Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS8 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 16x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)
- The DMC-ZS8 features a powerful 16x optical zoom lens.
- The 16x Optical Zoom Keeps the Subject Sharp While Giving the Background a Soft focus.
- The DMC-ZS8 features a 1/2.33-inch CCD with effective 14.1-megapixel high-resolution.
- Images remain clear and sharp even when they are enlarged to A2 size.
- The Sonic Speed AF system includes numerous re-engineering enhancements, including a higher-speed actuator.
The LUMIX DMC-ZS8 camera features a versatile 24mm ultra-wide angle and powerful 16x optical zoom LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens and Intelligent Resolution technology which adds delicate detail that exceeds even optical image quality in both photo and movie recording.
List Price: $ 299.00
Price: $ 299.00
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Great camera: Terrible software,
I nearly hesitate to review a camera here after reading other’s reviews who are technically so much more into this than I. For what I want, a high end camera that I can just point and shoot excellent pictures with without having to get way into the technical aspects of a camera menu it is just about perfect. The camera is extremely intuitive in its’ operation and settings and its’ iA setting has handled everything I have thrown at it with great aplomb. I am replacing a TZ3 (giving the old one to a Grandchild) and I have to say the new camera feels much simpler, and the focus is noticeably easier and better and its’ ability to fill in a flash picture without it looking like the light from the flash being a separate part of the photo is impressive.
I got mine from Amazon seller 17th St Photo and the camera arrived poorly packed, rattling around in a larger box. Not really professional, for sure. In spite of this it seems OK.
The software supplied with the camera seems to be the result of its’ designer having a cerebral-rectal inversion of some sort. It took over half an hour to install and had many glitches. It informed me that my version of Quicktime was too new to work with the software. It told me that it could not load the total of the package and therefore I would not be able to use the Photofun 6.0 program to stitch up or view panorama shots. The promised software to upload photos to web sites turned out to be merely a link to a 30 free trial of a program you must then purchase…this last was a really sleazy bit, I thought. Anyone can get the darn free trial, is my guess.
I think I am going to try to delete all the stuff but the owner’s manual from my computer if possible. Perhaps this stuff is just not compatible with my computer ( a 3-4 year old fairly high end Dell).
So it’s kudus for the camera and thumbs down on the junk software they send with it. You’d think for this kind of money, you’d get a printed owner’s manual, but I guess that’s too much to ask these days. In short, the new camera and it’s design are really first class, marred somewhat by someone at Panasonic trying to cut corners on the total package.
Oh yea, the darn cable to download pics to the computer is too short to be of much use unless you have a laptop…save your old one! Why, Panasonic must have saved a whole quarter on shorting you there.
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|I love this camera – it’s ACE !,
For the majority of people looking for a “pocket” camera – they can stop looking. This will honestly do for pretty much everything you really need. It’s the newly released little brother to the more expensive ZS10/TZ20.
It is not perfect, of course, but even if you take a “money no object” approach to picking an upper premium compact camera – there is currently nothing on the market that is head and shoulders better than this – although there can always be a case made for different qualities.
Big Zoom – check
Good “glass” on the front – yep, Leica
Optical Image Stabilisation – uh huh, works quietly and efficiently in the background making your shots less blurry.
Good quality photos – sure – but with the caveat that a “full on” digital SLR will always do better. The photos come out are a nice colour (not too vivid – but also not too washed out) and they don’t come out a funny colour under artificial lighting (some cameras can struggle and give you a funny tint under striplights or old fashioned tungsten bulbs).
Noise levels – the “speckly” bits on photos that you sometimes get in dark conditions – is definitely there – especially at higher ISO’s – but you get this problem in dim lighting conditions even with all compact cameras to a greater or lesser degree. Even if you get an SLR camera – even up to a year or so ago – you’ll find that they aren’t infallible to this either.
HD Video – check, but in MPEG format. I think that this takes up more space than the newer AVCHD format on the SZ10/TZ18 – but I would be wary of getting a camera that uses this format if you have an older PC or laptop and especially if you have a netbook – in case the hardware can’t cope. I guess Windows XP/NT/2000 users should definitely be careful – and to a lesser extent even if you have a Windows Vista machines you might think twice – especially if you are on a laptop where the hardware will always be slower than the equivalent price PC.
I have a mixture of laptops and netbooks running Windows 7 through to XP so didn’t want to take the chance – especially as other family members and the kids will probably want to view some of the footage (family and my kids have the older machines whilst dad gets the upgrade LOL).
I do wonder if the AVCHD format on the more expensive ZS10/TZ20 is going to be a bit of an evolutionary dead end – just as BLU RAY hasn’t really taken off – even though it’s technically better than DVD – most people even if they have a big widescreen TV find that their DVD is fine (probably because the modern DVD players and TV’s will upscale the DVD resolution to give a semi-HD picture quality). The ZS10/TZ20 I think gives you the option to record in both (I think I read that somewhere but if this a deal breaker you should check to be sure).
If you only want a great point and shoot camera this is brilliant and has loads of options. Not only that but the options are really well laid out and easy to understand – by which I mean the dials and menus are set out in a common sense fashion and also instead of just little symbols/icons to indicate that you are in portrait mode or landscape mode – there is a little text underneath which tells you what it will do.
I’ve had a number of Nikon’s and Canon’s – and for some reason they can still make cameras with menus and buttons that were laid out by Martians – they can be so unintuitive even for people who are really experienced photographers – and you have to keep referring to the instruction book to work out what to press or what menu icon you are looking for – and even then it doesn’t stick in the memory because it’s all so counter-intuitive.
If you think you might – in a little while – like to step up in your photography later and get a bit more creative – or you are thinking of this a second camera to augment your SLR – then you’ll want to know that this has A LOT of manual control thrown in which is pretty unusual in the compact camera class and it has Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Full Manual modes which is quite a rarity in the pocket camera class.
If you are an experienced SLR user, I can tell you that the PASM options are pretty nicely implemented. Sensibly placed access buttons (the small round exposure button and Q Menu buttons to the right of the screen do this) and the menus are nicely set up to easily access the bits you want for Aperture / Shutter priority / full manual control. It’ll never be as good as your SLR but you can’t carry that around with you this easily and it won’t shoot HD video either (or probably not unless you have the latest generation).
The 16x optical zoom is class leading. You can get really good close ups if you want to.
You should only compare OPTICAL zoom when you are looking at different cameras and ignore the Panasonic advertising…
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|Remarkable image quality for a pocket camera,
I purchased the ZS8 as an “upgrade” to my ZS7. For my purposes, I wanted a decent quality pocketable camera with some reach. The ZS8 fits the prescription nicely. I wasn’t overly concerned with video performance as that’s something I rarely use, and neither was I too concerned about continuous frame rate. To meet the price point, the ZS8 video is “downgraded” from the ZS7’s full HD to 720p and it doesn’t share the blinding speed of it’s big brother ZS10 which uses a totally different MOS sensor versus the ZS8’s CCD. But the image quality is quite good and the zoom capability is remarkable for a pocket camera. So far, it is performing very well. One hint is that when you are shooting very fine detail in good light, you may wish to disable the iResolution. In regular use iResolution does improve the overall contrast, but at the expense of fine detail such as fine hairs or fibers things you’ll only notice at a 100% crop. The macro capability is astonishing on this camera. I’ve come to refer to it as my “pocket microscope”. All in all, I’m very pleased with operating performance and image quality.
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