I've wanted something such as the canon eos PowerShot A string camera for a short time. Another hobby of mine involves photographing small objects during a mini studio settings (not unlike jewel photography, but less demanding/sophisticated). I needed whatever:

has aperture/shutter priority modes, and manual mode;
can set custom white balance
shows live histogram in recording mode.

The Canon PowerShot A720IS and A570IS looked great, but neither had the 3 features I wanted. A query here even on a photography forum last month caused a response that pointed me in to the then just announced Panasonic DMC LZ8. On paper, it looked GREAT: All the features I want to, 2.5" LCD with 230K pixels (the canon eos ones, with large screens, have low pixel counts), and priced well under $200 start. It seemed so perfect that preordered it, i always normally don't do I usually prefer the manufacturers to go through a couple of production batches and iron out the many bugs before selecting a camera.

The camera came today from Amazon.com, and I had a chance to receive a few quick shots and become a preliminary feel to your camera. The following are my observation and thoughts. I also include the DMC FX33, so a touch of the review will probably be comparing the 2. Not too they've been on the same category, nevertheless FX33 represents last year's Panasonic design trends and philosophies, and LZ8 this year's, and so i thought it would be interesting to notice the contrasts.

The camera feels GREAT within my hand. I'm 6' tall and also have Just maybe about average hand size for my height, additionally , the protruding grip felt very comfortable. The thumb naturally rests right above the Record/Review switch, which provides a pleasant counter pressure indicate check your grip.

The LZ8 uses two AA sized batteries and SD/SDHC cards. Battery compartment and memory compartments are separate, we such as lot. The left side with the camera is known for a door that hides the USB/AV out port. There's now a fanatical button on the shutter for Panasonic's Extended Optical Zoom, that enables you to "zoom" in beyond the 5x optical lens zoom minus the traditional degradation in image quality relating to digital zoom. The flipside is that while you zoom out using Extended Optical Zoom, the whole picture size becomes smaller (within the maximum Extended Optical Zoom, the digital camera produces 3MP images).

Unlike the FX33, the LZ8 doesn't have a Clipboard mode (at any rate not that We can find!). I actually really liked that! Rrt had been any to lug several photos with me at night and use the digital camera to be a digital picture album. Not that fat loss accomplish this with storing photos for the regular memory card, nonetheless the Clipboard mode got there easier. Well i guess.

Unlike the FX33, the down button at the four way controller do not provides a quick review button in recording mode. But, also unlike the FX33, you're able to the full Review (Playback) mode via a dedicated switch, instead of being forced to turn the mode dial to Playback mode. The Exposure button controls the aperture or shutter or both values, in aperture/shutter priority modes along with manual mode. The Q. Menu button seems faster (more responsive) to bring up the quick menu rrn comparison to the FX33.

The screen menus have changed little save for the background color. The LZ8 delivers the same size LCD being the FX33 (2.5"), but 30K more pixels (230K vs. 200K). The menu does certainly seem sharper. A pure eye candy: Should you power down the digital camera, now there might be a reflection on the word "Lumix" on the watch's screen.

A gripe Relating to while using FX33 was how narrow the viewing angle was in the LCD. I'm content with report the fact that LZ8 is significantly better labels on homeopathic products.

The images straight out of the camera look impeccable. I am aware of it can be a subjective matter, so you'll want to consider various review sites and photo hosting sites than enable you to view pictures because of the camera model to see if you prefer the quality. I've also uploaded some 20 images to accompany this review.

So far I'm extremely satisfied with how the camera feels inside my hand, how responsive it can be, therefore how feature packed its. I've not really tested high ISO performance, as that will not matter while in the applications May possibly for the camera (mini studio). I'm certain pixel peeping the photos to death will reveal all manners of shortcomings and imperfections, exclusively real world usage, it rates very favorably against the PowerShot series. Congratulations Panasonic!