Right on the cusp of PMA and following Canon's vastly encheapened PowerShot line, it looks like Panasonic's stepping things up for their already excellent Lumix TZ line of digital cameras.
Sure, you've got the Lumix TZ4 8 megapixel shooter and its 28mm wide-angle lense with 10X optical zoom running at $300, but take a tip and pony up an extra $50 for the TZ5. That gives you all of the above, 9.1 megapixels, a superfine detail 3" screen (half an inch more than the TZ4 and twice the dpi), and something we don't really see in a point-and-press: the ability to shoot 720p Hi-Def video. That's right, Panasonic's taking their camcorder know-how and crammed it into a itty-bitty camera. We like.
They didn't stop there, either. Panasonic's finally hopped on the optical image stabilization train with the TZ5, then threw in intelligent motion-sensing ISO, smart face detection for up to fifteen people in a single frame - about twice the going rate - continuous autofocus (no more half-pressing the shutter) and an intelligent exposure system that auto-corrects under or overexposed pics.
And if you want to make sure all that fun stuff stays in good working order for years to come, feel free to do a little comparison shopping and see if a SquareTrade digital camera warranty is the best deal around. It is, but don't take our word for it. Read a few reviews, get an instant quote with the sidebar widget, and then check out our competition (incidently, those are the same guys who handle Best Buy and Circuit City's warranties). We'll wait right here.
Actually , we'll probably go get ourselves a new camera while you're off doing your due diligence. We thought the TZ3 was nice, but guess what just jumped to the top of our list.
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