Exif header, Auto Backlight Compensation, Scene Detection Technology, Motion Detection Technology, Light Detection technology, Subject Detection technology, Camera orientation detection and Automatic display brightness adjustment
Supported Battery: 895 mAh Li-ion rechargeable battery
Razzle Dazzle:
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 has the same design that we’ve seen in its precursor, the ZS1. The camera is almost the same like ZS1 in terms of weight and size, and is still immensely compact for its features and wide-angle lens having 12x zoom. That said, the camera will be a tight fit in a pants pocket, but will easily fit into a pants pocket or in a small handbag. The camera is available in silver and black variants, and has a decent fit along with a comfy grip on its right side. The 2.7 inch LCD of the camera looks great and gets decently bright, though the LCD gets reflective in straight sunlight, and hence you might face some problems in seeing what you are shooting. Finally, the camera might have a 14 megapixel sensor; but it uses only 12 megapixels, which makes it possible to have three aspect ratio of 16:9, 3:2, and 4:3, and with the same viewing angle across the complete range of the lens.
Inside Dope:
Most of the major camera manufacturers have two compact megazooms in their 2010 lineup; first one having all the bells and whistles, while the other one getting stripped down to essentials. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 that we are talking about here is the lower-end variant of DMC-ZS7. The DMC-ZS5 lacks the GPS receiver of ZS7 and in addition to it the camera has a lesser lower-resolution LCD and also records HD video in Motion JPEG rather than in AVCHD Lite. There are few other differences here as well, but none of the differences have an impact on photo quality and shooting performance. But whatever the ZS5 have, it makes the camera a decent choice for those who simply are looking for the flexibility of a wide-angle lens along with manual and semi-manual shooting modes and a 12x zoom, along with a reliable auto mode.
The control panel of the camera is pretty straightforward, but there is a lot going on there. Positioned on the top of the camera is the shooting-mode dial, power switch and shutter release along with zoom ring. The rear end of the camera houses a switch for changing between playback and shooting, at the right of the LCD; then there is the buttons for accessing changes to aperture and shutter speed; button for an Extended Optical Zoom (E.Zoom); and there are four navigation buttons for navigating through settings and menus, and toggling among flash, macro, self-timer options and exposure compensation. There also is a display button to change the amount of information displayed on the screen; and Panasonic’s Q.Menu button which brings up the list for generally used settings like ISO, movie resolutions, and photo white balance and autofocus modes.
You can reach the main menu system by pressing the Menu/Set button positioned at the center of the four navigation buttons. Going through the Menus is a rather easy job with individual tabs for video/photo settings, setup options and Travel Mode.
The performance of ZS5 is rather average for its class, though the high-contrast shutter lag for the camera is a tad long. The camera takes around 1.3 seconds to start and capture its first shot from a completely off state. The time taken to capture two consecutive shots is off 1.7 seconds without the flash, using the flash extends the time to an average 4.8 seconds. The shutter lag for the camera in decent lighting conditions is 0.6 second while the same becomes 0.7 second in dim lighting. Despite all these numbers, the performance of the camera is rather slow in comparison to some of the other competitors in the market.
The photo quality delivered by ZS5 is very decent, considering the fact that it is a compact camera and especially considering the feature set for the camera. Photos shot at ISO 80 and 100 are decent; with great colors and fine details. Move up to ISO 200 and subjects gets a tad softer, but still are good. Going beyond ISO 400, starts developing color issues. Even the video quality is similar to some of the average pocket mini-camcorder.
Nitty Gritty:
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 is a decent option if you are looking for a decent compact Megazoom. The pleasing feature set and decent quality photos at lower ISOs enhance the appeal of Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5.
