New Camera - June 2008

I have been using a Canon digital camera (most recently a G3 model) for years and, while I love many features about this camera, it's too big and bulky to be able to carry around in my pocket. Since I enjoy taking photos and carry my camera with me most everywhere I go, I decided it was time to look at the ultra-compact digitals to see if I could find one that would have all the features I wanted and also easily slip into a pocket or purse.

After a few weeks of research, I finally decided upon the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5. With the 10x optical zoom (up to 54x digital zoom in manual mode), I'm able to sneak up on wildlife for candid shots. The 9 MP allows for high quality images and the 2.5" lcd screen is the largest available on an ultra-compact camera. It also has a wide angle of viewing range of 28 - 280 mm and oh yes, image stabilization. Woo hoo -- I went for it.

It took me awhile to get used to the camera and, at first, I wasn't getting as good of images as with the Canon, but I kept playing with the options until I was able to get pretty good pictures. However, I really, really missed the articulating lcd arm that is on the Canon. I almost sent the Panasonic back just because I missed that feature so much. But, I didn't and kept using the Lumix until I felt more comfortable with it and now I'm pretty happy with it and it does indeed just slip into my pocket -- and there's a lot to be said for that convenience.

Here are some of the pics I took while learning to use the new camera. Getting good close-ups was the biggest challenge, but I learned the various focal lengths for each setting and finally was able to take some decent macro shots.







These pretty roses were blooming in my Mom's garden -- the pink, yellow and orange shades were so gorgeous.




This is Rudy (aka Buda Boy) right after getting his summer hair cut.

This is Zoey (my Mom's dog) right after her haircut. I thought the motion blur on Zoey's tail came out pretty good. I was using a "sports" setting to capture fast motion. She's still a puppy, so getting her to hold still long enough for a photo is a challenge.


Sunrises and sunsets are some of my favorite things to try and capture, so I tried to take as many as I could to practice getting the exposure set correctly. This is an Orthodox Church right down the street from my folk's house. It made for a nice sunset image.


And another sunset taken from the patio at Mom's house. They have a great view of the San Gabriel mountains.