Product Reviews

Panasonic's Travel Zoom (TZ) cameras have consistently impressed us over the past two years. The concept is simple: a wide-angle, 10x-zoom camera that's compact enough to slip into a jacket pocket or handbag. Dimensions and zoom range are arguably two of the most significant specifications on a camera, so the TZ5 gets off to a good start.

The 3in LCD screen isn't unusual but its 460,000-pixel resolution is twice what we're used to seeing. Its colours are remarkably bright and vivid, too. Sadly, there's no manual focus mode to take advantage of all this detail, but composing and reviewing shots on this screen is a pleasure. Various animated slideshow templates are available, and there's a high-definition component output socket, but the optional cable costs a whopping £35.

Perhaps the best reason for splashing out on this cable is to appreciate the TZ5's video mode. It captures at a high-definition 1,280x720 resolution. Videos were a little noisy in low light but the amount of detail was excellent. The lens's optical zoom and image stabilisation worked well in video mode, and variable conditions didn't faze the automatic focus and exposure. Videos are saved in QuickTime format using Motion JPEG compression, which isn't as efficient as MPEG2 or MPEG4. As a result, top-quality video uses around 3MB of storage space per second. The camera supports SDHC media but FAT32 formatting means individual clips are limited to 1.86GB and 10 minutes.

Performance is a little slower than that of the 7-megapixel TZ3, but it's still up to scratch. The TZ5 took three seconds to switch on and capture a photo, 1.8 seconds between shots without

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the flash and 2.7 seconds with it. Continuous shooting ran at 1.8fps. Settings are easy to adjust - a Quick Menu button presents key controls across the top of the screen, eliminating the need to enter the main menu.

Not that we had much cause to reach for the controls. Panasonic makes a big deal of its Intelligent Auto technology, which adjusts settings automatically to produce the best photos in a wide range of conditions. This is hardly new, but Panasonic's implementation is particularly effective, repeatedly picking settings that were hard to fault. A new addition to the automatic features is Intelligent Exposure, which is designed to improve colours when shooting against a bright or dark background. We found that this feature gave somewhat unpredictable results but we noticed slightly brighter shadows in high-contrast shots, so it's worth having.

Superb colours were backed up by sharp corner-to-corner detail across the entire zoom range and no sign of chromatic aberrations. As usual for such a high-resolution 1/2.33in sensor, noise levels were fairly high, but Panasonic's noise reduction is much improved. ISO 800 shots were just about acceptable.

The TZ5 doesn't excel in image quality or performance, but it picks up a Best Buy award simply because it's the camera we'd choose to take on holiday. It's barely bigger than an ultra-compact camera but its 10x zoom makes a huge difference to the quality of pictures. The excellent video mode may save you buying a separate video camera, and the fantastic screen is perfect for browsing photos in a hotel room.

It's a little more expensive that its direct competitors, Canon's SX100 IS and Sony's DSC-H3, but it's the smallest and lightest of the three, its aluminium shell is likely to be more robust than its rivals' plastic bodies, and the high-resolution screen is a big improvement. Still image quality is on a par with that of the others but video quality is far superior. The lack of manual exposure and focus options is its only significant drawback, making the Canon and (to a lesser extent) the Sony better choices for creative photographers who depend on these features. However, people who are happy to point and shoot won't find a better camera for travelling.