Panasonic's waterproof LUMIX DMC-TS1 unboxing
By Tim Stevens 
posted May 7th 2009 9:59AM
posted May 7th 2009 9:59AM
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If my Olympus ever dies I will probably go with this. The XD mem card in the Olympus is a pain.
from my experience with panasonics SW20 cam, their products are not very water proof...
I spoke to someone who had 3 separate replacement camera leak and get ruined. The warranty cost for Panasonic must be incredible.
Personally, I think they are incredibly overpriced for the 0.005% of the time you use them underwater.
Is the image quality of this camera as good as their other point and shoot models?
With the Olympus waterproof models, the reviews seemed to say "better to have lower quality shots than no shots at all".
Looking at the doors, it looks like it could get away with water or shock, but not both at the same time...
Cheney says they are waterboad-approved for water, shock, and awe.
I got mine recently and I love it. I have used it in my saltwater aquarium and so far it works great. It also takes amazing videos for a digital camera. I plan on using it a lot.. snorkeling, fishing, swimming, fish tank photos...etc. So far the quality is better than my Canon S3 IS I just don't have as much zooom as I did on that camera.
Here is some sample videos:
Video of Camera floating in fish tank (taken from Canon Camera): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVeZZSM2eWA&feature=channel_page
Video from DMC-TS1 going into into tank: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiIJlBrgWhg&feature=channel_page
Sample of HD on YouTube from DMC-TS1: click HD button on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK9FvMD5KyA&feature=channel
Thanks Brad, it looks good. I'm also jealous you have a saltwater tank with a blue tang and clown fish.
What I'd really like to see is some photos in low-light conditions. I have had several Olympus SWs and they were rather crappy in low light. While I have the attitude of, "better to have a bad photo, than no photo at all", I (of course), really want better photos.
Could you post some up for us to see whether it's worth throwing down $400 and upgrading from the SWs or Stylus Tough 8000?
It's not really true that you have to get an Olympus SW with it's really bad IQ if you wanted underwater/tough, and it wasn't true even before the current generation of these cameras came out. You could have gotten an actually good digicam and it's respective housing (which has better flash and a *much* better depth rating, usually 40 meters) for quite cheap (about half the price of the digicam itself... which in total costs around the same as just the SW's). I owned an SW, and really regretted buying one. The 10 second video limitation was killer, and of course the image quality was something to write home about... about how much it sucked. I really doubt that any other brand could get it any worse than this.
I just got my DMC-ZS3, this thing got great image stabalization and takes really nice picture. The TS1 should be very similar in quality since it's released about same time. This thing is suppose to be water resistance, not waterproof. I would really just get the ZS3 and buy a underwater kit for it if I was going to take underwater picture...heck I'd probably go with some specialty camera. The ZS3 underwater kit cost 3/4 of the camera itself. Now if you're just taking pictures at the beach with some water splashing here and there it shouldn't be a problem. Test shows the ts1 camera was submerged and still came out ok...
Someone run a white balance correction on the gallery images.
The DMC-TS1 is indeed waterproof to the standard of 3 meters depth for 60 minutes. That's a lot more than water resistant which generally means you can use a device in the rain.
I've got one ordered and it will get its waterproofing tested on river trips. There are many more water sports than snorkeling. And if you're scuba diving you'd want a housing, not a shallow water camera like this. The TS1 reviews and test images show it to be a very good still camera with image quality that's better than the competing Olympus, Pentax, and Fuji waterproof cameras. The video quality looks good and this should be a fun compact camera for running rapids.
I will post some pictures for you soon when I get some free time. Stay tuned to this post.
I got my DMC-TS1a this monday.
I am a noob in digicam photography so I had a hard time taking good pictures with it (lots of grain) but right now I have finally got the twist. It takes great pictures, the hi-speed mode is very interesting.
The quality of the video (w/audio) at 720p is awesome. Only thing that I didn't like if the file format of the AVCDHlite whatever codec: .tms or something. I am not very familiar with conversion of video files but I will learn.
Globablly, I am more than satisfied with the camera, its solid and very easy to use. I travel a lot and its small form factor is very practical.
If you have any questions or requets feel free to share.
What I have noticed is that the AVCHD file format makes it very easy to put on a DVD using their software however its very hard to use it for anything else other then either uploaded to youtube or onto a tv. However the HD format of the Motion JPEG seems to be the way to go. The quality is excellent and works easily using any computer software. One big issue I ran into is that the Panasonic software does not work on Vista 64 bit. This means importing videos and images to my computer are not a bit more challenging.
InfoSynch.com came out with a terrific review for this camera, putting it in comparison against similarly waterproof Olympus and Casio models. Panasonic blew them out of the water, pardon the pun.
I am on a verge of buying this. Three photo emporiums, each one in a walking distance from my office, have it in stock and are teasing me mercilessly.
Finally, someone bringing together optical image stabilization with water resistance. I never understood why Olympus et al persist in making cameras without image stabilization.
I got mine at vanns.com for $379.99 plus I sent in a rebate for a free 4GB SDHC card and a camera case. I thought that was a pretty good deal concidering it just came out. I'm sure the price will come down slightly in the future but its not worth the wait especially with summer around the corner.
Can you link that InfoSynch.com review? I could not find it?
never mind. I found it http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/10259.html
Sorry about the confusion. I have no idea why I typed out that URL instead of the correct one.
Forget unboxing, go ahead and dunk it, EnGadget!
I have had mine for a little while now and love it. Here is a link to some photos I have taken with it over the last week or two:
Test Photos: http://lbuchholz.smugmug.com/gallery/7990518_276Yh#519361582_SGUXV
Some photos while out sailign two weekends ago: http://lbuchholz.smugmug.com/gallery/8027486_SNMQV#522344000_oWPGK
I have photos at http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=panasonic&w=35752108%40N00 if anyone is interested. The camera is leaking, but apparently not through the 2 doors. Water seems to be getting in via the lens.