Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10

Panasonic's Lumix DMC-TZ10 is a high-end point-and-shoot and retails for $490.

The biggest feature on this Lumix is its built-in ‘Travel Mode with GPS'. The feature takes advantage of GPS and a built-in database, so that pictures you capture are tagged with the name of the location. Unfortunately, when we tried this the camera couldn't lock on to any GPS satellites and therefore failed to tag our photos.

The camera features a CCD sensor with a 12.1-megapixel resolution and this returned fantastic shots in-conjunction with the camera's 25mm ultra wide angle LEICA DC lens. In natural light we found skin tones were natural and accurate to the original subject whilst colours were vibrant and well contrasted. Photos captured in low light using the camera's flash and ‘iA' mode (automatic) were also quite good though close scrutiny showed visible grain.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ10's zoom capabilities are excellent, it offers no less than 12x optical zoom and in-conjunction with digital zoom, the camera offers 16x intelligent zoom or 23.4x extra optical zoom. The zoom works like a charm but you'll need a tripod to take blur-free shots about 6x zoom. In hand the Panasonic feels solid and weighty, the interface is easy enough to use and there are ample buttons and switches for easy navigation. On a full charge the camera managed 270 photographs before the battery was completely flat.

ITP