- The DMC-ZS5 features a powerful 12x optical zoom lens (35mm camera equivalent: 25-300mm)
- The 25mm ultra wide-angle lens has about twice the shooting area as a standard 35mm lens
- The Intelligent Zoom with the DMC-ZS5 extends the zoom ratio by approx. 1.3x maintaining the picture quality even combining a digital zoom
- The Sonic Speed AF system in the DMC-ZS5 has a maximum speed of approx. 0.35 second (wide-end) / 0.41 second (tele-end) for auto focusing
- The POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) nearly doubles the hand-shake correction power of conventional MEGA O.I.S
Product Description
Panasonic DMC-ZS5 Digital Camera Features
25mm Ultra Wide-angle 12x Optical Zoom LEICA DC Lens
The DMC-ZS5 features a 25mm ultra wide-angle* 12x optical zoom f/3.3-4.9 LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens (35mm camera equivalent: 25-300mm). Incorporating Panasonic’s advanced optical technologies, this lens system is comprised of 10 elements in 8 groups, with 2 ED (Extra Low Dispersion) lenses and 2 aspherical lenses / 3 aspherical surfaces while preserving compactness. This lens system enables a remarkable 25 to 300mm range of focal length in this compact body. The powerful zoom of the DMC-ZS5can be freely controlled even when shooting motion images. Inheriting the fine rendering and outstanding quality of the LEICA ELMAR lens, this easy-to-carry camera delivers beautiful images any time, any place.
* Converted to standard 35mm camera equivalent, at the maximum wide position.
Powerful 12x Optical Zoom
The DMC-ZS5 features a powerful 12x optical zoom lens (35mm camera equivalent: 25-300mm). This gives you highly natural expressions from people and animals that you can’t get close to. It is also available in movie recording with the mechanism designed to minimize the noise of auto focusing or zooming. And its slim, compact, pocket-sized body can easily go wherever you do for both everyday snapshots and traveling.
25mm Ultra Wide-angle Lens
The 25mm ultra wide-angle lens* has about twice the shooting area as a standard 35mm lens. This enhances all kinds of shooting situations, like when you’re photographing a group of people at an indoor party or shooting a large structure or sweeping landscape while traveling.
16x Intelligent Zoom / 23.4x Extra Optical Zoom
Thanks to the newly incorporated Intelligent Resolution technology, the Intelligent Zoom is available with the DMC-ZS5 which extends the zoom ratio by approx. 1.3x maintaining the picture quality even combining a digital zoom. This means the 12x optical can virtuall
KHA @ 12:04 pm
Purchased this to replace my Canon A1000, which I bought last year for a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. Had to really struggle to get a good pic with the Canon — I was very aggravated with it (though I finally came up with some program combinations that worked okay for the low light under the trees). But I decided for this summer’s trip to the beach to try a new camera, with more zoom, and pass my Canon down to my 12-year-old son — who’s not nearly as picky as I am
Did a bit of research (which is always overwhelming because there’s such a huge selection to choose from, and such a diversity of opinions on what makes a “good” camera). And I still wanted a pocket camera for convenience when hiking, fishing, float tripping, etc., so the Canon SX20 and Nikon P100 and the like were still too large for my needs. And then I came across well over 100 user reviews raving about the Panasonic ZS3 — the predecessor of the ZS5/7 models — on various websites, and it’s reviews were also very good on “official” review sites. What especially impressed me was a review by a couple who guide trips to Yellowstone, were experienced SLR users, and had tried the ZS3 as a compact alternative — and they loved it for outdoor shots. So I decided to try out the newer version of the ZS3, the ZS5.
(The main differences I saw between the ZS5 and ZS7 were that the ZS5’s screen is 2.7″ instead of 3.0″, the ZS7 has two custom “My Scene’s” instead of one, the ZS7 has a built-in GPS, and the ZS7 also has stereo video instead of mono, with more advanced video technology. None of those features were important to me for the additional money.)
I’ve had the camera only a couple of days, and have done various side-by-side camera comparisons between the ZS5 and the Canon A1000, and I’m pretty floored by the capabilities and photo quality of the ZS5. I’m especially impressed with the macro (I like to take wildflower pics). While no camera is perfect (from what I’ve seen), for me the ZS5 is going to be just what I needed for outdoor pictures. I’ll update this review once I’ve had more time to experiment.
Update 05/11/10: Some cons — (1) Battery door latch seems a little flimsy; wonder if it will get where it doesn’t latch tight after alot of use? Only time will tell. (Other than that, this camera feels solidly built.) (2) Proprietary battery that has an ID chip built in, and the software in the camera looks for that (on their website, Panasonic says this change was made to ensure battery quality/safety). However, it appears you can finally get a 3rd-party battery thru Amazon (meaning a whole lot cheaper), and other vendors — just be sure to look for “ID Secured” batteries (e-mail and ask the vendor first if you’re not sure). I knew this before I bought the camera, but figured it should be pointed out. (3) I’ve had several indoor shots, in not very low light, that looked fuzzy, especially when you zoomed in on a PC. Not always the case, though. I think the “iA” mode is not always as intelligent as it should be. Also, reducing to 4 stars, so as not to mislead anyone that the camera is “perfect” — though it’s still “pretty amazing”, and I’m really happy with it.
Update 05/14/10: The best pics seem to come with my own settings, and not with the “iA” mode where the computer is trying to make all the decisions for me. So you’ll want to learn what the various settings do (and there’s quite a few of them — lots of flexibility). The ZS5 has three “Custom” memory slots in which to save your own configurations (which is great — my Canon had no memory slots, and I was constantly fiddling with the settings).
Jacob L. Mcgee @ 2:41 pm
This is hands-down the best camera I’ve owned, and that includes SLR’s.
Right out of the box, this camera is simple to use. As a still camera, it turns out crazy clear pictures, and the 12x Optical Zoom lens is pretty nuts for this sized camera. I first tried out the Nikon Coolpix S8000, and this thing stomps the Nikon in every way, including the lens. Yes, this 12mp camera turns out better pictures than Nikon’s 14mp camera.
On top of being a great still camera, this takes GREAT HD video. Super clear, little to no feedback or distortion.
Then, if you get into the manual and learn how to really use this camera, there are so many manual adjustments (shutter speed, fstop, etc), it’s almost as customizable as an slr camera, save for interchangeable lenses.
All in all, this is a great deal, and certainly at the top of the line.
David Chaika @ 3:01 pm
I bought this camera two weeks ago and almost immediately took it for a long weekend in the NC mountains, where I shot near 700 photos, including video and some bracketed shots. All outside overcast daytime shots. The camera worked like a charm and is much more convenient than my Canon DSLR and larger Panasonic FZ20. I carried it mostly in my jacket pocket.
I have not shot video before, and this one works great! I guess the image stabilization works in video, because mine came out looking pretty smooth, including the zooms, which seem to run a little slower than zooming between still shots. Nice. Sound is good too, I got waterfalls in video and sound.
The major prob. with my DSLR is close focus – i.e., none. With this baby you can get down to 3cm. This is real good for wildflower and moss/fern shots. I wish I had brought my 1-ft tripod with me, but still got lots of acceptably sharp shots. Have not printed any blowups to test this yet.
Battery life – well I didn’t count the shots, but towards evening the alert started flashing at me. Going to buy a second battery, which I would recommend you do, if you want to be sure of a full day’s worth of photos. I did a lot of reviewing and zooming in to check that I had things in focus.
Great feature of Slide Show viewing — you get various directional pans of your stills, plus music. Sweet! Wish I could do that on my Windows 7 PC, but I think you can hook up to your TV and get this.
Still learning how to use some of the functions. Unfortunately, the printed manual includes only the basic settings, and you have to read the CD manual to find out more details. This is not like the manual for the FZ20. I would like a complete printed manual to peruse.
You can set 3 presets, and I tried setting up one. Needed the manual to figure out what all you could do, but I had not brought it with me. That seemed a pretty convenient way to do things and I am going to configure all three settings when I get time.
I wonder if there is any way to get the ZS5 to shoot RAW photos like the hack (temporary) for some of the Canon pocket cameras. Think Panasonic will do a firmware update for this?
I discovered that the f-stop range is really limited, f/3.3-6.3. You can’t get much depth of field when you do closeups. I would say that this is my main issue with this camera, would like to be able to stop way down. But I really like the wiiide angle lens!
I was out in rain, and I wish there were some way to put on a lens hood. Had to wipe and blow drops off the lens.
I had been worried that my eyes with glasses would not be able to focus on the screen (there is no viewfinder), but then found that you are basically only positioning elements when you make a shot, leaving the focusing to the camera. That worked out great.
Remember to take the camera out of Macro mode when you are switching back and forth. I didn’t and got a couple of fuzzy shots.
The battery door and lock seems weak, and the off/on and wide angle /tele knob are a little too small for me, but I managed ok.
One 8GB card, and I used only about 5GB this weekend. Overall I think I have the right camera for my next travel adventure.
CTSIA-100 @ 3:59 pm
The Lumix ZS5 reminds me of the finer 70’s era stereo equipment. Because of keen competition, the finer stereo equipment was “over-engineered” which contributed to it almost immeasurable quality and durability. Such is the case with the Lumix. Initially I purchased a comparable Canon, but the articles I read about the Lumix ZS5 were etched in my mind…so I ordered the Lumix. Out of the box the stellar quality and workmanship was obvious; the clarity of pictures is perhaps unparalleled for cameras in this category; and the ease of operation is wonderful. The quick start-up time still surprises me and the wide angle Leica lens is remarkable on this camera. It also the right mix of heft without weight so it’s comfortable without feeling like a plastic toy! This particular Lumix has been engineered to become a legend…if that’s possible in our “every 3-month” technological craze. Buy it…enjoy it…
Y. Ding @ 4:42 pm
In video mode, this camera can zoom. In replay mode, it has sound from camera. These are two distinct features that I don’t see in other cameras.
But it stores the video in *.MOV file format. This format can not be used by Microsoft Movie Maker.
I am very satisfied so far but like to provide this information.