Panasonic LUMIX DMC-ZS6 12.1 MP DIGITAL CAMERA BLACK - 3.0 " TFT Screen LCD Display!! Product Description:
- Manual exposure settings for the complete shutter speed and aperture control
- High Speed AF: Lightening fast 0.3 second AF for capturing scenes as they happen
- Intelligent Auto (iA) More controls ISO to prevent blurring, scene selection, exposure, face detection, face recognition, AF tracking
- Power O.I.S.:double the corrective power for the crisp sharp images
- 720p HD Movie recording and stereo audio with HDMI output (HDMI cable not included)
Product Description
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS6 delivers 720p HD movie recording, 25mm ultra wide-angle and powerful 12x optical zoom lens in a compact body to cover virtually any shooting situation. This 12.1-megapixel powerhouse includes an abundance of features like Hi-speed AF, Power OIS for double the corrective power, providing crisp sharp images, Optical Image Stabilization, Intelligent Auto (iA) prevents blurring and provides intelligent ISO control, subject detection and AF tracking.
25mm Ultra Wide-angle Lens
The DMC-ZS6 features a 25mm ultra wide-angle 12x optical zoom f/3.3-4.9 Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens. Incorporating Panasonic's advanced optical technologies, this lens system is comprised of 10 elements in 8 groups, with 2 ED and 2 aspherical lenses / 3 aspherical surfaces. This lens system enables a remarkable 25 to 300mm range of focal length in a compact body.
The 25mm ultra wide-angle lens has about twice the shooting area as a standard 35mm lens. This enhances shooting situations when you're photographing a group of people at a party or shooting a large structure or sweeping landscape while traveling.
16x Intelligent Zoom/23.4x Extra Optical Zoom
Thanks to the newly designed Intelligent Resolution technology extends the zoom ratio by 1.3x while maintaining the picture quality even with digital zoom. This means the 12x optical can virtually extend to 16x equivalent. Furthermore, the Extra Optical Zoom function extends zoom power to 23.4x by using the center part of the large CCD to bring subjects even closer.
Sonic Speed AF
The Sonic Speed AF system in the DMC-ZS6 includes numerous re-engineering enhancements, including a higher-speed actuator, optimized algorithms and parallel software processing. The result is fast and accurate AF performance. You can quickly get moving subjects in focus, such as when you're shooting sports scenes.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
400 of 411 people found the following review helpful.
Panasonic leads the point-and-shoot category
By Analyst 1951
Panasonic makes the best compact superzoom cameras! Here's why. I was a professional photographer for over twenty years and recently sold all my professional film cameras (35mm, 21/4"x 23/4" and 4" x 5"). I've been searching for a compact superzoom camera that I can keep with me at all times to catch those once-in-a-lifetime shots without the expense or weight of a Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera. Keep in mind that a compact superzoom has a smaller imaging sensor and will never truly compete with a high quality DSLR but if you want the best camera available in the compact point-and-shoot category then Panasonic DMC-Z series of cameras wins hands down. I've conducted an exhaustive search of camera review sites and have found Panasonic to consistently meet my standards of excellence. You don't have to take my words for it, you can check out my claims for yourself at the digitalcamerareview and dpreview web sites.OPTICS:The heart of any camera is the lens. Nothing else in photography counts without good optics. Panasonic uses Leica DC Vario-Elmar lenses in many of their cameras. Amongst professional photographers Leica has a reputation for quality akin to Rolls Royce. Leica appears to have maintained their reputation in Panasonic cameras by avoiding significant optical flaws. Most superzoom camera optics suffer from multiple flaws. Two optical flaws that I find completely unacceptable are chromatic aberration and uneven or soft focus.You'll see chromatic aberration as a color fringe (red on one edge and blue or green on the opposite edge) along the edge of an object. It's often most visible near the corner of the image and along the edges of high contrast subjects like a dark car in front of a bright building. Sometimes chromatic aberration is so bad that it can be see in the center of a 4" x 6" photo but it's most often only visible when enlarged to full screen on a 17" or larger monitor. In my opinion, when it comes to chromatic aberration, Panasonic consistently out performs all competitors including Nikon, Canon, Olympus and Sony. I strongly suggest you see this for yourself by looking at web reviews that have full resolution images. Click on the full resolution image, zoom in and scroll from corner to corner and you'll see what I mean.The second major optical concern is focus. Some camera lenses are sharp in the center of the photo but go slightly out of focus towards the edge of the photo. This usually isn't a problem if you are only going to use your multi-hundred dollar camera to make 4" x 6" prints but soft focus can be a huge disappointment when making larger prints or viewing the photo as a full screen image. The Leica lenses on the Panasonic cameras appear to excel in the category of sharp focus. Again, I suggest you see for yourself by zooming in on full resolution images available from some web review sites.Other optical concerns include barrel and pincushion, which describe how vertical and horizontal lines can be curved in the photograph even though they were straight in real life. Some barreling or pincushioning is inherent to every zoom and are usually only noticeable at the widest angle or strongest telephoto settings. This type of distortion can be so severe that it distracts the viewer from appreciating the subject of the photograph. Leica does a superb job of minimizing barreling and pincushioning to the point that I find this type of distortion within acceptable limits.My final comment on the Panasonic DMC-Z series optics is that the wide-angle setting on the zoom lens is equivalent to a 25mm lens on a 35mm camera. In my experience, the wide-angle lens is the most important feature of a zoom lens. You can always crop an image to get the equivalent effect of a stronger telephoto (of course you'll lose some resolution) but there is no similar way to compensate for not having a wide enough lens. Sure you can paste images together using a panoramic mode but you wind up with a long narrow picture that's difficult to put in a frame. Plus, except for the latest top-of-the-line Sony, you can't paste a large group photo together because people will move between shots.SENSOR:If the heart of a digital camera is the lens then the soul is the imaging chip and the camera's internal image processing software. Panasonic excels in this area too. Again, I strongly suggest you see for yourself by zooming in on full resolution images available from some web review sites. Every digital camera has software that is designed to minimize the noise introduced into the image by the sensor. If noise reduction is too strong then details are lost and objects start to look like cartoon drawings. If noise reduction is too weak then smooth areas like blue sky or concrete look unnatural because they're covered with dots. Panasonic has managed to achieve a pleasing balance in this category.CONCLUSION:Finally, I'd like to mention that, for the most part, I don't care about what photo editing or cataloging software comes with a camera. There's plenty of great software available from third party vendors and if the camera is not capable of producing a quality image then the accompanying software is absolutely useless to me.So the bottom line is that the Panasonic DMC-Z series has the best combination of lens & sensor/built-in image processing software of any of the point-and-shoot cameras and is the most capable of producing an image that can stand up to being enlarged. Additionally, considering Costco has the Panasonic on sale this month along with their great return policy, I consider Panasonic a great buy.
135 of 136 people found the following review helpful.Buy it while you still can
By bill faulkner
Like some obsessive compulsive reviewers I literally spent days pouring over that latest generation of digital equipment. My goal: to find the best all around performer that had the fewest compromises for typical family outings, including vacations. As background, I'm a former Nikon F 35 mm photographer, back in the day when high end photography was a real hobby. Not that it isn't today, but there are simply too many choices and not enough to base a decision on. Back then, if you had the money, you bought a Nikon F series.Goal: Excellent photos and videos. Good machine ergonomics. Pocketable.This seems to be the desire of many manufacturers but how many actually get there?None.How many get close?One. Panasonic.Their Lumix Z series especially with the decent Leica lenses take photos worthy of a pro. Make no mistake, these are not SLR quality, but they are close enough that when intertwined with the compromises, makes them the end of the rainbow, at least as far as I'm concerned.As for video, the HD video from this unit is excellent. Is the sound perfect? Nope. Is it in any of these cameras? None that I've seen. Does it matter? I've flipped and flopped between splitting the purchase between a flash memory video and a cheaper point and shoot.But for the average family photographer, why don't you want both in one? Why don't you want something in your hand all the time that lets you capture that Kodak Moment? Heck I take more stills and videos with my Iphone than with any camera these days just because . . .its there.On a planned vacation or outing, you want more detail. And the Lumix Z series comes through. Crisp photos. Sharp video. And adequate sound.On the sound, I almost passed on this camera because someone dissed it for the sound. A low level hum. After all, I'm a details kind of guy, so how could I live with that? Do you actually hear it?Yes, you hear it when you are zooming. No surprise here. The mic is integrated with the body so there is no way to isolate it. Is this a minor matter. I believe so. The key is that you will get decent stereo sound of your family and you will be listening to THEM and won't care if you hear a minor hum in the background. For reference, my 3 chip panasonic miniDV camcorder had a minor hum too. But everything else line up so well, I loved that camera.The key thing with the Lumix Z, is that the audio is crisp and you will get the shot.Windnoise is an issue with ALL video cameras and addressing it is fairly straightforward. After noticing this on my first outing, I came up with a cheap fix. I cut a square of paper towel and two strips of blue tape, loosely covering the mic. I experimented in medium wind and it suppressed the wind significantly. As you probably know, you can buy blue tape at any Home Depot or probably Staples. If this sounds like a pain, remember, that pro photographers go to a lot more trouble to get great shots, so consider this trivial.File size of this older model: An 8gb sd card will give you 8min in HD movie mode. Considering most of your shooting will average 30 sec, you've got 16 segments, before you offload to your laptop. How much usage time does the average home video camera in a year? Just 30 min. Some years more, some less.Should you buy the Z7 instead, with the fancy new AVCHD? Certainly you will get more recording time, but will you need it? What you may get is the hassle of dealing with a new codec to decompress those files, not something you bargained for. On hassles, I almost gave up and chose a Sony, only because it is so user-friendly. But the photos were class C, and Z's were Class A.By the way, steer clear of the cheaper FH series. It may have HD video, but side by side it with the Z series and you will see its not worth consideration.For those interested, my runner up is the Canon 780. But its form factor is too small and the lcd shrunken. Its actually not as comfortable to use. And the images are class B.Hope this helps!
132 of 133 people found the following review helpful.Giant Step Forward from the ZS3
By R. Doug
This, the latest in Panasonic's ZS-line of point-and-shoot cameras, is a huge improvement over the ZS3 I previously used (see review at: Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Black)), and addresses many of the admittedly minor issues I found with my original camera.Pros:The new ZS6 (and it's stablemates the lower end ZS5 and upper end ZS7) now allows complete exposure control. The camera comes with Aperture-Priority, Shutter-Priority, and a Manual Mode that allows adjustment of both. All three of these modes are accessed on the relocated Mode Dial and when in Manual Mode a light meter-type display is superimposed on the screen.Another big complaint I had was lack of in-camera control of picture adjustment parameters. This has also been addressed, with complete user control over the big four -- Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation, and Noise Reduction.Same great 25mm-300mm Zoom (35mm equivalent) carried over from the previous ZS1/3 line. This is quite simply the best compact travel zoom on the market in my opinion.Cons:Battery life is still a major issue, and SterlingTek's remarkable replacement battery (see my review at: SterlingTek's POWWER Panasonic DMW BCG10PP Digital Camera ID secured battery) with much longer life (which I purchased for my ZS3) will not work in the New ZS5/6/7 line. SterlingTek advised me today that they are aware of the problem and are working on a fix.The ZS6 only allows for one My Scene selection on the main dial. The ZS7 to my understanding retains two because it also retains the separate activation button for video mode whereas the ZS6 has a selection for that on the Mode Dial.Still no RAW capability.There is no hard-copy of the instruction manual; it's on the accompanying disc. This is quite simply unacceptable for a camera with this many features and which requires extensive study of the manual to truly master. And I shouldn't have to go to the expense of printing out 150+ pages to make up for this cost-cutting scheme.Best Deal:I purchased this camera a month ago at Costco, complete with belt-attach leather case and 2GB card, for just under $290. Then just yesterday I went to Costco and got an additional $50 off because they came out with a coupon for this marvelous point-and-shoot.Conclusion:Highly recommended as a backup for your primary DSLR camera, or for when carrying a big, heavy DSLR is not practical.
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