Did about 45 mins of research on numerous sites regarding this specific camera. EVERY single review has been positive and HIGHLY recommended. Ordered one for myself. May regret later that I did not order several more as gifts

hobbitus wrote:lens glass or plastic?

From #3 in the product FAQ here

Panasonic has never made any digital still cameras with plastic lens elements. On some models, the other lens case parts may be plastic, but the optics are high quality glass lens optics.

newwoot2010 wrote:What is the problem with you people! Let anyone post whatever they want and let the readers decide what to accept or ignore.NightGhost and many other frequent posters usually provides very helpful information.You can ignore any posted information or read all of them. It's your choice but let me have the option of benefiting from everyones input.Stop being so envious of "quality posts". "Quality posts" have absolutely no value (other than to stroke the ego of the poster) and unlike frequent flyer miles you don't win anything no matter how many you accumulate.You may post something you consider very useful and not be recognized for your efforts. Life isn't always fair and if you let it bother you too much it's bad for your health.So, move on and GET OVER IT!

You say people should be able to post whatever they want yet you joined woot 3 days ago and are already asking what's wrong with me based on my post. I wish I didn't already have a point and shoot camera. This Panasonic appears to be a great buy and sold out quickly. Woot, any way you can put the Samsung with the 15x optical back up. Now that would be worth having as a second POS camera.

hskr wrote:I've never used a Panasonic camera to comment on how good they are, but being a previous Canon A590 owner, I am going to say you will miss your A590 if you replace it. My kids were playing with ours and dropped it in a sink full of water and it died. Replaced it with the Canon A1000IS which was supposed to be the "new and improved" replacement for the A590 and I'm not impressed. The A590 worked much better than the newer camera and had a lot more features. It seems with electronics like cameras that as new models come out, more and more features are lost as everyone is in a race to make things as simple as possible. Which, I guess for most is a good thing, but for anyone who likes have more control over their pictures is a bad thing.We still have the A590 laying around the house but it does not work. It's just a toy for the kids now, but I really wish we had it back. The picture quality was better and it had more usable features.

You know... I hooked my old cassette deck up to my stereo last year. I remembered how great all my tapes sounded in the 80's. You know what? I don't see how I could have listened to cassettes for so long. The hiss was unbearable. I'm pretty certain the A590 has a lot of nostalgia attached to it. Digicams have come a long way over the last few years.

Your A590 vs an SD1000 or A1000? If you want more manual features, perhaps you should have gotten the S or G series. Most users don't know what to do with more manual settings and if they did, they generally wouldn't use the Canon A series.

As far as this camera, I just bought one from Costco the other day. I primarily got it because it shoots great pictures with the iA mode and the 8x optical zoom. I got a semi-pro DSLR and a super portable DSLR already. This is a pretty darn good P&S in my opinion. Sometimes, you just want to be able to pull something out of your pocket and not look like a joker carrying around all that gear. The iA mode will meter and focus where I want it to about 80% of the time. That's better than most auto modes out there on the market.

Cheers all... happy wooting.

Sorry that I missed this deal. I hope Woot has more digital cameras in this price range. I am looking for a Canon, Nikon Or Panasonic.

Mass: 0.35lbs

the force tells me something's wrong with this statement.

any nerds out there?

anyway, back to studying

richardhod wrote:Not so sure about that. I looked at the posted manual and it wasn't a comprehensive one, just a basic "howto" booklet. IMHO This almost certainly has some kind of delay shutter, since all the digital cameras I know have one.

Sold out now, but...

I think we might be on the same page. It does have a shutter delay - that's the self timer. The OP was asking about time lapse, which is a feature that most P&S's don't have - wherein the camera takes shots continuously after a given interval (so you can put them all together and get an extreme slo-mo video).

p.s. Go Raiders!

willieblackmon wrote:Mass: 0.35lbs

the force tells me something's wrong with this statement.

any nerds out there?

anyway, back to studying

The force, Luke?

Let's see - F = ma (force equals mass times acceleration). So you're using your force on the mass...

Quick - go get the camera before it's gone!

Oops - too late!

p.s. Go Jets! (yes, I root for 3 teams)

canyon2988 wrote:Sorry that I missed this deal. I hope Woot has more digital cameras in this price range. I am looking for a Canon, Nikon Or Panasonic.

We can hope, but I don't recall (nor can find on a quick search) any Nikon or Canon digital cameras that Woot/Sellout sold, just Panasonic so far. They had the Canon digital video camera on sale about 3 years ago and the PIXMA printer last June. As NightGhost was saying earlier, Woot tends to sell lesser brands, Panasonic is the closest to a "quality" brand that they've sold in digital cameras that I can recall.

Edit: The closest thing I can find similar with a good price is the Amazon special on the
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP1
12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image for $79.

NightGhost wrote:
snip

p.s. Go Jets! (yes, I root for 3 teams)

Maybe you are a coastal person? At least all three of them are at least 0.500 teams, just the Raydahs are on the outside of the playoffs now.

Kodak Easyshare ZD15 10MP 10x Zoom Digital Camera for $89 + free shipping
Amazon.com offers the Kodak Easyshare ZD15 10-Megapixel 10x Zoom Digital Camera, model no. 1260835, for $89 with free shipping. That's $31 under the lowest total price we could find for a similar Kodak digital camera elsewhere. Features include a 2.5" LCD, 10x optical zoom, 640x480 maximum video resolution, face detection, image stabilization, SD and SDHC memory card slot, USB cable, two AA batteries, and more.
EDIT: Camera is new with 1 year warranty and is the same as the kodak 915 but was made for Targets Black Friday sale in 2009.It was one of Targets door buster specials at $129.

dliidlii wrote:Kodak Easyshare ZD15 10MP 10x Zoom Digital Camera for $89 + free shipping
Amazon.com offers the Kodak Easyshare ZD15 10-Megapixel 10x Zoom Digital Camera, model no. 1260835, for $89 with free shipping. That's $31 under the lowest total price we could find for a similar Kodak digital camera elsewhere. Features include a 2.5" LCD, 10x optical zoom, 640x480 maximum video resolution, face detection, image stabilization, SD and SDHC memory card slot, USB cable, two AA batteries, and more.
EDIT: Camera is new with 1 year warranty and is the same as the kodak 915 but was made for Targets Black Friday sale in 2009.It was one of Targets door buster specials at $129.

Steves-digicams review of the kodak z915/zd15

Bottom Line - The Kodak EasyShare Z915 is a compact, versatile digicam for the photographer on a budget. It can be used by anyone with Smart Capture (auto mode) for beginners or full manual mode for more advanced photographers. The 10x optical zoom lens and optical image stabilization really make this camera stand out, as it only has a MSRP of US 199.95. This is the way to go if you are looking for as much versatility as you can get for as little as possible. If you'd like better image quality and can deal with a shorter zoom range, take a look at a camera like the Canon Powershot A1100 IS.

whatsamattaU wrote:Maybe you are a coastal person? At least all three of them are at least 0.500 teams, just the Raydahs are on the outside of the playoffs now.

East Coaster - root for all NY teams in all sports + my all-time favorite "Raydahs."

That Samsung digital with the Schneider lens was a pretty nifty Woot too.

NightGhost wrote:Sold out now, but...

I think we might be on the same page. It does have a shutter delay - that's the self timer. The OP was asking about time lapse, which is a feature that most P&S's don't have - wherein the camera takes shots continuously after a given interval (so you can put them all together and get an extreme slo-mo video).

p.s. Go Raiders!

gotcha yes you're right.. I misread time lapse for shutter delay! Still, crap manual they published. Proper manuals tell you ALL the functions.

NightGhost wrote:East Coaster - root for all NY teams in all sports + my all-time favorite "Raydahs."

That Samsung digital with the Schneider lens was a pretty nifty Woot too.

Go Bills?

jimatqsi wrote:I can't use this camera below 32F? Or in 90% humidity? Is that a common digicam limitation?

There are several possible reasons for this. Humidity can get trapped inside electronics and cause problems with certain components, and evn condense on the lenses. Some VCR's (remember those?) will even refuse to work and flash a warning when the humidity id too high.

As for working below 32F, some electronic components need to be warm to work. The most striking example are CRTs (non-flat panel TVs) and old pre-transistor tubes. The cathode literally needed to be hot enough to burn off electrons. That's why non-solid state (tube-based) appliances were so hot and power-hungry. While cameras don't have cathode tubes, I believe the picture sensor needs to be warm-ish to work.

BUT ... the major reason is the LCD display. The "L" stands for "Liquid." Basically, the display consists of opaque crystals floating in a gelatinous liquid. Electricity turns the crystal. When it faces you flat, you see ablack segment. But when the edge is facing you, you see nothing. Here's the problem: When it's freezing (32F), the liquid is too viscous (thick) for the crystals to move. Imagine trying to move through slush, aka near frozen water. Since modern digital cameras have no viewfinder, you rely completely on LCD screen for framing and info. But the display will be blank because the crystals can't move. This is true of all LCD panels from laptops to TVs to iPods.

dabills22 wrote:Go Bills?

No - only NY teams.

Just got mine. It was packed really well, but Fedex left it out in below freezing temperatures without ringing the doorbell, so I have to let it thaw before I charge the battery and see how it works.

Some may be interested to know that the SD card I received in the package is a class 2 SanDisk card, not a class 4 Panasonic card as pictured on Woot.

On the plus side, it comes with the original CD that includes a 143 page PDF manual which is much more detailed than the one on Panasonic's website. It also includes an official statement of warranty, which is nice for a refurbished product.

An interesting footnote: the box says the camera was made in China, and refurbished in Mexico.

Prime64 wrote:Some may be interested to know that the SD card I received in the package is a class 2 SanDisk card, not a class 4 Panasonic card as pictured on Woot.

Not just pictured, but listed.
Perhaps I am overreacting, but I am a bit upset at this. (And I presume there's nothing to do but buy a class 4 card?)

pakopako wrote:Not just pictured, but listed.
Perhaps I am overreacting, but I am a bit upset at this. (And I presume there's nothing to do but buy a class 4 card?)

I didn't realize that it was specifically listed as a class 4 Panasonic in addition to the picture. In that case I think it's perfectly reasonable to be a bit upset that what we're getting doesn't match that description. Unfortunately, I doubt Woot will be able to do anything about it at this point. The way it came packaged makes me wonder if they were sent to Woot pre-packaged and they wouldn't have known about the discrepancy unless they opened one up to check.

Prime64 wrote:In that case I think it's perfectly reasonable to be a bit upset that what we're getting doesn't match that description. Unfortunately, I doubt Woot will be able to do anything about it at this point. The way it came packaged makes me wonder if they were sent to Woot pre-packaged and they wouldn't have known about the discrepancy unless they opened one up to check.

So does this mean Panasonic gets a badgering call, or Amazon?

pakopako wrote:Perhaps I am overreacting, but I am a bit upset at this. (And I presume there's nothing to do but buy a class 4 card?)

Strange, the SC card I received is a Panasonic class 4.

Btw, it appears that the battery does not charge through the USB. Still, I am extremely pleased with the quality of the camera, and especially it's performance in low light situations. This will make an excellent bring everywhere camera.

prestidigitous wrote:Strange, the SC card I received is a Panasonic class 4.

*dang*

Sure, the price difference is... actually not so small (when you include shipping). I really thought I was getting a class-4 card, which would work so much better in this camera than a class-2. (Anyone up for a trade?)

Man, times like this I wish WOOT had a customer service department.

Mine just came today and it came with a Panasonic Class 4 card.

As far as the camera goes, I'm pretty happy with it so far. I'm actually a professional photograper and I have two DSLR's and a crapload of other assorted fancy camera gear, but I'm also a mom and sometimes I get sick of carrying my crapload of assorted fancy gear around just to take snapshots of the kids. I've been meaning to get a P&S for a while but I'm such a picky photographer that I was afraid that I'd hate the picture quality of any P&S. The price of the Panasonic and the good reviews made me decide to give it a try.

I played around with it today and it does have some pretty nice features for a P&S. It has a custom white balance setting that I liked and I can set the ISO easily. It also has a lot more shooting modes than I've ever seen on a camera, which is kind of cool. For the price I was surprised at all the features this camera has.

The picture quality is decent enough. It's not SLR quality but it's not bad. I took a few pictures outside during the day and it did really well. I took a few in the house at night and it didn't do quite as well, but I can get out my SLR and lighting equipment for night shots, so that doesn't bother me too much.

It defintely won't replace my fancy SLR by any means, but it will work great when I just want to get a quick shot of my kids at the park or something. It's a pretty decent camera for the price.

I received my camera. Also got a class 2 card (not sure how much I care since I'll probably upgrade to a class 10 large capacity card). The camera body has some small scratches - looks like it was dropped - probably why it was a returned refurb. All that said, this camera is really nice. Takes great pictures and the interface is super intuitive. I'm satisfied for $100 but if I knew how good it was I would have sprung the extra $50 to get a new one. Regardless, its a good woot. Now I'm wondering if I should spring for the squaretrade. Hmmmmm.

I got mine and was lucky enough to receive the Panasonic class 4 card. This camera is awesome. Everything the reviews touted it to be. Very happy with this purchase.

It arrived, and looks like new, save for the referb sticker! HEY WOOT! I received a class 2 Sandisk card!?!?!? Not what was advetised.

For the heck of it I swung by Squaretrade, for $16.79 was able to pickup a two year warranty for the gift recipient using code :SANTA

I also received a Class 2 SD card with my camera. I feel a little cheated.

Has anyone figured out how to get the picture names to reset to P1000001.jpg ? Mine started around P1000020, and despite formatting both the card and internal memory, resetting the camera from the menus and renaming an existing file lo a lower number it just keeps counting up like an odometer for the camera.

Not the biggest problem, but it's a little annoying not to have any control over the naming order.