Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS1 (Lumix DMC-TZ6)

Opinion: I bought this camera to replace my Canon IXUS 90 IS. I have a DSLR, but needed a smaller camera as my "Walkabout" that had a bigger zoom range than my Canon.

I am very dissapointed with the Panasonic. Operation wise it is slower than the Canon, it takes longer to focus and the image quality isn't as good, with notieable distortion at the wide end of the lens.

It also tends to get lots of shots which are out of focus and often focusses on the wrong thing in the frame when you select auto area AF.

The battery doesn't last very long (Got around 100 shots), and it has now developed a fault where it will not focus at the longest zoom setting.

It is going back, and will be replaced with another brand.

Opinion: Superb camera.
Brilliant Leica lens, very sharp throughout the range, with limited distortion as for superzoom.
Very compact, it is very tempting to take this camera out instead of heavy tele lens.
Overall very balanced camera.
I am very happy about handling and IQ.

Opinion: Fine pocket camera that usually produces good results, especially in good light. Movie mode is good, can use the optical zoom, but it's saved in large .mov file format versus the newer mp4.

Opinion: cross shopped this with the Canon Powershot SX200 IS - it was cheaper with better aperture/wide-angle/flash/sensor specs. Nice compact size, solid feel and good build quality. Picture quality is great and the indoor flash quality has been excellent.

Opinion: I purchased this camera and sold my G9, since I was hoping for great images with a camera that i could carry in my pocket - which is possible with the ZS1 or ZS3. I decided to save the extra $100 and purchased the ZS1, which has produced excellect images. My latests effort was alot of no-flash night shots on vacation - once you learn the iA modes, the pictures can be incredible.

Opinion: This is one great little camera!
I have an Olympus Stylus and two Canon Powershot cameras (A570 and A590) that I used for the past couple of years - but I was never happy with the image quality - it was pretty soft, especially around the edges. So this year, just before a 3 week China trip, I puchased a ZS1, based on the review in dpreview - which promised better image quality and low-light performance than the Canons. I am very glad I did. The image quality of this camera is excellent - much much crisper than my Canons - even though it is a 12x zoom and the Canons were only 4x. The ZS1 photos are crisp from edge to edge (unlike the Canons), and the low light performance is much better, with better pictures at ISO800 - and the image stabilization is also better. In a 3 week trip to China I took 3000 pictures, and they are all excellent, showing good sharpness and contrast - I am very pleased.
I used to carry around a Pentax 35mm SLR with 3 big lenses (a wide angle, a 35-70 zoom, and a 110-300 zoom). This camera covers that entrie zoom range, takes pictures that are just as good for my purposes, and fits in my pocket. Amazing!
What could be better? As others have noted: 1. The mode dial moves way way too easily, 2. The proprietary battery is only good for a couple of hundred shots (I found myself charging it nightly on my trip), 3. The flash pictures are mediocre (similar to my Canons), 4. There are no manual overrides for shutter speed (though you can use 'sport mode' to force a fash shutter speed) or for focus (so no easy to prevent it from trying to focus on every shot).
So - its not perfect, but as a travel camera, it's pretty darn close, with an amazing zoom range, and excellent picture quality.

Opinion: I had 2 of these cameras in the last 2 months. The images are very sharp, but this camera is totally unacceptable.

Opinion: I have owned several Panasonic Lumix cameras, from the FZ28 to the FX35 & 37. I started with Lumix probably 5-6 years ago and have remained as they were the first to do a good job of wide angle in their cameras. I just replaced my FX37 with the ZS1 and I am very happy. The camera is a little larger, but what I get in image quality and lens zoom make it a good trade-off.

When compared to the FX35, the images are a little nicer in my opinion, which surprised me with the extreme lens range they crammed into this camera. When compared side by side, the same 25mm images from the ZS1 are about 20% larger in size, so perhaps they are doing less compression in the JPG. The images are also warmer than the FX37, which is also fine with me. The edge sharpness seems improved as well.

The only downside is that STUPID mode wheel. The FX37 had a semi-enclosed wheel with very solid click stops that only allowed you to move to the positions offered. Here the wheel is half-empty (no settings offered and blank) but the wheel will still turn into that dead zone. The click stop is very weak and with a fully exposed knob you often bump it into the area that does nothing except give you a warning on the LCD "incorrect knob position" or something like that. Easy to rectify but for fast shots that you try when pulling the camera from your pocket this is extremely frustrating. It is an EASY fix for Panasonic to make too, so I hope they incorporate it into next revision (which will probably be within a year at the rate they produce new cameras!) So, sadly I have to give "construction" only 4.0 stars due to the mode dial issues, all else is excellent though! The perfect hiking & travel camera... very comfortable in one hand too!

Opinion: I bought this camera to replace a Ricoh R4 and I am very pleased with the image quality. The long zoom and extra wide angle are real bonuses for travelling. The ability to switch to a destination time zone is a plus too. Of course a viewfinder would be good but few compact cameras have them now. I haven't encountered problems with the mode selection dial and in-camera flash is never the best option but compared to other compact cameras I think it rates well. I use a video camera so the video recording quality is not really an issue for me.