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Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8

Digital Camera Review

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Physical Tour

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Components
June 17, 2008 By Jennifer Nelson
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8
Page 2

Exaggerated White Balance Errors




Auto WB - Flash Illumination



Auto WB - Fluorescent Illumination



Auto WB - Cloudy Daylight Illumination


PERFORMANCE SUMMARY
Color (10.83)
One of the major aspects of the performance of a camera is color; how accurately does the camera capture the colors of the real world? To test this, we photograph a color chart under tightly controlled conditions, then run the captured image through the image analysis program Imatest. This examines the colors and compares them with the real colors on the chart, producing the image below which shows how much the captured color differs from the real thing. On this image, the outer squares indicate the captured color, the inner squares represent Imatet's best effort to correct the color, and the small rectangle represents the original, ideal color.

color chart
chart guide

Imatest also produces this graph, which is another way of showing the difference between the captured and real colors. On this chart, the captured colors are represented by the circles, and the ideal colors by the squares. The shorter the lines between the two, the more accurate the captured colors are.

color error chart
The squares represent the original colors, the circles what the LZ8
captures. The longer the lines, the less accurate the color
As you can see, the DMC-LZ8 does well in this test; there are only a few minor errors on some colors (such as some slight problems with greens, yellows, and pinks). But none of these are serious issues; the errors are minor and overall the DMC-LZ8 does an excellent job in capturing bright, accurate color.

Panasonic DMC-LZ8 Color Scores


Resolution (3.83)
The DMC-LZ8 doesn't do so well on resolution, though; we found it does not capture fine detail particularly well. Although we don't expect point-and-shoot cameras like the DMC-LZ8 to capture as much detail as a more expensive SLR, we were disappointed by the performance of the LZ8; images are somewhat soft and fine details are lost.

The resolution chart we use for testing digital cameras

We test resolution by photographing a special chart under tightly-controlled lighting conditions, then running the captured image through Imatest. This analyzes the image and calculates how much detail is captured by the camera. It then produces a figure called line width per picture height (lw/ph), which represents the maximum number of alternating black and white lines the camera can capture before it can no longer differentiate between the black and white lines. For the LZ8, this was a disappointing 1168 horizontally and 112 vertically. We also found significant undersharpening in the image, indicating the camera is being a little conservative in the amount of sharpening it applies to the images; images could be more sharpened without overly affecting image quality.

Overall, the DMC-LZ8 has a very disappointing performance in terms of resolution; the images we captured lack fine detail. It also performs poorly in this test compared to other point-and-shoots;  similarly-priced cameras like the Canon SD1100 IS capture significantly more detail.

Panasonic DMC-LZ8 Resolution Scores



Noise
Noise is one of the inevitable consequences of photography going digital; all electronic circuits generate a small amount of noise as they operate. For digital cameras, this noise translates into the overly grainy look of images shot in dark situations. It's the stuff that turns nice images into nasty ones that look like a poorly tuned TV. But while noise is inevitable, there are a number of techniques a camera manufacturer can use to minimize the amount of noise that appears in images. The LZ8 does a good job here; although there is definitely noise in our test images, the amount is significantly less than we've seen in many other point-and-shoots.

Manual ISO Noise (10.87)
Our first noise test involves looking at how the noise in images increases as the ISO increases. We expect there to be more noise as the ISO goes up, but our score is based on how quickly the noise increases; if it starts out low and only goes up slowly as the ISO increases, the camera gets a higher score. But if the noise starts out high and increases rapidly, then the camera gets a low score. Fortunately, the LX manages to keep noise pretty low through the entire ISO range it supports, from 100 up to 1600. The graph below shows the result of our tests: the higher the line, the more noise there is in the image.
Panasonic DMC-LZ8 Manual Noise


As you can see, the amount of noise increases as the ISO goes up, but the level remains relatively low. At an ISO setting of 1600, we found around 1.71 percent noise in our test images, while we measured the noise in images from the Canon SD1100 IS at more than 4 percent. That's a significant difference, and the LZ8 seems to do a much better job of keeping the noise low than most other cameras when using the manual ISO setting.

One thing to note is that the LZ8 does include noise reduction, but does not allow you to control it. Most cameras allow you to turn the noise reduction on or off (some users prefer to use noise reduction software instead of the built-in features), but the LZ8 does not allow this. This also means we can't test how much difference the built-in noise reduction in the LZ8 makes.

Panasonic DMC-LZ8 Manual Noise Scores


Auto Noise (5.58)
Our second noise test involves shooting our test chart using the auto ISO setting, and analyzing the captured image for noise. In this shooting situation, the LZ8 makes the sensible choice of keeping the ISO setting low; our test images were captured at ISO 100, and have low noise. Again, the LZ8 scores highly here; the images it captures have significantly less noise than many other point-and-shoot cameras.

Panasonic DMC-LZ8 Auto Noise Scores




White Balance (5.03)
White balance is how the camera interprets light. The color of objects in photos depends on the color of the light falling upon them, so the camera has to detect the color of the light and compensate for this. Poor white balance is why photos taken indoors under fluorescent light often look orange, and this is why we test white balance; to see how well the camera compensates for the color of the light source. We do two tests: one to examine the accuracy of the camera in auto white balance mode, and another to test the accuracy of the white balance presets the camera offers.

Auto (5.16)
Our first test looks at how well the automatic white balance setting of the LZ8 compensates for a number of different light sources. We do this by taking a photo of our test chart using a variety of light sources (including flash, fluorescent light, daylight, and tungsten light, then running the results through Imatest to see how close to pure white the captured image is. The LZ8 does a decent job of this; the results are pretty close, with only moderate errors. You can see the results below, but bear in mind that these are exaggerated results; you would not expect to see results like this in a real photo.




As you can see, most of the preset results are close; the white sections of the chart are reasonably close to white. The only one that is significantly off is tungsten, which shows that tungsten lighting (such as a photo studio lighting setup) slightly confuses the camera. This is pretty common, though; most cameras seem to have problems with this light source.

Preset (4.89)
Our second test uses the LZ8's white balance presets with the same light source. The only thing missing here is the flash preset; the LZ8 does not have a specific flash preset. Again, the LZ8 does a decent job here; most of the presets only show minor errors. In fact, the Tungsten preset does a significantly better job than the auto setting, so we recommend you use the Tungsten preset instead of the auto setting if you're shooting in a studio.

  Exaggerated White Balance Errors

Preset WB - Florescent Illumination

Preset WB - Cloudy Daylight Illumination

Preset WB - Tungsten illumination



Panasonic DMC-LZ8 White Balance Scores



Still life

Click to view the high-resolution images. However, please remember that the images are several megabytes in size and may take some time to load.

 
ISO 100


 ISO 200

 ISO 400

 ISO 800

 ISO 1600


Low Light (5.72)
You often have to take pictures in dark places where you can't use a flash, like at a school play or in a museum. So, we do two tests that look at the low light performance of a camera; one that looks at how well the image quality holds up as the light level falls, and another that looks at how the image quality holds up as the exposure time increases.

For the first test, we shoot our test chart at ISO 1600, then gradually reduce the amount of light. We start at a light level of 60 lux (about the same as a well lit indoor room) right down to 5 lux, which is about the same amount of light as a single candle. At all of these light levels, we let the camera decide what setting to use.
Low Light Tests

60 Lux
30 Lux
15 Lux
5 Lux

These images represent the same factors as in our color test above: the outer rectangle is the captured color, the inner block is Imatest's best attempt at correcting the color, and the upright rectangle is the original color. Basically, the more these three look like each other, the better the image color. The LZ8 has a middling performance in this test; as the light level falls, the colors in the images fade out, and the images begin to show a lot of noise. To be fair, most point-and-shoot cameras have a similar problem, but the LZ8 scored low compared to similarly priced cameras, so we wouldn't reccomend it if you are looking to take lots of late-night shots in dark places. Compare the results with other point-and-shoot cameras like the Canon SD1100 IS, which does a better job of capturing the color. However, the Canon images are also significantly noisier, so it is something of a trade off; lower noise for the LZ8, better color for the SD1100 IS.

Our second low light test involves taking images at an ISO setting of 400, but increasing the shutter speed. We usually run this test out to 30 seconds, but the LZ8 only supports exposure times up to 8 seconds. However, it performs well up to this maximum time; the images have low noise (as shown in the graph below) and the color remains constant. The 8-second maximum is a limitiation for some photographers (it rules the LZ8 out for taking photos of the moon and stars, for one thing), but it won't be a big problem for most users.



Panasonic DMC-LZ8 Long Exposure Noise
Panasonic DMC-LZ8 Low Light Scores


Dynamic Range (6.62)
Dynamic range is a measure of how wide a range of shades a camera can capture: those with a wider dynamic range will be able to capture more shadow detail, which means better looking pictures. We test this by photographing a chart that allows us to analyze the point at which the camera becomes unable to distinguish a pale shade of gray from black. Below this point, objects of that shade won't be visible in images; they will just look black. Dynamic range usually decreases as the ISO is increased, so we test the dynamic range across the entire range of the ISO settings of the camera.

Panasonic DMC-LZ8 Dynamic Range


Again, the LZ8 has adequate, but not great performance in this test. There is little difference between the ISO 100 and 200 settings, but the dynamic range quickly falls off above this. This means that, at the higher ISO settings, the images lack shadow detail. This is what we usually see with digital cameras, and the degree of dynamic range fall-off is about average. We recomend you keep the ISO low for the best quality images unless you absolutely need the extra sensitivity. Compared to other point-and-shoot cameras, the LZ8 has good performance; the dynamic range is slightly wider and holds up better than the Canon SD1100 IS, and it has significantly better range than the Nikon Coolpix S51c.


Panasonic DMC-LZ8 Dynamic Range Scores



Speed/Timing
All speed tests were conducted using a 4GB SanDisk Extreme III SDHC Card, with the camera shooting large, superfine JPEGs.

Startup to First Shot (0.8)
The DMC-LZ8  takes a rather long time to start up and take the first shot; we measured the average time at 3.8 seconds. Much of that is taken up by the telescoping lens; the camera has to wait for this to expand before it can start focusing and taking the shot. This could be a pain if you like to take candid shots; by the time the lens has expanded out and the camera has focused, the subject may have wandered off.

Shot-to-Shot (2.3)
In this test, we look at how quickly the DMC-LZ8 can take photos one after the other. This is important because the quicker it can capture images, the better job it will do with fast-moving subjects like football games and small children moving at high speed. The DMC-LZ8 has two Burst modes; one that can take up to 3 shots at a claimed speed of 3 frames per second (fps), and another that can shoot continuously at a claimed speed of around 2 fps. We found both claimed speeds are somewhat on the optimistic side; we measured the fast mode at around 2.3 fps, and the slower continuous mode at 1.8 fps, both shooting at the maximum resolution and quality. These speeds are what we would describe as adequate, but no better. They compare well with most point-and-shoots, but they don't measure up to the 4 to 6 fps we typically see from SLR cameras. However, the inclusion of two modes is a bonus; one for a quick sequence of shots (such as making sure you get someone smiling), and another for longer sequences, such as a football play.

Shutter-Shot (3.2)
We measured the gap between pressing the shutter and the image being captured at around 0.6 seconds. That's a bit of a gap, but again that is not unusual for point-and shoot cameras, which typically take a short time to get things in motion and capture the images. While 0.6 seconds is a little on the slow side, it shouldn't be a huge problem for most users.

Processing (4.2)
We measured the average time between pressing the shutter and the image appearing on the screen at around 2 seconds. That's a decent speed for a point-and-shoot, and is significantly quicker than many others we've tested. The Fujifilm F50fd, for instance, takes a leisurely 3.5 seconds to display the image, which would be a real pain if you're the type of shooter who likes to take a shot, check it on the screen and then shoot again if required. Although the LZ8 is not as fast as an SLR (most of which display the image in less than a second), it's fast enough that you could shoot that way without your subjects getting too fidgety.

Video Performance (5.01)
We found that the performance of the LZ8 at capturing videos was decent, if unspectacular. It can capture videos at VGA resolution (640 by 480) at up to 30 frames per second with reasonable color under bright light. But the performance quickly drops as the light level falls; videos shot in less than perfect lighting conditions looked gloomy and noisy. So, while the LZ8 would be fine for candid videos (and is better than not getting a shot at all), you shouldn't expect it to replace a dedicated camcorder for capturing precious moments in glorious video.

Bright indoor light – 3000 Lux
In this test, we analyze the color of the video that the DMC-LZ8 captures under good lighting, using two large lights in our test lab. In this lighting, the LX8 did a decent job with capturing color; the captured version was reasonably close to the original.
 
 


Low light – 30 Lux
All sorts of interesting things happen in the dark, so we also test the quality of the video captured at a light level of around 30 lux. That's about the same light level as a dimly-lit room, so this test approximates what you would get taking videos with this camera at a aprty or in a club. The still from the video below shows that the LZ8 did a rather less impressive job here than at the higher light level; the video is dim and the colors are almost non-existent; apart from the brightest reds and greens, they almost all look grey and dull.
 
 

Suffice to say, the LZ8 didn't do a great job of taking video in low light, so it's probably not a good pick if you are a creature of the night or hang around in dark places.

Resolution
We also test the resolution of the videos that cameras like the LZ8 capture, and in this case, the LZ8 also did merely a middling job. We measured the resolution of the video that it captured as having a lw/ph measure of 648 hoirzontally and 741 vertically. This is a solid, if unspectacular score, meaning that the video had a reasonable amount of detail. However, it's not going to replace a dedicated camcorder; even a cheap camcorder will capture more detail.

Motion
To test motion, we take the camera out and shoot video on the mean streets of Boston. We found the motion in the videos the SD1100 IS captures is adequate; although some fast-moving objects dissolve into a blurry mess, most objects are adequately captured. A video of a passing car, for instance, captured the details of the car. But don't expect to capture much detail on really fast moving objects (such as small children or pets.

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