Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS25 16.1 MP Tough Digital Camera with 8x Intelligent Zoom (Red)..
Special Price Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS25 16.1 MP Tough Digital Camera with 8x Intelligent Zoom (Red) By Panasonic
Most helpful customer reviews
117 of 119 people found the following review helpful.
By Jamie
I have only used this camera underwater once so far, but it was absolutely fantastic. I took it to the swimming pool with my daughter and niece as a test run, and got some great shots of my niece swimming underwater, and alternated with underwater shots and above the water shots. The camera is made to slough off the water as soon as you pull it out, so the pictures out of the water don't have spots or water drops on them. It seems like a minor thing, but it really made a huge difference. As for being waterproof, it seemed to hold up great. After we got home, I noticed it had some chlorine spots on a couple pictures (after I tried to use a dry cleaning cloth on it) so I soaked it in a sink full of clean water for about 5 minutes, and voila! Perfect photos again. I've seen some reviews that say this camera doesn't work well inside, haven't noticed a problem myself. Pretty much every single picture I've taken with the camera has turned out with great color balance and good lighting. I have had a couple overexpose a bit with the flash, but hey, this is a point and shoot camera, not a professional grade camera. The overexposure can be fixed on the camera itself with the offered image editing or with editing software on your computer.
We'll be taking the camera on a trip to the lake in a week, so we'll see how it holds up with the sand and murky water, but so far I am more than pleased with this little camera, especially for the price! Can't wait to take it out and play with it some more.
EDIT: Used this camera on a trip in pools, lakes, and rivers. Had a blast. Got some great shots in the water, above the water, canoeing, kayaking, and even in a water feature fountain thing for the kids to play in, all with no worries about water leakage. I do recommend purchasing a floating wrist strap because the camera itself doesn't float if you drop it in deep water. Even in the lake and river the pictures came out great, though you need to be close to your subject in dirtier/murkier water. After a month and a couple weeks, I'd say it's already earned its keep for the price I paid. I think we took somewhere around 1600 photos on a two week trip with this little camera, and 99% of them were fantastic. I also bought an extra extended life battery, and with constant shooting, I did need to change the batteries about once a day. But, I take a LOT of photos.
EDIT2: After reading some of the other reviews here, I think something needs to be said - this is NOT an expensive, professional level camera. It isn't being sold as one, because it's not. No, you are not going to get perfect pictures every single time. You're not going to get perfectly clear-as-day underwater photos (although you will get some awesome ones). This is a point-and-shoot camera that you can take in the water with you. If you expect more than point-and-shoot quality, you should not buy this camera. But understand you will spend more money on something else. For the average user, it is an absolutely fantastic camera for the price. You can take it anywhere, it fits in your POCKET (how nice is that?) and it will stand up to being dropped, getting wet, getting cold, etc. Take it on your family vacation without worrying about it. Now try to do that with a $3000 professional camera. Also, for people saying the quality sucks, I have blown up some of the photos from this camera to 16x20 prints and hung them on the wall. I certainly can't tell they were taken with a $140 camera, and neither can anyone else.
72 of 83 people found the following review helpful.
By Mike Jacobs
UPDATE 2: Just noticed another issue. The flash sometimes causes a bit of reflection the color of my finger along the right side of the imate, evidently becuase my fingers are too close (to the flash). This isn't an issue, I just move my fingers a bit. Good thing I preview work-pictures, though. I can't tell you how much I am appreciating the water and dust-proofing in this SE Florida monsoon season! No change in the rating.
UPDATE 1: Since purchasing I've used this quite a bit for work and personal photos. I still love the camera - I've been able to take pics in rain, around water and with a 4 year old hanging all over me without worrying about dust, water or dropping it. However, there are a couple of issues I haven't seen in other reviews: (1) the lens is easily "dirtied" by a finger print when you take this out of your pocket (no cover), and (2) I have to be more careful about taking photos in the direction of the sun or I sometimes get a big glare-streak... don't know why my other cameras didn't have this problem but it sometimes requires two hands (one to block the sun). These issues have not changed my rating.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Lots of camera-geek analysis here, and from what I read Panasonic meets my criteria - fast cycle after shooting, wide angle, durable and mainstream ("reliable") manufacturer. I mostly take photos for work, and any modern camera is satisfactory for family use.
This has a wider angle than my Canon PowerShot, which I am replacing, and no moving parts. I can shoot in the rain and carry it in my shirt pocket, neither of which are feasible with the Canon. The unit is "closed" so that I won't get construction dust or lint inside the lenses, which is why I need to replace my Canon.
Other than that, it's just a nice camera that I can get wet or drop, with all the usual bells and whistles (90% of which I'll never use). The price:value ratio is very good for my needs.
72 of 87 people found the following review helpful.
By DianeB
I took this camera to Mexico with us on vacation. The camera worked well and took some good pictures in and out of the water, as long as you used the normal optical zoom. My only complaint would be that the Intelligent zoom does not work very well, it's a bit grainy, especially in low light and under water. Saying that it has an 8X zoom is a bit misleading, since it is not a true optical zoom. Had no problems with leakage and we snorkeled for a couple of hours. My husband has an older model that has manual modes and a lot more picture options. Next time I would go with a higher end model to have those options. This camera is very small which can make it a bit hard to hold on to and the movie mode button is so small it is hard to push, especially if you had larger fingers. All in all I like the camera, but some small changes could make it much better.
