Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS4

12.10 Megapixels	4.60x zoom	2.7 inch LCD

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS4 Overview

Posted: 01/30/2012

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS4 is clearly aimed at the outdoors type, with a rugged, shockproof, waterproof, and dustproof body. Following on from last year's TS3 model, the TS4's CCD image sensor still has an effective resolution of 12.1 megapixels, and sits behind a 4.6x optical zoom lens bearing Leica DC Vario-Elmar branding.

The TS4's lens offers 35mm-equivalent focal lengths from a moderate 28mm angle to a modest 128mm telephoto for still images. For movies, there's a slightly greater focal length crop, for a 30 - 140mm equivalent range. The Panasonic TS4's lens offers apertures ranging from f/3.3 to f/10.0 at wide angle, and f/5.9 to f/18.0 at telephoto. The minimum focusing distance for the Panasonic DMC-TS4 is ordinarily 30 centimeters, but drops to just five centimeters at wide angle, or 30 centimeters at telephoto, when switched to Macro mode. Usefully, given the fair telephoto reach on offer, there's a Power O.I.S. optical image stabilization system included, and when shooting movies, it can be switched to Active mode for a greater degree of correction.

The TS4's rugged body is obviously the key selling point, though, letting it handle quite the range of real-world shooting situations. The Panasonic TS4 is rated as capable of passing MIL-STD 810F Method 516.5 shock testing, meaning that it can survive drops from 200 centimeters onto 3cm-thick plywood. (Note, though, that the MIL-STD test doesn't consider cosmetic damage -- only whether the camera continues to function properly.) It is also rated waterproof and dustproof to the IEC60529 IP68 standard, which means that it is dust tight, and is suitable for immersion at one meter or below, under conditions specified by the manufacturer. In the case of the TS4, Panasonic states that the camera is waterproof down to a depth of twelve meters.

As with its predecessor, the TS4 also includes a built-in GPS receiver, compass, altimeter, and barometer, taking things just a little beyond traditional geotagging by also allowing images to be tagged with with the direction, atmospheric pressure, and altitude at which they were shot. There's no optical or electronic viewfinder on the Panasonic TS4. Instead, images and videos are framed and reviewed on a 2.7-inch LCD with 230,000 dots of resolution. That equates to an approximate 320 x 240 pixel array, with each pixel comprising separate red, green, and blue dots.

The Panasonic TS4 has a 23-point multi-area autofocus system, which also includes a single-point focusing mode. As with almost all digital cameras these days, there's also a face detection function, with Panasonic's implementation using the information to adjust both focus and exposure to properly capture your subjects' faces. The Panasonic Lumix TS4 also has an implementation of autofocus tracking, which can monitor a subject as it moves around the frame, continuing to update autofocus as required.

ISO sensitivity ordinarily ranges from 100 to 1,600 equivalents, with the ability to extend this as far as ISO 6,400 equivalent in High Sensitivity mode. There's also Panasonic's Intelligent ISO function, which detects if your subject is moving, and adjusts sensitivity appropriately to gain a shutter speed to freeze that motion. The Panasonic TS4 can shoot at shutter speeds ranging from 1/1,300 to 60 seconds. The Panasonic TS4 uses Intelligent Multiple metering, and offers six white balance settings including Auto, Manual, and four fixed presets.

Unlike its predecessor, the TS4 now offers both automatic and manual exposure modes. There's still a healthy selection of fourteen scene modes to let you tailor the look of your images if you don't feel like shooting manually, however. There's also an Intelligent Auto function, which automatically selects from a subset of available scene modes, if you don't want to manually choose one. Taking advantage of the waterproofing, there are dedicated snorkeling and under water positions on the Mode dial, too. A five-mode flash includes red-eye reduction capability, and when shooting with Auto ISO sensitivity, has a rated range of up to 5.6 meters at wide angle, or 3.1 meters at telephoto.

As well as JPEG still images, the Panasonic TS4 can capture movies with sound at up to 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution or below, using AVCHD compression at all resolutions. High-def movies are captured either at an interlaced 60 fields per second (1080i) or progressive-scan 60 frames per second (720p60), or a progressive-scan 30 frames per second, with all originating from the same 30 frames per second sensor data. All movies include monaural sound. A Video Divide function allows in-camera movie splitting, letting users trim away the unwanted portions to keep just the parts of movies that they desire.

The Panasonic TS4 stores its images and movies on Secure Digital cards, including the higher-capacity SDHC and SDXC types. There's also a not-so-generous 20MB of built-in memory. Connectivity options include a USB 2.0 High-Speed connection, plus standard definition NTSC video output. The Panasonic TS4 can also output high-definition video via a micro-HDMI connector, and is compatible with Panasonic's proprietary "VIERA Link" system that allows the connected TV's remote control to be used to navigate the camera's slideshows.

Power comes from a proprietary lithium-ion battery with ID-Security feature that prevents use of counterfeit or third-party batteries, and is rated as good for 310 shots on a charge to CIPA testing standards. The software bundle includes PHOTOfunSTUDIO 8.1 Advanced Edition.

Pricing for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS4 is set at around US$400, and it ships in the US market this March. Four body colors will be available: orange, blue, black and silver.