SlashScope

Simon Joinson has posted a review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 compact digital camera over at Digital Photography Review. 'Although it shares a big zoom with the FZ series of camera, from a design point of view the TZ1 is obviously more closely related to the FX series of ultra-compacts. Panasonics engineers have managed to squeeze a 10x zoom into a remarkably small body which, whilst certainly not 'pocket sized' is no larger than many 3x zoom cameras were a couple of years ago. It's not the prettiest camera on the block, but 'in the flesh' it's nicely built and has a high quality finish. Unlike most 'compact' cameras there is a decent grip on the front and back, making single-handed operation perfectly feasible. There's no optical viewfinder (it would be pointless given the huge zoom range), and the diminutive dimensions mean there's no space for an electronic viewfinder either, so if you like to shoot with the camera to your eye... this ain't the camera for you.'