Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1

Front
From the front, the Panasonic TZ1 is rather plain looking with its matte finish and traditional layout. The zoom lens is placed toward the right edge. The Leica name appears printed at the top edge of the lens rim and the lens’ stats are printed around the bottom. In the bottom right corner of the camera is the gold ‘L’ Lumix logo. In the top right corner is the auto focus assist lamp that also indicates when the self-timer is ready to snap a shot. Fortunately, the flash is placed away from the top right corner, where fingers sometimes wander. Instead, the flash is near the top between the handgrip and the lens. It is oval-shaped and skinny; just below the flash is the shiny Lumix logo. The handgrip sits on the left edge and the only way it parts from tradition is in its slight curve outward rather than the straight-edge looks of most models. In the middle of the handgrip is a shiny silver bar with the TZ1 model name imprinted into it.

Back
The back of the TZ1 has a large LCD screen on the left side and a few buttons on the right side. The screen is 2.5 inches across when diagonally measured and has a Panasonic logo at the bottom. The top right corner of the camera has a little lip for thumbs to rest on; on the back side of the lip there are nine plastic bumps that keep the thumb from slipping. The bottom right corner of the back is crammed with buttons – compared to the rest of the back face. The multi-selector is made of five separate buttons and is placed in the very bottom right corner. The center button is labeled Menu/Set. The four directional buttons have icons on them for features they access when outside the menu system. The top button accesses exposure compensation, the right picks the flash mode, the bottom is the review/set button, and the left activates the self-timer. There are only two small buttons to the left of the multi-selector. The top button changes the display on the LCD when pushed quickly. When this button is held down, the camera’s high angle LCD mode is activated. The button below this accesses the burst mode in recording and deletes pictures in playback.

Left Side
The left side shows a few screws holding the camera together and a hinged plastic door housing the two ports. This door is a nice change from the usual flimsy rubber covers.

Right Side
The right side is fairly devoid of features except for an eyelet in the center to attach the wrist strap.

Top
The left side of the top showcases the Panasonic logo. To its right is a single hole for the microphone with four holes below it to act as the speaker. The large mode dial is positioned just right of the middle of the TZ1. The mode dial has icons to represent the following modes: Movie, Macro, Normal Picture, Playback, Simple (auto), Scene 1 and Scene 2. The dial protrudes a tiny bit from the back so that users can turn it easily. To the right of the dial is the shiny shutter release button with the zoom switch surrounding it. The large lens barrel protrudes from the left side of the top and the handgrip sticks out on the right side, so the TZ1 has a balanced look. The shutter release button isn’t at the front edge of the handgrip like it is on many cameras. Instead, it is placed on the main portion of the camera body. To the right of the shutter release is a small circular button that cycles through the optical image stabilization modes. Beneath it is the small power switch.

Bottom
The bottom was difficult to see because the camera was mounted and tethered to a table. From what I could see, there is a standard tripod mount beneath the lens, all the way to the edge.