Panasonic DMC-TZ5

Panasonic's latest Lumix pushes the boundaries of what you could reasonably call 'compact'. Even if your pockets are large enough - you can just about squeeze it into the back of your jeans - the bulge of the lens housing tends to catch and make things awkward.

The payoff for its size is the Carl Zeiss-branded lens which, while not perfect, is impressive for a compact. Not only does it boast 10x optical zoom, it zooms out to a very wide 28mm equivalent focal length. The big body also gives space for a bright 3in screen while leaving room for controls in the familiar place down the right-hand side.

The 28mm wide-angle ability of the lens is unusual, with most compacts' widest setting being a 35mm equivalent. The extra coverage is genuinely useful for dramatic scenery or architecture shots. At the other end, with the lens zoomed right in you get huge magnification - a 280mm equivalent focal length. That does massively accentuate camera shake, but coming to the rescue is some very effective optical image stabilisation.

The stabilisation works well in video mode too; an area in which the TZ5 excels: it'll shoot video in HD 720p resolution at 30fps, and unlike most compact cameras the autofocus and zoom remain active. The drawback is you'll hear the zoom working but, that aside, it makes for a fine stand-in camcorder.

Panasonic's design team clearly enjoys doing things differently, but not always to good effect. Unusually, the top-mounted shooting-mode dial also applies to playback. If you've set it to video mode, for instance, you won't see your still shots appear when you you're reviewing - this can lead to some panicky moments while you wonder where your pictures have gone.

It's not the fastest camera in the world either. From switch on to being ready to shoot takes almost three seconds, compared to the half-second or so from the best of the Canon and Nikon competition (and near-instant ready time for a DSLR). Three seconds doesn't sound much but it's plenty of time to miss a shot.

Image quality is generally good. With the exception of some softness at full zoom, the lens is sharp with little distortion. Auto white balance is patchy though: taking pictures at a festival on a bright summer's day resulted in quite a few shots with a pronounced blue colour cast. We did appreciate one very neat feature on that day though: you can set the TFT screen to an over-the-head mode, improving its legibility at an angle when you're trying to shoot the band over the top of the crowd.

The TZ5 won't be for you if you want a straight-ahead pocket compact, but for something with a bit more versatility than average and without the bulk of a normal superzoom or DSLR, it's well worth a look.

Author: David Fearon