Panasonic DMC TZ25 Review

Overview

With its range of features and smaller body the Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ25 is popular with people taking a holiday or travelling. This combination makes it a good choice for anyone who is looking for a fairly small digital camera, but one that offers a lot of flexibility.

One of the big attractions is the 16x zoom lens. This length of lens can cover more or less any typical photo opportunity. Other key features include Full High Definition Movies and manual exposure controls. If you need to capture fast moving action you can switch to burst mode. This can take up to 10 shots per second.

Compared to other digital cameras aimed at a similar audience the Lumix DMC TZ25 has a few less features than the top of the range models. This helps to keep the price down.

Compared with other digital cameras of this type the Lumix DMC TZ25 has the following:

Plus Points

• Full High Definition Movies
• 10 Frames per Second
• Image Stabilisation for Movies as well as Still Shots
• 3D Photos
• Panoramas
• Manual Exposure Controls
• Custom Modes
• Bracketing

Negative Points Compared to the Most Fully Featured Travel Cameras

• No GPS
• Slightly Shorter Zoom Lens
• No Stereo Sound

Why Buy the Panasonic DMC TZ25

If you are looking to save a few pounds and are happy not to have all the bells and whistles available on the top of the range cameras then the Lumix DMC TZ25 is an ideal choice.

Features

Megapixels

The Lumix DMC TZ25 has 12 megapixels. This may sound less than the number of megapixels available of other digital cameras, but it is plenty to make very large prints with.

Zoom

The lens gives you 16x zoom. The focal length of the lens is equivalent to 24 - 384mm in 35mm format. Panasonic have also added a feature called Easy Zoom. When you use easy zoom you basically trade megapixels for zoom. This works on a sliding scale. The maximum amount of zoom available is 31.3x. This becomes available when you decrease the number of megapixels you are shooting at to 3.

Movie Mode

You can shoot Full High Definition Movies. These have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

Manual Controls

There are a full set of manual exposure controls available. As well as fully manual there is also aperture priority and shutter priority. The shutter speed range is 15 - 1/4000 seconds. The aperture range is F3.3 - 6.3 (W) / F5.9 - 6.3 (T).

Custom Modes

If you have a favourite camera set up you can save your settings under one of the two custom modes available. This gives you fast access to these settings any time you need them.

LCD Screen

The LCD screen is 3 inches in size.

Scene Modes

Scene modes give the camera that bit more direction when taking a photo. By knowing the type of photo you are about to take it can select what it believes to be the best settings for the shot. The scene modes available are: Portrait, Soft Skin, Scenery, Panorama Shot, Sports, Night Portrait, Night Scenery, Hand Held Night Shot, HDR, Food, Baby1, Baby2, Pet, Sunset, High Sensitivity, Glass Through and Underwater.

Macro Mode

For close up shots you can focus from 3cm away from your subject.

Panoramas

The Lumix DMC TZ25 is equipped with software that can stitch together horizontal and vertical panoramic shots to give you panoramic pictures.

3D Photography

3D photography is available. Shots can be reviewed on 3D television screens.

Image Stabilisation

Image Stabilisation reduces blur. It is particularly useful when shooting in lowlight. Image Stabilisation can also be used in movie mode to make sure your movies are as smooth looking as possible.

Bracketing

When you are not sure of the right aperture and shutter speed settings you can use bracketing to take more than one photo of a scene or object. You can then select the one you like the most.

Memory Cards

Images can be stored on SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards.

Batteries

Power is supplied through a lithium ion battery. Panasonic supply the battery and everything you need to charge the camera.

Image Quality

Picture Quality Summary

Picture quality is very good, even if it does not quite match up to one or two cameras in this category. The stand out point is the sharpness of the images.

Outdoor Scenic Shot 1

Overall the Lumix DMC TZ25 does well in this test. The building in the background is pin sharp. It is also impressive how sharpness is retained away from the centre. Some of the detail on the top of the boats is lost, but that is to be expected with the sun shining down on such reflective surfaces.

Outdoor Scenic Shot 2

The Lumix DMC TZ25 handles this shot fairly well. This distant scene is always a tough test and very few cameras manage a pin sharp image. In this case focusing is sharp enough to make good sized prints. This camera also manages to pick out some extra detail in the darker areas of the scene compared to other cameras tested at the same time

Outdoor Scenic Shot 3

Lens fringing is surprisingly noticeable. This is something that tends to affect most digital cameras with longer lenses to varying degrees. It is very unusual to be able to see it unless you make large sized prints or view the full sized image on a computer. In this case if you look at the covering on the boat on the left hand side of the shot you may well see a blue line running down the edge. This is where the sunlight catches the edge of the cover. Perhaps this is just unlucky with the way the scene is and how the sun catches the covering, but it is certainly very pronounced.

Outdoor Building

Apart from a slight reduction in clarity on the left hand side of the picture focusing is very good. The loss of clarity is not enough to show in anything other than extremely large print sizes.

Outdoor Portrait

As is often the case there is a bit more warmth and colour showing in this shot than cameras from other brands manage. This is because Panasonic include a white balance setting of shady. By switching to this setting the picture is given a lift.

Indoor Portrait With Flash

The Lumix DMC TZ25 uses flash fairly well. Perhaps the skin colour is just lacking a little something extra that other brands manage to produce, but that is a minor point.

Indoor Portrait Without Flash

Without flash and using artificial light there is a blue tinge to this photo. I have noticed this happen with other Panasonic digital cameras as well.

Macro

The macro test result was outstanding. So if you are looking to take lots of photos of small subjects from close in this camera should be able to cope very well.

Colours

There are some plus points and minus points when it comes to colours. For example the outdoor portrait scores well while the indoor portrait without flash is hindered by a blue tinge. The colours in the scenic are impressive.

Noise

Stepping up to this level of camera improves noise control. It is not as good as you are likely to find with a quality Digital SLR camera, but noise should not be much of an issue with this camera.

Top Rated Cameras in this Category

Nikon Coolpix S9300 Rating 86/100

For a camera that is small enough to take anywhere the Nikon Coolpix S9300 has a lot of features packed into it. If you are planning to take a holiday GPS tracking will tell you where you were when a picture was taken. The length of the zoom lens also gives you plenty of scope when it comes to picture opportunities. Although there is plenty of completion in this category the picture quality on offer here combined with the features makes this camera very attractive indeed. Recommended.

Read Review: Nikon Coolpix S9300 Review

Canon Powershot SX260 HS Rating 86/100

The Canon Powershot SX260 HS is one of the very best digital cameras in this category. In fact if you are happy to miss out on features such as 3D photography and 360 degree panoramas it is very hard to beat. It has a great set of features packed into its relatively compact body size and picture quality helps to make it stand out from the competition. Although it is one of the more expensive cameras in this field it still offers good value for money.

Read Review: Canon Powershot SX260 HS Review

Sony DSC HX20V Rating 85/100

There is a lot to like about the Sony Cybershot DSC HX20V. As well as being crammed with features it is a very reliable when it comes to taking pictures. It can handle most photo opportunities without breaking sweat. The amount of zoom power and other features available gives you a great deal of flexibility. Competition between similar cameras is very tough, but this model performs very well when put up against its main rivals. I would happily own this camera.

Read Review: Sony DSC HX20V Review

Related Pages

Panasonic DMC TZ25 Specification

Panasonic DMC TZ25 Sample Images

Digital Camera Reviews

Panasonic Digital Cameras

Review Date

Review Date: July 2012