Digital Trends

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ50 September 2nd, 2008 | by David Elrich

Performance and Use

Although touted for its wireless capabilities, this is primarily a camera and if that part of the equation doesn’t work, who cares if you can upload images to who-knows-where? Since this is a 9.1MP model, it captures 3456x2368 pixel JPEGs. This is a decent rating although most new digicams have 10- to 14MP CCDs. Unless you’re making poster-sized prints, you won’t miss too much.

I set the camera to maximum resolution, digital zoom off, Standard color, optical image stabilizer to Mode 1, ISO at 400 max, auto white balance and single shot mode. This is how I typically adjust P&S cameras initially. I really don’t want to use the burst mode because compact digicams rarely have the processing power to handle continuous shooting so why expect the speed of a D-SLR? I took a variety of shots—baseball games, family gatherings, NYC architecture, bucolic suburban scenes and the like. Once done it was time to make some prints. Before getting to the quality let me point to some of the camera’s strengths—namely the 10x zoom. You can quickly move the entire focal length using the E. Zoom button or simply turning the toggle switch. It’s nice having such a potent range at your fingertips. The LCD screen is also a winner, handling direct light with ease. The Quick Menu button is also good, giving you access to the major parameters including the LCD adjustments. I liked the “High Angle” setting where it adjusts so you can look at the screen while holding the camera over you head. Nice going, Panasonic. The optical image stabilization also did a good job eliminating blurry images. Of course this camera has Face Detection—what 2008 model doesn’t?—and it did a decent job handling smiling faces, skin tones and the like.

Image Courtesy of Panasonic

After making a series of 8.5x11 full-bleed prints my takeaway regarding quality was O.K., nothing super special here. Colors for the most part were accurate but they didn’t have the pop I like. They simply didn’t look as good as comparable Canon and Sony point-and-shoots. At least the noise wasn’t a real bust as in older Panasonics which had digital noise issues galore. It looks like company engineers are finally pushing that genie back in the bottle. Now onto the Wi-Fi…

Panasonic supplies a specific Wi-Fi manual for this camera and I opened it eagerly waiting to join the wireless world. The first series of diagrams made it look like fun—Take Pictures! Upload! View Together. Ah, if life we only that simple (they don’t give you a 48-page manual for laughs). The first thing you have to do is open a Google account and log-in to Picasa Web Albums so you have to set one up then get ready to start entering email addresses, passwords and WEP numbers to get going. I simply wanted to use my router at home to work this “magic” rather than be cool and upload images at the local T-Mobile hot spot. Dear readers, I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say, crawling on the floor to check the serial numbers on my Actiontec router then inputting a 10-digit WEP Key on a digital camera really made my day. This was an incredibly annoying and frustrating experience. Since this is a G-rated site, I’ll keep my true feelings under wraps. I will say this: what a bust—and after all the frustration I still didn’t get the silly camera to upload images. Friends, life is way too short to deal with this nonsense—even if you get paid to do it.

Conclusion

Now would I spend $449 USD for this camera—just to take pictures? No way on Earth. Would I spend an extra $150 USD list compared to a Canon SX110 IS? You know the answer before reading another word. To make it official—no, I wouldn’t. As noted at the beginning, some things just go together. As of this date, Wi-Fi and digital cameras should just go their separate ways. If you really want to share an image with friends, just send it through your cell phone. However, if you want a decent compact camera with a 10x zoom, check out the Wi-Fi-less TZ5 for $349 list, $299 or so in the real world.


Pros:

• Good 10x zoom
• Quality LCD screen and image stabilization
• Compact package

Cons:

• Too expensive
• Wi-Fi is a bust