Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver)
by Panasonic
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: PanasonicModel: DMC-ZS5S
Color: Silver
Product features:
- 12.1-megapixel effective recording
- 12X optical zoom
- 2-11/16" LCD screen
- Optical image stabilization
- Sonic Speed AF for quick focusing on moving subjects
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver)
Customer Review: Great camera - UNRELIABLE Panasonic replacement battery quality; POOR Panasonic customer support
Summary: 3 Stars
First, the positive: Bought the camera (Panasonic Lumix DMZ-ZS5) in April 2010. After a year of using the camera, I still find it to be a great super-light "pocket" camera with an excellent feature-set (super-wide angle lens, optical image stabilization, intelligent resolution, large variety of auto-exposure settings, and manual exposure control). Several previous reviewers have done a great job explaining these features, so I won't repeat them here. I consider myself an advanced user, and I like to experiment with several exposures for each composition (whether using this point-n-shoot, or my SLR) - so I always like to travel with (at least) a couple of spare, fully-charged batteries. The battery that came with the camera seems to work as advertised (~300 pictures) and I am still happy with its performance. So, I am upgrading my rating by one star (consider this as 5-stars for the camera, but 2-stars for the battery system & 1-star for Panasonic customer support).
Now, the negative (or, why 3 stars?): Based on warnings from other reviewers (both here and elsewhere), I decided to buy two brand-new Panasonic replacement batteries (from the Amazon marketplace). Before purchasing, I checked that these were IDENTICAL to the one that came in the original box (PANASONIC DMW-BCG10pp). I paid over 75% of their list price - so, I did not go for the cheapest batteries out there. After the batteries arrived, I checked that both came individually wrapped in (seemingly) genuine Panasonic cardboard/plastic packaging. Both had identical markings their sides, as compared to the original that came with the camera. However, owing to work/travel commitments, I did not get a chance to test out these new batteries for over 3.5 months. Just recently, I took the batteries out of their packaging, charged them, and tried to use them. But the ZS5 refuses to recognize the battery, shutting down within 3-4 seconds with the message: "This battery cannot be used". I waited several hours, recharged the batteries, and tried again - with the same result. I looked online and found that this message results from ID-secure feature built into their cameras to identify non-Panasonic battery packs. I then tried Panasonic's support web-site, but found nothing related to either battery problems or firmware updates for the ZS5/ZS7.
So, I called Panasonic's customer/tech support (U.S.), hoping for some sort of a firmware download or some other "re-setting" procedure that would let me over-ride the camera error-message. To my surprise (and after three phone-transfers), instead of helping me figure out why TWO, BRAND NEW, Panasonic batteries were being rejected by their own camera, the rep kept insisting that I bought the battery over 90-days ago, so they cannot help me! Now perhaps I am naive, but I consider a battery to be brand new (within a reasonable time-limit, of course), as long as it has not been abused or used before - so it should not matter whether I bought the batteries 90 days vs. 110 days previously (at the time I called them). They could not even tell me if there are ways to identify a genuine "PANASONIC" battery pack!
During our extensive online review prior to buying this camera, the battery issue never come up. But now when I type the exact camera-error message in Google, I get several hits on this subject (all pertaining to Panasonic Lumix cameras). I was stuck abroad with only a single working battery, and TWO BRAND-NEW batteries that didn't work! I eventually found a Panasonic vendor in the country I was living in and bought another 'genuine' Panasonic replacement battery for higher than the list price - this new battery pack seems to be working well so far.
So, I wanted to put this warning out there that in spite of Panasonic's advertised "stringent" standards that purportedly make their batteries so much better, their camera's failure tolerance seems to be so tight that many of their own batteries fall outside of it! I find it frustrating that there is no way to tell which of the "PANASONIC" branded batteries are really genuine until you pop them into the camera - even if you pay attention to details, or fork-out close to the list-price. So, the lessons learnt for me are: (1) Don't expect that the "Panasonic" brand implies a guarantee of quality or reasonable customer/technical support; (2) If you plan to buy any Panasonic Lumix camera, or any of their new ID-secured battery based cameras, check online for 'battery cannot be used' or 'battery failure' for that camera before purchasing; (3) Be prepared to go through the hassle of trying out several replacement batteries, EVEN if you buy Panasonic's own; and (4) Thoroughly test out any spare replacement batteries you buy within the first 90 days (I guess the last one's a "DUH!").
I have never bought a camera outside of Canon before, and will most likely go back to Canon after this - I am afraid I cannot trust Panasonic to "do the right thing" at this point. Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver)
More Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver) reviews:
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Description of Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver)
The DMC-ZS5 features a 25mm ultra wide-angle 12x optical zoom f/3.3-4.9 Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens (35mm camera equivalent: 25-300mm). Thanks to the newly incorporated Intelligent Resolution technology, the Intelligent Zoom is available with the DMC-ZS5 which extends the zoom ratio by approx. 1.3x maintaining the picture quality even combining a digital zoom.
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