Highly Recommended
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Highly Recommended
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<p>Panasonic's first rugged digital compact and the world's first to feature AVCHD lite HD video recording. The TS1 (FT1 in Europe) is designed to be dustproof, waterproof up to 3 meters and shockproof up to 1.3 meters. It incorporates AVCHD Lite video compression in 3 quality levels to allow longer HD video recording. Sporting a 12.1MP sensor, 28-129mm equivalent lens and 2.7" LCD, the camera also includes features such as Intelligent Auto Mode, Optical Image Stabilizer and Face recognition. April 2009</p>
| Quick links: | Announcement | Sample gallery | Forum |
| Announced: | Jan 27, 2009 |
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Average rating:
3.33
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Opinion: first of all, i would give credits to panny for this innovative camera, folded optics not extending lens, simple but rugged design to enable waterproof, dustproof and shockproof.
the major drawback is the image quality. i would expect its IQ on par with other P&S or to be exact like the ZS3(TZ7) which has the same engine and feature set. the IQ is lower than the average P&S, far less appealing than the samples i have seen from ZS3.
Problems: SENSOR: as expected small sensor has more noise artifact. not much complaint. just wonder why no noticable improvement in NR.
LENS: softness when zooming in. max aperture drops quickly as focal length increase (F5.6 at mid way). the result is the camera easily pump up the iso to help proper exposure, hence, higher iso even in sunlight shots. at tele end, a hint of misty feel in the image probably due to diffraction at small apertures.
except the sub average image quality, i think it is a fun camera and a fashionable electronic gadget that youngster would look for.
to use it i would recommend sticking with its wide end (sharp, soft at or beyond mid tele range) and iso lower than 200, strong sunlight.
not suitable for social snappies. at 3~5ft with flash on and zooming a bit for head to shoulder shot, the image is not sharp, iso is up. likely no better than an advanced mobile phone.
updates: i took it to phuket. the lens cover glass appear misty after i played in the infinite pool of depth 1.4m for a short while with the camera. the mist disappear after resting the camera for a few hrs. then when i went to elephant trekking, the hot temp brought out the misty again. it was annoying becuz i could not take any clean pics. some said the condensation is a destiny to all waterproof camera, but it seems the sealing is not good enough to allow the humid air going into the lens glass.
Opinion: This is my 3rd Panasonic camera after FX01 and LX3. Quality of image is below
many compact of price 25% cheaper. Noise and highlight clipping is rather severe
while we know that Panasonic is particularly struggling with these 2 attributes. In
camera processing is still quite strong and it looks like that some effort has been
spent to make it less artificial. It is after all very nicely built and there is little
competition (yet) for a wide angle, submersible, optically stabilized and shock proof
bring-around camera. Closures of battery/SD cards are very well designed without
sacrificing convenience.
It is the preferred contender for beach and outdoor activities so far. Family with
kids who like to take pictures will also find TS1 longer lasting than average point
and shoot ones. Take a good look at other options if the these are not your
concerns.
Problems: Noise and highlight clipping
Battery life not great particularly if options like continuous focusing are checked
Video is far from "HD" expectation but not particularly worse than average PnS
Opinion: While there are many P&S cameras on the market today, the TS-1 stands out thanks to its water proof and shock resistant feautures. I own an LX3 and an FZ50 (plus several Nikon DSLR's), but the TS1 offers me tha chance to take a camera with me to places I wouldn't dare take any of my other cameras. The image quality is remarkably good for a compact camera. I would have liked for it to be able to shoot RAW, but the JPEG's are very nice!
Problems: So far I have encountered no problems with the TS1.
Opinion: I bought this camera especialy for flying on my paraglider (as my DSLR's are too big and heavy).
It took some time to get used to the strange power on/off button behaviour, but now I can control it pretty good by single hand operation during the flight.
It also has special flight scene mode which gives good results from PG.
Very good value for the money.
Problems: - It is not possible to delete images/videos from the camera by the computer while connected (I cannot understand why).
- With AVCHD lite option selected it creates BlueRay disk directory structure on the card which is pretty difficult and confusing
- The video lenght is limited to 15 minutes independently of the card capacity (I think there exists some tax or customs reason).
Reviews and specs
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Galleries
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Challenges
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 | 22.3 megapixels 3.2" screen Full frame sensor |
