SquareTrade Warranty Blog

New York Times: Panasonic Cameras Most Reliable?

In case you missed it, check out the coverage of our Digital Camera Study from the New York Times:

If you’re looking for the most reliable point-and-shoot digital camera, you might do well to focus on a Panasonic. That’s the conclusion from a study of 60,000 warranties on cameras conducted by SquareTrade, a warranty provider for tech products. The company just released results of a study of failures covered by its warranty plans for cameras purchased since 2006. SquareTrade found that among cameras that cost less than $300, Panasonic was the most reliable brand with a 5.3 percent failure rate. - Rik Fairlie

For further analysis, check out coverage in CNET, Wired, etc or download the full study PDF .

Sound off: Thoughts or questions about this study? We'd love to hear them!

Leave a comment below or tweet your thoughts. (If you're on Twitter, you can simply include the hashtag #CameraReliability to your tweet.)

Which Digital Camera Manufaturers are most reliable? Study has people talking!

 Like our previous studies, SquareTrade's Digital Camera Reliability report has people talking! 

Join the discussion: Check out other reactions to the study and tweet your thoughts or sound off in the comments.

	"...a new study showing the reliability figures in the digital camera market has some interesting (and non-obvious) results."
	"...a lot of the data jibes with my experience. Particularly the high three-year failure percentage and the more you pay, the better the product. I can't speak to the reliability of specific brands, though. Can you?"
	"SquareTrade keeps track of the data and releases insightful information about how reliable our electronic devices are...the company has crunched the numbers on digital cameras, with some truly surprising results."
	"If you’re looking for the most reliable point-and-shoot digital camera, you might do well to focus on a Panasonic. That’s the conclusion from a study of 60,000 warranties on cameras conducted by SquareTrade, a warranty provider for tech products."

If you're on Twitter, you can simply include the hashtag #CameraReliability to your tweet. (We'll update with a live feed below.) 

Digital Camera Failure Rates: Which manufacturers are most reliable?

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Are you in the market for a digital camera? In an effort to keep consumers more informed about the reliability of the products they buy, we periodically publish the results of our research on repair rates. (You may recall our previous studies on Laptops, Game Consoles, Smart Phones, etc.) Our analytics team just completed another extensive study on failure rates, turning their attention to data collected on over 60,000 digital cameras purchased since 2006.

The results are in! So, which models are most reliable? Highlights are below but be sure to check out the full study.

On average, 10.7% of digital cameras fail within two years, and 15.6% are projected to fail within three years. Accidents account for slightly less than 40% of camera failures More expensive cameras are more reliable than less expensive models, with cameras over $300 being significantly more reliable than under $300. For Point-and-shoot cameras under $300, Panasonic cameras had the lowest 2 year malfunction rates (5.3%), and Polaroid and Casio had the highest malfunction rates (11.9% and 13.0%). For DSLR Cameras, Nikon and Canon were equally reliable.

The study found that 11 percent of digital cameras fail in the first two years of ownership. Of these failures, 6.6 percent come from malfunctions while another 4.1 percent experience damage due to accidents. When the data from the study is projected out three years, 15.6 percent of digital cameras are expected to experience some sort of failure – either accidental or a malfunction.

Kick off of SquareDeals of the Day and SquareTweets!

It almost feels like we’re back in school – sneaking notes.  We can’t let the cat entirely out of the bag just yet.  But since you’re our fans, we wanted to let you in on the secret.

There’s a lot going on here at SquareTrade HQ. This week, we’re gearing up to launch a series of SquareDeals of the Day! 

Raise your hand if you’ve recently purchased an LCD TV, a washer/dryer or perhaps a new wii.  Maybe you’ve been planning to buy a new laptop? 

Well, this week we’ll be offering even greater savings on coverage for things like digital cameras, LCD TVs, home appliances and game consoles.  Yup, we’ll be offering up to 40% additional savings with a new coupon each day!

So stay tuned (and don’t let Miss Othmar catch you passing this note!)

On a related note, if you’d like to be the first kid on the block that has the inside scoop, you can follow us on twitter. We’ll tweet breaking news on specials like the upcoming Deals of the Day as well as nifty things we hear are going on in the world of gizmos and gadgets.

Sorry, did you ask “What's a tweet?!”  Well, Mike Massimino has been tweeting from space. Even Oprah is becoming twitter savvy. You can also ask google. 

Congratulations, Paula!

Paula R. from Madison, CT won our Back to School Sweepstakes.  She'll be getting

- an HP laptop (the most reliable brand, according to our data)
- a printer
- an iPod Nano
- a Canon Powershot digital camera
- $1000 Amazon gift card
- SquareTrade warranties on all her winnings!

And here's what she had to say...

"I can't believe it, I've never won anything. I am so excited. I've been using SquareTrade for about a year now. my friend told me about it and we use Square Trade for all our warranties.  I've told my family and friends about SquareTrade because you can't beat the prices.  Thanks, SquareTrade."

So... thanks, Paula for being a loyal SquareTrader!  We appreciate you and all of our fans!

Panasonic's Lumix DMC-TZ50 dated and tagged.

Remember that WiFi-enabled 9.1-megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ50 we mentioned about a month ago?  As predicted, it'll bump up the usual Lumix price by about fifty bucks and have a mid-May U.S. launch, but what we couldn't predict?  It comes with a full 12-month subscription to T-Mobile's hotspot network.

Just to recap: the TZ50 packs a 802.11b/g WiFi connection, 10x optical lens zoom, and a 3" screen.  All the current standards - auto ISO, auto scene detection, face detection, are here.  Photo uploads, also as predicted, are locked into Google's Picasa service. 

It's a good package for $450, which puts its 3-Year SquareTrade warranty right at the $54 mark (thank you, magic sidebar widget), or a bit more if you want to add Accidental Damage coverage.

The current Lumix line really has stepped it up a notch lately, and while for our money (all $350 of it) we prefer the feature set on the TZ5 - it swaps out WiFi capabilities for a 720p Hi-Def video capture mode - if you don't want to ever worry about running out of memory storage, the TZ50 is definitely a good pick for you. 

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RED's Scarlet pocket camcorder will never go hungry again.

If you haven't heard of RED, then possibly you haven't been in the market for a $17,500 RED One camcorder that shoots digital video one gnat-wing shy of 35mm film quality.  But now they're going all prosumer on us with the RED Scarlet, a pocket HD digital camcorder with southern charm and quirks-a-plenty.

For starters, the Scarlet is all metal - no plastics - and will record files in RAW format, which is a rarity for a camera below the $20K mark, much less one that's supposed to fit in your shirt pocket.  They just unveiled it at NAB, and confirmed (but may change) 3k resolution, a PL mount and a 2/3" Mysterium X sensor, with full auto or full manual options, WiFi control, upgradeable software and modular compatibility with RED One accessories.  The 8x zoom and 4.8" screen are built-in.

Let's just say that while the Scarlet is supposed to run at a significantly lower price point than the RED One ("under $3000" is the quote), it's safe to say this kind of equipment is an investment... one you'd best protect with a SquareTrade warranty that will cost less than anyone else's and pay out in cash (within five business days) if we can't fix it.

RED's telling everybody the Scarlet is due out in "early 2009," so you do have some time to save up them pennies.  And quarters.  And Hamiltons. 

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The Samsung L120 puts a manly 10.2 megapixels in your pocket.

Okay, let's put it out there: if your camera packs a single-digit megapixel sensor, it's a wimp.  And the Samsung L120 might not be the spiffiest pocket camera to break the 10+ barrier, but it's got plenty under the hood to keep us interested.

It only just breaks into double digits with a 10.2-megapixel shot and a yeah-okay 3x optical zoom and a 2.5" LCD screen in back. Nothing marvelous there.  And we'd be shrugging out shoulders if it just had standard-issue redeye correction and face detection.  That's just shelf filler.  But the L210 has all that, and it just keeps piling the extras on... optical and digital image stabilization, 10MB of internal storage (before you start using memory cards) and an SVGA video mode.  That's pretty damn good for a $200 camera. 

And you can guarantee it'll work properly for three hassle-free years if you put a SquareTrade warranty on it... with or without Accidental Damage coverage.  Check out the sidebar widget for a quick quote.

After beholding the Samsung L210, we look at our 7-megapixel Pentax SLR from 2006 and feel shame.  Shame!

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Panasonic's Lumix DMC-TZ50 brings the Wifi to your camera.

It seems like only yesterday that we were telling you about the touch-screen Lumix DMC-FX500, and how somebody at Panasonic was running wild with the cool camera designs.  Well, today's flavor is WiFi, and it's all over the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ50.

The TZ50 looses a megapixel from the TZ5 and FX500 (knocking it down to 9.1, which is plenty) to rock an 802.11b/g WiFi connection from any hotspot, but doubles up on the zoom with a 10x optical lens and has a non-touch 3" screen in back.  Once you snap yet another picture of your cat in mid-air, you can upload it to the internets from any hotspot you can find, but forget sending it directly to LOLcats.  The Japanese release, like a lot of WiFi cameras, is strictly limited to one destination... in this case, the Lumix club, though indications are you'll have more options by the time it hits our shores.  At the very least, Panasonic's CES demos allowed uploads to Google's Picasa.

That zoom and the WiFi will probably bump the price to the higher end of the Lumix scale, so a SquareTrade warranty might be a good idea to cover your investment, particularly with some Accidental Damage coverage added.  You are gonna be taking this sucker on the road, after all.

The TZ50 doesn't have an American date yet, but we'd be surprised if it lags far beyond the mid-May date it has in Japan.  That's also right around the time other Lumix models hit shelves in the U.S. of A.

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The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500 gets all touchy-feely.

What's the latest gadget to jump on the touch-screen bandwagon?  Why, that would be your humble digital camera... the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500.  And it's not all that humble, either.

What you've got here is a 10.1-megapixel point-and-shooter with a 25-125mm wide angle lens, equipped with a 5x optical zoom.  That's serious business right there.  But notice the general lack of controls in sight on the front?  That trend continues on the back, though there's still a clickwheel and Mode/Display buttons as backup.  Mostly, there's a 3" touch-screen, from which you can do things like set the Auto-focus and exposure, or adjust shots on the fly with your finger or a LUMIX stylus pen that's hidden somewhere in the casing. Damned if we can figure out where it goes on the camera.

Similar to its TZ5 cousin, the FX500 also notches up a video feature that clocks 1280 x 720 movies at thirty frames per second.  Not bad at all.

And the whole thing is eligible for a SquareTrade digital camera warranty when it arrives in May, with or without Accidental Damage coverage.  At a retail price of $400, you could cover it for three full years for almost half what a retail store would charge you.

Somebody got aggressive about camera development over at Panasonic, because we're seeing some nice toys coming from them lately.  But we're still waiting for our touch-screen HDTV.

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