Digital Camera Review

Digital Camera Review

Panasonic expanded its line of inexpensive compacts with long zooms this winter at the Consumer Electronics Show with the Lumix DMC-LZ3 and Lumix DMC-LZ5. We gave the two cameras a close look at CES, and we’re glad to give you an even closer look at the 6 megapixel, 6x zoom LZ5. With a list price of $279.95, the LZ5 offers Panasonic's class-leading optical image stabilization in a small (less than 4 inches wide, 186 grams), simple package at an affordable price.
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Picture Quality / Size Options (7.75)
The LZ5 offers the following image sizes for 4:3-format images: 2816 x 2112, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960 and 640 x 480. It also offers longer formats: it can shoot 3:2 images at 2816 x 1880 and 2048 x 1360 and 16:9 images at 2816 x 1584 and 1920 x 1080.

The LZ5 saves Fine and Standard quality JPEGs. We notice a significant quality improvement at Fine.

Picture Effects Mode (7.25)
The Lumix LZ5 has two mechanisms for color adjustment. The “Picture Adjust” menu allows the user to set color saturation to Natural, Standard and Vivid. The “Color Effects” menu includes black-and-white, sepia, cool tone and warm tone. All these effects work in movie mode as well as on stills.

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