Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8

Front (6.0)
The LZ8 isn’t very flashy. It’s pocketable, but by no means the skinniest of the point-and-shoots. Its plastic silver-colored frame is accented by a silver metal ring around the lens and darker silver-colored plastic strips to the left of the lens and along the top of the camera.

The 5x optical zoom lens extends from the camera’s frame when powered on.  Around the shiny outer ring are the words "Mega O.I.S." for Panasonic’s optical image stabilization system, as well as "5x Optical Zoom." The inner ring near the lens touts the specs: "Leica DC Vario-Elmar 1:3 3-5.9/5.3-26 ASPH."

A Lumix logo sits above and to the left of the lens – the small, rectangular built-in flash sits to its right. At the top right corner of the camera’s front is the autofocus assist lamp. A small gold square with an "L" design on it sits awkwardly at the bottom right corner of the camera – it’s the only non-silver colored component on the camera’s front. To the left of the lens, the camera body slopes upward a bit to act as a hand grip. The dark silver-colored strip is slightly textured, probably to help aid handling, although it’s not all that useful.





Back (5.75)
The back of the LZ8 is mostly taken up by the 2.5-inch LCD, which sits on a platform that extends slightly front the camera body. The Panasonic logo sits at the bottom of the black LCD frame. To the right of the LCD is a series of tiny buttons and controls.

At the top is a tiny vertical switch that allows users to change from Shooting mode to Playback mode. Beneath the switch is an exposure button, which allows users to easily adjust shutter speed and/or aperture settings when in Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, or Manual mode.

Beneath these controls are four buttons arranged in a circle around a center Menu/Set button. These buttons are extremely small, making it difficult for those with larger fingers. The top button controls exposure and auto bracketing when in the Manual modes and backlight control in Auto mode, the left controls the self-timer, the right controls the Flash mode, and the bottom controls Macro mode. The center Menu/Set button serves as a selector button and a control to bring up the extensive menu system.

Two round, small buttons sit at the bottom of the camera’s back: a Display button and Q.Menu button that doubles as a trash button when in Playback mode. Above the Display button is a tiny status indicator light. The display button controls what data is displayed on the LCD screen, and the Q.Menu brings up a shorter menu of commonly-used options like stabilization, Burst mode, metering, and white balance.



Left Side (4.25)
The left side is pretty dull – there’s not a lot to see here. A small silver screw sits toward the top, and a line can be seen running down the middle where the front and back portions of the camera body meet. Four small microphone holes are arranged vertically on the left side, and a port cover toward the bottom snaps open to reveal the Digital/A/V-out port, where the USB cable and video output cables plug in. The port cover is nice and sturdy; it should not be easily broken or accidentally opened.



Right Side (4.75)
Two small silver screws sit at the top of the right side, helping to hold the camera together. Below and to the left is a small divot for the included wrist strap. Immediately below that is the plastic port cover for the memory card slot, which opens by sliding to the left. Like the A/V-out port on the other side of the camera, this plastic cover is sturdy and snaps easily back into place. Toward the bottom of the right side, the battery port cover can be seen.





Top (5.5)
The top of the camera features a darker silver-colored panel that extends along the top. "Panasonic DMC-LZ8" is written in white text at the left of the camera’s top. To the right is the small mode dial, which spins a full 360 degrees. Some mode dials stop three-quarters of the way around, forcing users to scroll all the way back if they want a mode on the other side of the dial, so Panasonic’s full-turning mode dial is nice. The grooved edges aren’t super comfortable on the thumbs, but it works well enough.

To the right of the mode dial is the large shutter button surrounded by a zoom ring. The zoom ring has a small nub with grooves on it to help handling. To the right of the zoom ring is the easy zoom button, which automatically extends the zoom to the full 5x without having to use the zoom ring. Below this is the on/off switch, which is small but moves easily.
Bottom (4.5)
The bottom of the camera features a plastic tripod socket toward the left. To its right is a small button that, when pushed down, springs the battery compartment open. The port cover is plastic, sturdy, and snaps easily back into place. Just be careful with the AA batteries – nothing is holding them in there besides the port cover, so they’ll easily slip out once you’ve released the hatch.