Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
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Panasonic 12MP Digital Camera with Leica 12x Optical Zoom & HD Video
$139.99 + $5 Shipping
Condition: Refurbished

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

I have a similar camera (slightly earlier model) and absolutely love it; it takes great pictures, the lens is small so not quite as sharp as a full-sized one but still really nice, controls are easy, and this looks like a good price.

Love the write-up. Pure gold! Jerry, it's GOLD!

That seems like a nice price. anyone know what the orig retail price is/was?

12x optical zoom? Boy, I thought my 5x optical zoom was good...this is awesome! Great for stalkers, I guess.

mond wrote:That seems like a nice price. anyone know what the orig retail price is/was?

Its 199.99 at Amazon excellent reviews

CNET

Product Website

call me crazy, but this looks like an incredible deal. I don't even need a new camera, and I'm having trouble resisting. Good luck, all!

Panasonic a couple of years ago modified the firmware in their cameras so only Panasonic brand batteries would work. Does anyone know if they still prevent you from using a third-party battery?

PS, I previously owned a Panasonic with a 12x optical zoom. Once you get that sort of zoom, you'll never want to go back. The fully zoomed camera can see things that your eyes can't - it's like having a pair of binoculars. More importantly, it's great if you need to take good pictures, but you can't get too close to the subject, i.e., at the zoo, or a child's play, etc.

I've had this camera about a year (weird to see it on Woot?) No real complaints, it's a bit annoying to have the rechargable battery, would prefer regular...pictures are very, very good, the LCD is excellent, mostly easy to learn, though I'm still trying to get good shots during fast motion (sports.) Video is VERY good...overall happy with it, at this price an excellent woot.

quantamm wrote:Panasonic a couple of years ago modified the firmware in their cameras so only Panasonic brand batteries would work. Does anyone know if they still prevent you from using a third-party battery?

Yup.

Fishbone4u wrote:The link you posted is for a ZS7. Woot is offering a ZS6. The spec's are similar but not the same. The ZS7 has slightly better features.

Ah, You beat me. But here's the amazon link for the ZS6 Amazon ZS6

Froogled

Googled

Just wanted to say that we bought one of these from Woot a few months ago. It is a terrific camera. It takes better pictures than my $800 Pentax digital SLR. Well worth the money.

So not right. I just bought this 3 days ago at Amazon for $200.

Liking the camera so far.

spankbuda wrote:Wow! More cameras. Well @ least I'm 1st to post a comment.

Bought 1 last time around back in Dec. at $10.00 more . Great camera fairly large though for a compact but no problems .
Love how woot packed the thing . Wrapped in a piece of bubble wrap , slipped inside a zip lock and shipped in an incredibly large box .

cheroke55 wrote:Its 199.99 at Amazon excellent reviews

refurbished from $159.95

quantamm wrote:Panasonic a couple of years ago modified the firmware in their cameras so only Panasonic brand batteries would work. Does anyone know if they still prevent you from using a third-party battery?

I use a third party battery from Amazon with no problem. Just find one that is "decoded".

owns this camera and LOVES it.

I have the older but very similar Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 and it's an awesome camera.

bassanimation wrote:Just wanted to say that we bought one of these from Woot a few months ago. It is a terrific camera. It takes better pictures than my $800 Pentax digital SLR. Well worth the money.

Even if it was a POS *ist I wouldn't buy that on pixel pitch alone, as well as crummy lens resolution. Though it certainly may be hard to tell at web sizes at EV 12+.

(that being said, this is a decent compact, particularly for a superzoom)

Here is the correct CNET link.

As you can see, CNET has not reviewed the ZS6, but they have reviewed the ZS5 and ZS7 and they do discuss the differences between the three.

I have a slightly older Panasonic camera. Pretty fantastic, always been happy with it.

But like CNet says - low light is pretty awful.

flyngwalrus wrote:I have a slightly older Panasonic camera. Pretty fantastic, always been happy with it.

But like CNet says - low light is pretty awful.

Yeah, it's about what you can expect from a Matsushita 1/2.4" (noisier than the Sonys on many other compacts) but honestly you won't get much better without a larger sensor or backside illumination.

Just wondering in what way are they refurbished? Thanks

PROS:

- AMAZING 12x OPTICAL zoom!

- Excellent quality lens by Leica, a very well-respected lens maker

- OPTICAL stablization as well as a hybrid mode combining optical and digital stabilzation. Unless you use a tripod, stabilization is crucial when zooming, and a necessity when you zoom 12x.

- Ability to Zoom in movie mode

CONS:

- It uses the very inefficient Motion JPEG CODEC. Many newer cameras now use H.264 compression, which is 4x more efficient. That means you can fit roughly 4x more video in the same amount of space at similar video quality when using H.264. MJPEG is old technology. Then again, it's much more universally playable, i.e. you can plop the file into many digitcal picture frames and play EXCEPT...

- Panasonic stupidly decided to use the Apple's Quicktime (MOV?) container. I don't know for sure if this is the case, but the description mentions Quicktime. That would usually mean MOV, although it may also mean the more universal MP4 container. MOV is a bad idea because it's not supported in the Windows world (inhabited by the vast majority of computer users). I know of no Free or Shareware Windows program that would allow you to edit MOVs, You'd normally have to convert before editing, which means a decrease in quality. And it's time consuming, considering that these cameras tend to have lots of separate clips. Furthermore, virtually no digital picture frame (besides those from Kodak) or DVD player support MOV, which means that you can't just plug in your SD card for playing on TV. Panasonic should have chosen AVI, which is much much more universal, or even MP4.

So between this camera and the Samsung with the Schneider lens they had on here awhile ago, which was better? http://www.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?postid=4108294

I have the older TZ4. Bought it when it was closer to $200 (albeit new). A friend of mine has the TZ3. Even those were very good. The ZS6 is a step above the TZ5, so this is is a good price for an even better camera.

haveabigjohnson wrote:So between this camera and the Samsung with the Schneider lens they had on here awhile ago, which was better? http://www.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?postid=4108294

I have a greater affinity for the HZ30W but part of that is my dislike for Panasonics UI, and the history of so-so low-light on the LX/ZS series.

Don't worry about the lens branding, it's decent for a compact lens but it's mostly marketing. It isn't any more "Leica" than the "Schneider" on the Samsung or the "Zeiss" lenses that Cosina and Kyocera have made for decades. All three companies started outsourcing production and licensing their brand names long ago.

WoooHooo! Bought ONE! This is the 3rd Panasonic LUMIX that I own. I LOVE THIS CAMERA and what luck, because the my ZS3 broke a month ago when I dropped it eating Battlefield Earth (2000) at Islands of Adventure in Orlando and the screen turned to dust.

They take great pictures, the video is stunning, and take a beating!

Boy, not as easy to find the previous woot this time, from December:

http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=4274531

Edit: from previous woot (I hope these people don't mind):

NightGhost wrote:Here's the manual

support page

scottskillman wrote:Keep and eye out for the firm ware upgrade that can be found
here!

Edit: Hold off on the firmware upgrade link. haveabigjohnson pointed out in later post that it doesn't seem to be the same model. I'm still checking this out.
Edit #2: scottskillman did have the wrong link, now corrected, full credit to haveabigjohnson. Sorry.

This is a great camera for the following reasons:
-Compact 12x OPTICAL zoom
-Leica is an excellent lens
-Large LCD
-many useful modes, lets you do quite a bit for not being a (D)SLR
-Overall great quality pictures

The bad:
-a bit heavy...doesnt bother me
-a tad big...this is not a good replacement for a point and shoot-but it is if you need a little more out of a point and shoot and dont want to take the 'next step' (like a dslr)
-Some may find it obvious, but a tripod is essential if you want quality 10x+ zoom pictures (or a flat surface...just needs to be stabilized. The stabilizing modes are good for short zoom, but it cant handle shaking)

For $140, you can't go wrong if you need a new camera with some power

bassanimation wrote:Just wanted to say that we bought one of these from Woot a few months ago. It is a terrific camera. It takes better pictures than my $800 Pentax digital SLR. Well worth the money.

Well, part of the problem is that you bought a Pentax digital SLR. Many cameras would compare favorably. This Lumix is not to the level of a Canon G-series, but it has the critical elements of a very useful camera: fast lens, 25mm equivalent wide-angle, a large sensor, low shutter lag, and a long zoom. It also takes great pictures, even in relatively low light. It just isn't very small--not pocket-friendly for most. But it's a lot of camera for the money.

ndquaker wrote:Well, part of the problem is that you bought a Pentax digital SLR. Many cameras would compare favorably. This Lumix is not to the level of a Canon G-series, but it has the critical elements of a very useful camera: fast lens, 25mm equivalent wide-angle, a large sensor, low shutter lag, and a long zoom. It also takes great pictures, even in relatively low light. It just isn't very small--not pocket-friendly for most. But it's a lot of camera for the money.

Is this where I mention that the Pentax K-5 has the best APS-C sensor on the market?

Also, the ZS series' sensors is typically sized.

Shinespark wrote:I have a greater affinity for the HZ30W but part of that is my dislike for Panasonics UI, and the history of so-so low-light on the LX/ZS series.

Don't worry about the lens branding, it's decent for a compact lens but it's mostly marketing. It isn't any more "Leica" than the "Schneider" on the Samsung or the "Zeiss" lenses that Cosina and Kyocera have made for decades. All three companies started outsourcing production and licensing their brand names long ago.

I found this link http://www3.shopping.com/xSBS-Samsung-Samsung-HZ30W-12-Megapixel-Digital-Camera-Black-Panasonic-DMC-ZS6~PT-xPO~P-1~PRDLT-102364034-95828334

Interesting if you note the "proprietary battery" issue. The links I saw seemed to rate this one better than the Samsung. I guess I will pull the trigger on this one, since I missed the Samsung.

Bought this camera from Woot in December. Best pictures of all my compact Point n Shoots. Got stolen in January.

I am glad to see it back again so I can replace it. My only sorrow is the Woot in December had a choice of colors, I loved my blue Lumix for the short time I had it. Guess I will have to be satisfied with basic black this time 'round.

haveabigjohnson wrote:I found this link http://www3.shopping.com/xSBS-Samsung-Samsung-HZ30W-12-Megapixel-Digital-Camera-Black-Panasonic-DMC-ZS6~PT-xPO~P-1~PRDLT-102364034-95828334

Interesting if you note the "proprietary battery" issue. The links I saw seemed to rate this one better than the Samsung. I guess I will pull the trigger on this one, since I missed the Samsung.

I wouldn't worry too much about the battery thing, as it's not the end of the world to suck it up and buy a OEM one every year and a half or so as they wear through.

Previous Woot from December 12

Previous Woot from January 25

I bought this camera for $300 18 months ago. Love everything about it when taking photos outdoors. The Leica lens is amazing. Indoors the flash is rather crappy. It works but you aren't going to get masterpieces out of it. Lots of settings and easy to learn. Overall a good camera for a great price.