First Impressions-Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1

[GutIt]

Back in “The Day”, I owned a waterproof 35mm camera. It eventually drowned a tragic and watery death! So after years of threatening to do so, and exhaustive (well, at least I was exhausted!) research, I finally popped for a digital waterproof camera. I haven’t had it long enough to get it into all the scenarios I want yet, but here are some first impressions. Keep in mind I ain’t no pro, maybe a serious hobbyist at most. Maybe. And I’m not really too familiar with what features other cameras may or may not have.

I just recently pulled the trigger on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1. Orange in color (so I can hopefully find it after I drop it in the drink!). Extra purchased accouterments include an extra high-capacity battery, a high speed 16 gig memory card (SDHC), and a little case to keep it in.

In the box- The camera, battery, battery case, charger, HDMI AV cable, USB (2.0) cable, included software CD-Rom, wrist strap, brush, and instructions.

Basics- 12.1 megapixel, 28mm wide angle, 4.6x zoom, image stabilized Leica lens, 2.7” LCD monitor. The stabilization on this camera, by the way, is excellent.

Video formats-AVCHD Lite and Motion JPEG. NTSC. 30 fps.

Waterproof to 3m for 60 minutes. Operating temps- 32*F-104*F. 5’ crash/drop test rating.

The camera looks pretty cool and well built. Nice brushed finish on the sturdy looking aluminum casing. Easily fit into a shirt or PFD pocket. Feels light. Wrist strap to lash it on or to catch it when I fumble. I like the fairly large LCD monitor and it has adjustments to view it in different light situations, but I still like viewfinders, which this one doesn’t have. It has a wad of features as well as the point & shoot setting.

I like to have a little manual control over my camera most of the time instead of just run & gun all the time (though I will use some of the presets and adjust from there), so what makes a difference to me is how fast and easy is it to get to the adjustments I want without weeding through a big menu thing. When you are taking shots in a fast moving boating environment and you need what you need fast, it makes a difference. Some of things I like to have available quick are mode, white balance, exposure/histogram, shutter speed, focus area, auto focus tracking (but this is only available in full auto mode), sensitivity, burst, flash (which is off pretty much 99.99% of the time), macro, self-timer, delete pictures. I also like to have this info displayed. This unit has all of this and more available at a quick touch with both dedicated buttons and a nice quick-menu, and can either be displayed on the LCD, or not, at the touch of a button. The unit has a mode wheel, which is pretty easy to use, along with the array of buttons on the back of the camera. The buttons might be a little awkward with gloves or if you have fat thumbs. And the zoom slide is right in front of the shutter release and I have mistakenly taken a shot trying to zoom. At least it was easy and fast to delete. As far as the display, it has two grid options to help keep the guess work out of decent composition and centering and the playback display also shows all the info that the shot was taken under. It has the option not to display any of these things if you prefer with a button touch. You can also set the camera to shoot a three shot burst at three different exposures, which is pretty cool. It has limited Burst (three shot) and unlimited, as well as a flash burst. Auto Focus Tracking; good for tracking your bud down the drop and keeping him/her in focus. Available only in fully auto mode. It also has a butt-load of scene modes, which is good since you can’t set this camera to fully manual. One thing I don’t like is that its slowest manually set shutter speed is 1 sec., but the “night scene mode” might give you as much as 8 secs. It figures what it needs automatically in this setting and actually does it pretty well. Oh well, maybe a sweet SLR someday! Several color modes incl. standard, vivid, natural (useful for shooting at night without flash to reduce noise), B&W, sepia, warm or cool. Several white balance presets incl. auto, sunny, cloudy, shade, halogen, and a manually adjustable option. Plus all of these balances are adjustable. It has face recognition which I don’t care about, red-eye removal, audio dubbing, audio for video, leveling, and a bunch of other happy stuff that I haven’t even gotten into yet.

I have to say, for a point and shooter with a small lens, this thing takes amazingly impressive HD video in AVCHD Lite. As far as I could find out, this is the only WP still camera that shoots video in the AVCHD format. Best video I have seen on any still camera, waterproof or otherwise. Of course, I don’t own a still camera for shooting video, but in this case I just might on occasion and it’s nice to have it available. It’s that good. Haven’t tried the Motion JPEG yet, but I have seen it on other cameras. Plus, you can fire off the video at anytime no matter what still mode you are in by the touch of a dedicated button. So if you are sitting in the eddy below that drop with your camera all set up for stills, you can light off the video at anytime without affecting the still side. Plus, and here is something I have never seen on a still camera, you can zoom in or out while actively shooting video. It is not a variable speed zoom and is really too fast for my taste, but a zoom nonetheless. The audio is lacking, but I would expect that with an onboard super small audio mic.

The camera comes with a little software suite for basic editing of your AVCHD and importing/capturing video/stills to your computer. Panasonic recommends not letting Windows do your importing/capturing. And I mean basic. Cutting a clip is about all you get on the video end, but you can stitch a little something together for a movie and output it as Quick Time or to YouTube. I have heard that the AVCHD out to YT results in poor quality, but the Motion JPEG out to YT is good. I don’t know since I don’t output to YT. It also has a few basic photo editing tools, too.

The video editing software wasn’t very intuitive to me initially, but I’m used to a little different non-destructive type video editing environment. But in a few minutes I was able to use it effectively in spite of myself. To really deal with AVCHD effectively you will need some upper end editing software (meaning something you will have to pay for and learn to use) to manage it and a good computer. If you output an edited movie to DVD you will need a way to view it in HD such as Blu-ray, a game player, or on your computer. With the HDMI cable you can also view it directly from your camera on your HDTV or you can output your edited video back to your memory card and view your movie through the camera to your HDTV. Or you can just watch it in SD. You can also output in SD.

It comes with some software for creating panoramic scenes which is kind of cool. You can set for panorama mode and take several shots to stitch together. In this mode, you shoot one off to one side or the other (determined by how you set it up). It brings up a grid and a transparent overlay of the edge of this shot on one side of the grid. You line up the transparency edge with the corresponding edge of the next shot you are lining up, shoot it, and repeat until you get the whole panorama. Dump it into the software and it does a really nice job stitching it together. Easier to do than for me to describe!

I’m pretty happy with this camera so far after shooting a bunch of night shots (remember, no flash), tight shots, wide shots, portraits, a couple of panoramas, and some test video. Still haven’t got it in any fast action yet, but I would be surprised if it didn’t perform well. I also haven’t tried the auto point & shoot mode, but seems like most camera companies have this feature down pretty well these days. A lot of the happy features I may never use. I try to stick to the basics I know about to keep it simple, at least until I get them down and use them enough to remember how to get to them quickly! Further, I prefer to run my photos through some pro-type software (Photo Shop, Paint Shop, etc.) after importing to a computer rather than try to use the camera’s onboard features (leveling, trim, etc.). I haven’t taken it underwater yet, though I probably will eventually. You know, shoot someone setting up for a roll or the bottom of a hull or something just for grins. If I were to find myself 3m underwater for 60 minutes in a boating situation, I doubt taking pictures would be a high priority! The main reason I got a waterproof is not for underwater shooting, but rather splash/weather proofing. I can keep it handy without having to dig up a dry box to get to my shooter and no big whoop if I fall in with it.

If you like a fully auto, no fuss, no muss, P&S camera, I’d say the P&S mode coupled with the burst features and the available-on-demand awesome video would be a great combo for run & gun whitewater shooting, shooting multiple shots of a fast riffle, or shooting everyone horking down Eric’s cookies! They don’t last long and you better be ready when he breaks ‘em out! Get a high speed, high capacity SDHC card to go with it (especially if you plan on shooting a lot of video) to make it as fast as you can and let ‘er rip!

[GutIt]

Here are a few samples. Keep in mind these have been resized for posting purposes.

This was taken with the daytime scene mode, exposure +2/3 EV, sensitivity max. ISO 400

Medium tight shot taken in regular photo mode (non-automatic) on a cloudy day. Exposure+1 EV. 1/8 sec. shutter speed. Max ISO 400

Macro shot. 1/8 sec. shutter speed, exposure +/-0 EV. Max ISO 400

[GutIt]

And lastly...

Panoroma mode. Three shots stitched together for this one.

Night Scene Mode shot. 6 sec. shutter speed, exposure +1-1/3. Max ISO 1600

[okieboater]

WOW, great review

keep the msg board up to date if you will

I have a pentax w30 but was thinking about an upgrade
and
this may well be the upgrade I need

thanks for the great review

dave

[GutIt]

I'm still putting this camera through its paces, Dave.

I may have to qualify/modify some of my previous review with regards to working with the video and the supplied software. Remember, these were just some first impressions. But I will say at this time that watching the AVCHD format through the camera to an HDTV is pretty stunning for such a little point & shooter.

Stay tuned and I'll try to get back to the board with something on this.

[Karla]

Sounds like a great camera. I bought the new Olympus tough 8000 and it has the same features you mentioned with panarama too. I took most of my Alaska pics with it in July and they turned out great. Two great cameras. Yours might be worth checking out too for ones wanting a waterproof. I really like mine too.

Karla

[GutIt]

Just curious, Karla?

Did you take the photos that you posted of last weekends float with your new Olympus?

And isn't your Oly waterproof?

[Karla]

Yes and Yes. waterproof, 12 megs. Took it on the buffalo last week and had great Alaska pics on my trip with it. You can view my pics at my webshots, I will try to post it later. Love my camera, easier to operate too.

Karla