Lumix DMC-TZ1 Underwater Review

[whoswho]

Hi guys/gals,

Thought might want to share the performance of a Lumix underwater fotos with you.

I'm been using Lumix cameras (FZ5, FZ30, and TZ1) and I've since been impressed by the colours and clarity the Leica lens brings. As such, I have been dying to bring them underwater to find out their performance underwater too. Of the three Lumix cameras I've owned, I've managed to bring two of them, FZ30 and TZ1 underwater. FZ30 doesn't have a normal hardcover housing, thus, used an EWA-Marine case. TZ1 has a dedicated housing for it, and it's my first camera with a decent housing to dive with (friends had been laughing at my "ziplock" bag for the longest time)

Anyway, the following fotos are the originals other than resizing them and uploading them into the forum:











Lighting conditions are in-camera flash and ambient light. All shots were set to Underwater Mode. Even shooting with in-camera flash, it's still in Underwater Mode.

The camera is an true PnS, no manual controls at all, except for custom whitebalance and spot metering. But, in Underwater Mode, all these are inaccessible.

[whoswho]

Likes:
Colours rendered are just as fantastic as land shots. Even in video mode, the colours retained are awesome. (Of course with the help of custom whitebalance underwater. PM me if interested in seeing one that I took when I was in Sipadan)

The in-camera flash works pretty well for macro shots

Dislikes:
True PnS! No manual settings. Played around with the EV settings in view of future purchase of strobe. Nah, found out the EV settings is actually controlling the intensity of the flash instead of the f stops or the shutter speed.

[schon]

i dunno anything about diving but the first photo is stunning...

[kthan]

the turtle and sunburst shots were very good, but the rest didn't do it for me in terms of auto exposure control from the camera.

then again, photographers are known to show only the good ones.

my question would be how many percentage of your shots do you consider good enough for u? PnS digicams have come a long way, and while i still deem full manual control a must have, for the occasional underwater snapper, a simple cool looking PnS may just o the trick. so if the camera gives u a high success rate, congratulations!

eric

[whoswho]

Originally Posted by schon i dunno anything about diving but the first photo is stunning...

Thanks. But, preferred it to be sharper. Too bad, the auto-exposure control of the camera (which I have no control of) made it abit too slow, as such, not sharp enough.

[antacid]

does it at least have EV compensation? i know some P&S have it. my gf's ixus850 does..trying to loan a housing for that camera for a trip to sipadan. anyone has a housing lying around?
((=

[whoswho]

Originally Posted by kthan the turtle and sunburst shots were very good, but the rest didn't do it for me in terms of auto exposure control from the camera. then again, photographers are known to show only the good ones. my question would be how many percentage of your shots do you consider good enough for u? PnS digicams have come a long way, and while i still deem full manual control a must have, for the occasional underwater snapper, a simple cool looking PnS may just o the trick. so if the camera gives u a high success rate, congratulations! eric

hahaha, true true, photographers are known to show only the good ones.

An answer to your percentage of good enough shots from the camera, it is about 70% on target, but of course, it also depends on the photographer whether he/she is trigger happy. As for me, I'll press the shutter when I feel it's the image to capture. So, for one image, 3-4 shots I'll normally take, and out of them, 3 are not bad, and of course I'll have to choose one as a keeper as images take up lots of space!

Well, the other question, why TZ1? Well, I was dying to get a leica lens underwater and Courts was having a sale (got it for SGD299), and I need one compact cam for my wife. At the same time, the camera apparently has an underwater housing! haaa! bingo!

Anyway, it's not exactly the underwater setup I have in mind. I'm more of a wide angle guy. Planning to setup my 20D as I also prefer manual controls.

But, all in all, I'm still impressed with this camera's performance underwater.

Other shots with the camera (processed and resized):

[whoswho]

[whoswho]

Originally Posted by antacid does it at least have EV compensation? i know some P&S have it. my gf's ixus850 does..trying to loan a housing for that camera for a trip to sipadan. anyone has a housing lying around? ((=

Yah, played and tested around with it on land and underwater. The f-stop and shutter speed are changed when flash is not activated. That's ok for wide shots. But, tested out with flash activated, no go man. F-stop and shutter values remain as they are. The only diff is the intensity of the flash.

I guess, this part of workings will vary between cameras.

Dude, should give the ixus a go man. Have a friend, his model is ixus 500. And we call him Macro king. By the way, he have no macro lens attachments and he manage to capture beautiful shots of pygmy seahorse, spider crabs and etc. And no strobes...

That reminded me on one area that I didn't like pertaining to Lumix, bad in focusing in low light. It's the same problem as land photography with it.

[lovells19]

Originally Posted by whoswho Dude, should give the ixus a go man. Have a friend, his model is ixus 500. And we call him Macro king. By the way, he have no macro lens attachments and he manage to capture beautiful shots of pygmy seahorse, spider crabs and etc. And no strobes...

Its about knowing your equipment

[jelimon]

lovells, that wld be your good frn bernard with the ixus 500...