Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2

Resolution (11.82)

We found that the images that the TS2 captured had decent, but not spectacular resolution. While the images were pretty sharp across the zoom range and had low distortion, there was also some evidence of chromatic aberration at the edges of the frame. More on how we test resolution.

Distortion (11.5)

We found that the TS2 had low distortion in our tests, with just over one percent at the wide and mid points on the zoom range. There was very little at the telephoto end of the zoom range. The around 1 percent we saw at the wide and mid points is not enough to be a major problem: as the examples below show, that is only just visible

Distortion Examples
Wide (4.9mm): 1.13% Barrel Distortion
Mid (14.3mm): 0.0% Pincushion Distortion
Tele (22.8mm): 1.04% Pincushion Distortion

Sharpness (13.87)

We found that the TS2 had decent sharpness in the center of the frame across the zoom range, so faces in the middle of the shot should look pretty sharp. But the edges of the frame were rather soft; details tended to become slightly obscured by a soft hazes.

Chromatic Aberration (7.15)

There was some evidence of chromatic aberration at the widest zoom setting: here we saw some evidence of the color fringing that indicates a problem with the lens diffracting colors of light by different amounts.However, this wasn’t a major issue; in the examples below, you can see that it is barely visible, and this was much less noticeable at the mid and wide points of the zoom range.

Quality & Size Options (7.92)

The TS2 offers a good range of image sizes, from the 14 megapixels of the maximum size down to a 0.3 megapixel size for web use. There are also two quality settings, but there is no option to save RAW image files: only JPEGs are available.

Image Stabilization (4.09)

The TS2 uses an optical stabilization system, where an element of the lens moves to adapt for camera shake. We test this by shaking the camera on our test rig, and we found that it was moderately good at making the images sharper. With the IS system set to Auto, we found that images were consistently sharper than with it turned off. In addition to the auto mode that we tested the camera in, there are two modes: mode 1 has the stabilization system working constantly, while mode 2 only engages it when the shutter button is pressed halfway. More on how we test image stabilization.

Stabilization Comparisons
Panasonic DMC-TS2	Canon D10	Casio EX-G1	Pentax Optio W80
Stabilization Off
Stabilization On