Product Reviews

Panasonic's TZ range is a superb concept: an ultra-zoom camera that looks like a compact camera. Their 10x zoom lenses unleash tremendous creative potential compared with 3x zooms, while their compact designs mean they'll slip into a pocket or handbag.

The TZ2 updates the TZ1 (Labs, Shopper March 2007) with a higher resolution and a focal length of 28-280mm rather than 35-350mm (35mm equivalents). A wide-angle lens is just as useful as an ultra-zoom lens, and the TZ2 has both. Otherwise, the design and 2.5in, 207,000-pixel screen follow those of its predecessor.

Performance is excellent at

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around 1.6 seconds between shots, and the straightforward buttons and menus ensure swift operation. The lack of manual exposure and focus is disappointing, although Panasonic's Intelligent ISO feature is included. This lets you set a maximum ISO speed - 400, 800 or 1250 - and the camera sets the speed for each picture depending not just on the available light, but also on how much movement it detects. Along with optical image stabilisation, this feature is highly effective at preventing blur from camera shake.

Detail from the 5-megapixel TZ1 was disappointing, but the TZ2 is much improved in this respect. Meanwhile, it was unfazed by tricky lighting, taking attractive, punchy pictures across our tests. Noise - and Panasonic's infamous noise reduction artefacts - were not intrusive at ISO 400, although its maximum aperture of f/3.3 meant that higher ISO settings were needed more often than on cameras with f/2.8 apertures.

For the most part the TZ2 is an unremarkable, rather expensive camera, but we can't stress enough how much a large zoom range can improve the quality of photos. It wins a Best Buy award because this fact alone makes it the best travelling companion we've seen.