Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2 14.1 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 4.6x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 2.7-Inch LCD (Orange)

So far, I am pleased with the DMC-TS2. As anybody purchasing a waterproof camera probably does, I decided to find out right away how durable the camera really is. I started with a nice sunset on Lake Ontario. I placed the camera right down on the rocks as the waves came crashing in. My pants got a little wet, the camera took some very sweet shots, and lived to shoot another day! My next trip was white water rafting on the Salmon River. I clipped the camera with a carabiner to my PFD, and grabbed my paddle. The image stability worked fairly well. I got some good shots of upcoming rapids shooting one handed while being tossed around on the raft. On run number two, our fearless captain decided to spin into some oncoming rapids. I got tossed from the boat, shot down the river, bouncing from rock to rock. The camera and I took quite a ride. After getting pulled back into the raft (and clearing my lungs), I immediately turned on the camera and snapped some photos. The camera is definitely waterproof, and shockproof! Just remember to wipe off the lense or else you'll have some distortion due to water drops. I am not as pleased with the low light pictures. The TS2 does offer a starry sky mode with 15 or 30 second shutter speeds. Just don't expect it to come close to an SLR. I did a direct comparison with my Nikon D5000, and you can guess the results. The camera is FAST for a P&S. Quick AF and low shutter lag, key for taking quick and easy pics of the kids. My wife loves it because, "it is easy to use and it takes the picture when I want it to" as she says. Picture quality is good. My favorite thing about the camera, just like the saying goes, "The best camera is the one that's with you." You can bring this anywhere! On to the next task, Rock Climbing in the Keene Valley. ADK, here I come! Should get some nice shots from the rock wall : )

Like everyone else, I was looking for a rugged camera to take underwater/beach or on that ski trip where I would not worry about the camera. I did my research and like many have said it came down to the Panasonic and Canon and I chose the Panasonic because it was more portable and also because I currently love recording video of the family in HD using my sony camcorder that uses AVCHD which this Pansonic does too. I recently got to test this camera out on a family trip to the Maldives. Took this camera out snorkeling and to the pool over a half dozen times and had it rolling around in the sand with me and the kids. I took some pictures which came out good but my wife also brought along our Canon SD1000 whose pictures were extremely comparable. The pictures on the canon are probably actually slightly better in my opinion except that it can't take underwater pictures of the kids or the fish (unless I got a shell which I find too bulky to lug around). The true value was the video which was awesome. Now, it is not easy to record video underwater while snorkeling because glare off the screen was tough to get used to underwater, but once I adapted I have great footage of parrot fish, angel fish and even black tipped reef sharks that swim up to you. I have my son and wife pointing out at the coral and schools of fish swimming up to them. Truly once in a lifetime and this camera performed. Once we got back home from vacation, it snowed and with the kids, we went out for a good old snow ball fight which this camera recorded and even took a nice direct hit. So in summary, the pictures on this camera are OK and the video is great. The ruggedness and waterproof is what you want and this passes with flying color (even took a big licking on coral and came away with minor scratches). Also this was very portable and only slightly noticeably bigger than our Canon SD1000. It fit easily in my pocket and I took it everywhere. These are the reasons I bought it and it was definitely money well spend. (also the blue is a cool color to get too and stands out nice)

I read a lot of reviews for waterproof cameras, and found that everyone reviewing them had different problems. The cheaper Fujifilm didn't seem to take great pictures, the Canon seemed to leak for others, and the Olympus tough seemed to be really slow. This one seemed to be the one with the least problems, so I decided to go for it. WATERPROOF? - For now, yes. I took it out for several hours in the ocean, and it survived. Why do I say "For now"? The product manual seems to acknolwedge the fact that this camera's waterproof features last only about a year. The rubber seal is thin, and salt water, sun, and time will eventually corrode it. All water needs is the tiniest of cracks in the seal, and your camera is done. I like my camera, but I know it's only a matter of time until this eventuality occurs. Still, I cleaned it with fresh water, and used my little brush like recommended. The silicone cover is also handy to protect it a little more. The manual also seems to say that something like big crashing waves could be a little too much for this camera. I guess know this for all waterproof cameras: The clock is ticking. UNDERWATER PICTURES - They're good. You'll need proper light, but the pictures that come out look great. WORKING THE CAMERA UNDERWATER - The buttons are easy to understand. The arrangement could have been a little easier, but it's easy to know what you're doing REGULAR PICTURES - They look nice. 14 MP, I would say in some ways it rivals my DSLR MOVIES - They're good, not great, but this is a camera not a video camera, so the videos are decent. You'll have to decide between AVCHD Lite and MJPEG. Motion JPEG is an easier file extension to work with (since it's a Quicktime) I decided to go with the proprietary Sony / Panasonic filetype because it takes up about half the amount of space on your SD card as MJPEG and it's HD. The tradeoff I made, though, is that I have to import my movie files into Windows with my Panasonic software, which takes a long time. It converts them into .h2ts files along with three other associated files. I had to type .h2ts into the search function in order to find my videos among the thicket of associated file wrappers, and move them to another folder. After that, I have to convert them to MP4 files using Handbrake (a free software) and then I'm free to finally put them into photo editing software. It's a lot of work. FILE NAMES - For some reason, Panasonic decded to name all the files with really long numbers. On my other cameara, I just look for IMG-1002, so I know it's the 1002nd photo, but on this camera, Panasonic names them 1000040404(100001002) and it makes it really hard to look for photos. So far I'm happy with the camera, but I know I'll be mad the day I put it in the water and lose everything. If you're looking at this camera as a long-term investment, you'll be disappointed. If, however, you want some underwater pictures and know the risk, then go for it. I'd recommend a floating wrist strap if you go in the water. You'll need it when the water gets rough.

I had bought a Canon Powershot SD800 3 years ago as a convenient alternative to my digital SLR. It was also nice in that Canon has built an underwater housing for that camera and I used it on several dive trips with no problems and clear looking pictures. However, that camera met its demise in a washing machine .. don't ask. So I was looking for another camera with the same versatility as the Canon and even greater "toughness". After several searches, I came up with the Panasonic TS2. I don't normally associate "digital camera" with Panasonic, but as the very happy owner of several Panasonic products in the past, I looked more closely. This camera says its waterproof WITHOUT a separate housing (down to 10 meters or 33 feet , 1 atmosphere of pressure), takes pics with a resolution up to 14 mp and can even make HD quality (720p) video. Sounds good, but I wanted to test it out. I was still apprehensive about taking it underwater with no housing, but my wife and I went scuba diving the weekend we got it, being very careful to not exceed 33 feet, and shot both still pictures and video. All I can say is Wow! All the pictures came out well, and the video worked perfectly. There are more than 20 different shooting "modes" that depend on lighting, speed of motion of the subject, and I chose "underwater" (what a surprise) for the uw photos , as well as portrait when I took pictures of my wife. The modes were different, with the portrait mode giving more detail and slightly warmer colors. There are also 5 different focusing modes, so you can follow one object in the picture as it moves and the camera keeps it in focus vs. the background. I followed some fish this way and it worked pretty well. Getting home, we wanted to see how easy it was to convert the video to dvd , and that was a bit more of a challenge. The camera comes with software called "Photofun" but its not very intuitive so I used imageburn with another program called multiavchd to convert the .mts files(the video format Panasonic uses) to a format burnable to dvd. Within 5 clicks from sd card to dvd we were watching HD quality videos on our dvd player. We are very happy with this camera and will purchase the underwater housing so we can take it deeper than 33 feet on our next dives. The ability to take still and video shots as well as the overall ruggedness of this camera make this a very appealing camera to people who like putting their cameras in environments not normally considered safe for regular cameras.

My fiance and I bought this for our honeymoon in the virgin islands. We wanted a SLR but they are too big to travel with and are super expensive with extra lenses, and waterproof casings... That being said we stayed at a condo on the beach and for several days had the patio doors open (ie warm in room) and then we decided to use the AC about 4 days in the inside of the camera lense fogged up! Yes that was probably our fault but keep in mind with a sealed waterproof camera you can end up condensing moisture inside the camera when going from warm to cold. We opened the room back up to the outside air and it fixed itself over night... Other than that the underwater seals did great! No water leakage. However the photos aren't the best.. I had an old 7MP sony with a Zeiss lense and it took much better land scape and night photos. There is some noise in the backgound of the photos out of the water. In the water I found myself needing to take the same picture 2-4 times to get a good one to keep. Photoshop does help correct some of color and light issues you get under water. the other problem is keeping the camera still while snorkeling... The image stabilization works ok but the camera definatly works better if you are under water and not moving. I'm sure the pictures would get better if I knew how to use all the menus and functions that it has built in... But let's be honest with ourselves here... How many of us are going to learn what each sub-menu item does and remember how to use it? I am a point a click user for the most part and have written this review as such. The Ruggedness is good as i have dropped it several times (another good reason to buy if you are hard on electronics). Battery life is ok... We turn it off and on a lot and that seems to wear the battery down quickly and when using it on a regular basis during the day... Well you'll need to recharge every night to be safe for the next day. I was hoping to "have it all" with this camera. Great pic quality, good video, and great under water, and superior ruggedness. We ended up with an ok pic quality, great ruggedness, and haven't tested the video yet. I have found the 14mp will allow you to crop down a shot significantly and still be decent quality to print and put on the wall. All in all it's a good little camera and we would probably buy again for use on the beach, in water, and small enough to travel with. We'll probably still get an SLR in the future for better pic quality when we want it. I posted 4 pics of from the night palm tree shot to the scenic view of a bay.

What a complete letdown. As many others have posted, this camera is fine for capturing video and is a great companion for snorkeling or snow sports, however the still images are absolutely horrible. The images I get from my 5mpx cell phone are better than this camera. Yes it has 14mpx, but they are grainy and the photo sensor is somewhat color distorting and most be small considering the photo quality. Ive used the non waterproof version of this camera and its predecessor and it takes excellent photos. After this experience I simply gave up on rugged cameras once I found out that my insurance company has 100% no questions asked camera replacement guarantees for a small premium per year. I purchased a 14mpx 4/3 camera and although not rugged, it takes professional quality shots. When I need a camera I can throw in my pocket I use my old fuji z20fd 12mpx point and shoot and even at 3 years old that camera takes photos that far, far, FAR exceed those of this camera. I wanted to believe that finally a company came out with a camera that was both rugged and had excellent picture quality for a point and shoot, I was willing to pay for that combination, but again, it just didnt happen. So, if you just want to take video and need something waterproof and rugged, this would work just fine, but if you plan to take still shots, do yourself a favor and bring a second camera or try something else.

I bought this camera mainly for travel, especially dive travel! I do have an expensive Sony HD video camera with an Aquatica housing that I use for underwater photo and video. However, it is very unusable out of the water unless the camera is removed from the housing, something you don't want to do inside a small and splashy boat. I also have a Canon S5 IS that I like a lot, but don't want to expose it to water or sand or shocks, things unavoidable on the beach or a boat. Then the LUMIX TS2 came as the perfect beach/boat companion, and I can even use it for shallow water snorkeling where the video camera is also too bulky. I have had it for a couple months already and used it on a dive trip to San Andres and Cartagena in Colombia, and must admit that I am very pleased with its picture quality. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by Panasonic for including a 14Mp sensor in such a small camera since the pixel size becomes really microscopic, with the asociated high noise. Therefore I have mainly used this camera in the 7Mp setting and I cannot complain: pictures are very good: the zoom range is quite usable, especially the wide end, and the autofocus and exposure level are very accurate. Both above and below the water images and video are very good. I took many pictures at night in Cartagena that came out very nice, just pushing the camera against a wall or pole. The camera has more features than I can remember so I have to go back to the manual from time to time, just to learn again all the things I can do with it (even correcting in camera a slighlty tilted pic or do image cropping). And, as a bonus, you get HD video that you can play so easily on your HD TV by using the TV remote and an HDMI cable. You can survive without a PC with this camera for a long time. I can definitively recommend it for people like me that want to have peace of mind while using a good camera near the water, or in it!. Of course you have to be careful with the seals but I am used to that for my diving gear. I am really happy with this camera... Just two downsides up to now: 1) the shutter and zoom lever buttons are too close, and when the silicon jacket is on the camera, sometimes I have difficulty on moving one without touching the other. In various ocassions I took a picture while I was trying to zoom and viceversa. 2) the USB cable that came with the camera was not the correct one and since Panasonic used a propietary USB/Analog video connector that needs a very special cable I will need to buy it if I want to connect the camera to a PC (instead of downloading directly from the card). I realized this after 3 months so I will not go through the hassle of trying to get it as a warranty item.

I bought this camera to use for work (as well as for vacation/rafting ect). I appraise real estate, and figured it would be nice to have a rain proof, drop proof camera to get pictures of the homes exteriors, interior, attic & crawl spaces as the weather in Seattle is rarely optimal. I was dead wrong. The images are absolutely horrid. My $125 canon powershot 1100 IS takes crystal clear images of everything I need in any weather, and when I replaced it with this it was abundantly clear this was not a good stills camera in anything but super sunny optimal conditions (because those were the only good pictures I ever saw with it). I gave it a few weeks thinking I just need to learn this cameras differences on how it interacts with lighting conditions based on any given settings. I was wrong. Interior photos were O.K. when taken with good lighting, but even then the color renditions weren't correct, and it was generally fuzzy compared to any point and shoot I have ever used (of which there have been many). I'm sure people get good closeup pictures of people in great lighting, and decent underwater pictures in clear tropical waters, but for a $300 camera with a leica lens, it is an insult point and shoots everywhere. It was never clear on any picture taking outside in overcast conditions, but even in sunny conditions taking pictures of a home gave washed out details (brick/wood lines were smudged, general bad quality of image) and were an embarrassment to me upon delivery to my clients. Add the slow optics and obviously bad sensor to the mix and you have a $50 camera in a $250 body. I was really trying to like this camera as the external part of it was exactly what I wanted, but I need usable images. I have many years experience with shooting pictures on all types of cameras; this was not a case of poor camera settings. I have since gone back to my cheap powershot which puts this camera to shame in image quality in lieu of receiving a different brand/model of similar waterproof/shockproof characteristic. As a test before printing out my return receipt, I actually took a picture of my Joby Gorillapod which I placed on the floor, from both cameras from the same angle and distance using the same camera settings, and the noise and image quality discrepency on the TS2 compared to the Powershot SD1100 was huge; zoomed in 2x and 4x it was almost laughable. Don't waste your money on this, check out the Canon D10 or the Olympus Tough Series of cameras if you need a waterproof travel/fun camera.