It’s time for a new camera. Panasonic TZ10 is looking favourite at the moment (next choice would probably be a Canon IS ###).

A lot of my snaps are indoors of my daughter so I want a camera which performs well inside in low light (I try to get away without a flash if possible).

Other requirements are:- it needs to be compact / pocketable and to do decent video.

Budget around £200 (perhaps to £250).

I’d be interested in peoples experience with the TZ10 (or TZ8) indoors / low-light condiitons.

thanks in advance

I was very disappointed in the TZ10. In my opinion it has too many pixels for the small sensor size. The images look murky and noisy. In the end I sold mine and changed to a Canon S95 (a lot more expensive). The cheaper TZ7 also produces much better images.

-j

took some pics of my little ones in panto last week without flash on TZ10 and all i can say is that they were way better than mrs antigee’s pics taken with an old canon powershot – i was happy but no expert – think comment about murky might be fair – i noticed when sorting some pics at weekend mostly kids that i used the edit colour correction button a lot more than in past – off to dig some snow will see if can post indoor shot late
also find the menus hard to navigate

here we go nothing great but taken without flash from 25ft away

none are corrected some are cropped

thanks for that antigee – they look good to me for indoors / no flash.

The cheaper TZ7 also produces much better images.

I read that somewhere too..doesn’t appear to be available anymore (because it’s replaced with the TZ10 ?)

Guess I’ll have to do a bit more reading…I do like my current Canon so tempted to stick with them…just not sure what they can on video (quality / format etc)

I’ll start by saying I’m no expert but I chose the Tz8 over the Tz10 because the 10 needs some fancy video editing software.

not sure but think the TZ28 is the same camera except TZ10 has GPS which not sure puts about £80 on the price – at time I wanted this for a local history project otherwise i’m sure there was an identical model without

edit you can pick which video format you use – does come with some very unique looking format which claims HD – don’t use for video but think supports std stuff as well

the TZ10 is being advertised with cash back making it cheaper than the tZ8 in some places:-
http://www.camerabox.co.uk/product.asp?ProductName=Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-TZ8-Silver&ProductID=13231

tz10
shame no stock (was this morning)

indoor TZ10

365/333 28/11/10 by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

365/307 2/11/10 by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

365/304 30/10/10 by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

all without flash, menus are extensive but fairly easy to get your head round after a little bit of practice, but the range of settings are up there with My SLR, comes with GPS too but i’ve switched that off to save battery life as i generally know where the pics are taken from, well, loking at the pics really

with flash

Diners by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

outdoors

new cam panda by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

the out there ride by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

only thing i don’t like about it is that it only has a 2 or 10 sec timer which makes self pics difficult compared to the two canons i’ve had which had user setable timer settings

HTH

Great…looks like it would be an improvement on my current camera…just going to compare it to similar priced Canon cameras to weigh up the pros and cons.

i got mine via amazon for £229

I’ve got the TZ7. Like it apart from the vid format, which makes it an arse to load directly onto a Mac. Wouldn’t have bought it had I known – now looking for an alternative as vids were the main reason for buying for me…

Just bought the Mrs a TZ10 from Bestbuy. Coloured one (that was important!) for £229 + £30 cash back from panasonic. No idea if it’s any good yet, it’s not her birthday for a couple of weeks. DPreview.com gave it a fairly good write up, and a few guys at work raved about the earlier models. This one will spend most of its life in auto mode though.

I’ve got a TZ7 and it takes decent indoors pics, though the flash seems a bit overpowered (well- overpowered within its useful range, then useless outwith that, if that makes any sense). But, if you want to use the video mode, it’s terrible in low light, incredibly noisy.

PS TZ7 for sale 😉 Just bought another Ixus as I wanted the smallness and durability more than I want the massive zoom and picture quality. My email should be in my profile if you’re interested

Hey Northwind…can’t see your email

TZ10 has a lot of gizzmos that aren’t really necessary, the GPS being a good example, not only is it not very good at naming your location, it drains the batterys like a rabbit on a £5 prozzy. That AVCHD lite thing needed special editing software, the 720p HD jpeg videoing is more than adequate and easy to use. The only real advantages of the TZ10 over the TZ8 that I could spot, were a slightly bigger screen and stereo sound on the vid function.

Oh. Fubar, it’s andrew@blackjack.f9.co.uk

My research suggests that the free Windows Live Movie Maker handles AVCHD Lite on Windows 7; GPS can be turned off to save battery; TZ10 has hdmi out but TZ8 doesn’t.

I’m happy to be corrected on any of that though (not saying it makes it worth the extra £)

The GPS can be turned off, we got no further with the AVCHD lite than deciding it wouldn’t ever be used when there is also a perfectly functional HD 720p jpeg video format.

Isn’t the AVCHD better quality though? Seemed to be on comparing vids of each, not that Hollywood is likely to come calling…

Whatever you get, if you’re keen on taking natural light shots of your kid indoors, seriously consider a Lastolite reflector. Makes a massive difference and allows you to bounce a huge amount of light into areas which would otherwise be in deep shadow.

You can also get cheapy ebay versions or make your own out of tinfoil, white polystyrene or even a sheet of white card.