12 April 2016

The new old camera

New to me, old to the camera market overall. It arrived yesterday — a few days late. I bought it off eBay, and it was shipped to me from a seller in Berlin. For about a year, I had given up hope of finding another camera like this one. You see, I had one before, and I gave it away in early 2015 because I wanted to "upgrade." The so-called upgrades have just not worked out.


The camera I had before was the Panasonic Lumix ZS8. I loved it. Over the past year, I had a hard time finding one of those available among the used camera offerings on line. That was especially true because I thought I needed to have the camera shipped from the U.S. to France, and many vendors don't ship such merchandise internationally.

I noticed yesterday that my plum tree already has a lot of plums on it.

I also didn't want to invest a lot of money in a used camera. Many of the used models were too expensive, and the ones advertised as new were listed at US$400 to $500. But the fact is, I spend a lot of time taking and processing pictures, indoors and outdoors, for this blog. It's an important part of what I do every day. So I continued longing for a better camera.


For some reason, I started reading about small digital cameras and I came across the CCD vs. MOS (or CMOS) sensor issue. Camera manufacturers worldwide turned to MOS technology 4 or 5 years ago. The new sensors had both advantages (cheaper, less power-hungry, enabling longer zoom lenses) and disadvantages ("noisier" images, meaning not as sharp or clear, and with some linear distortion).


Then I discovered that the ZS8 camera I had before, purchased in 2012, also had gone by another name. ZS8 was the name used in the North American market. In Europe it was always called the TZ18 (TZ stands for "travel zoom"). For a long time, back when the dollar was so weak compared to the euro, I bought my cameras from Amazon in the U.S. because they were so much less expensive there than in Europe.


The Panasonic Lumix TZ18 that I used for these photos — the one that arrived Monday, a few days later than expected — looks and behaves like a brand-new camera. I was lucky that the sun came out for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon, so I could take the camera out and do the test shots you see here.


My new old TZ18 came with a battery, a charger (including a car charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter), and a wrist strap. It set me back 113€, which is about $130 right now. That included shipping. The camera is probably four or five years old, but given how people buy cameras but don't use them much, it probably hasn't suffered much wear and tear.





There it is on the right, zoom lens fully extended and with a teaspoon for scale. I recommend the Lumix TZ18 / ZS8 if you are in the market for a new old camera and can find one at a good price.

25 comments:

  1. I understand what you mean, I miss my old Canon camera that I lost in a hotel while on a business trip. The irony is to buy my old camera now is actually more expensive than buying a new upgraded model of the same series of the camera...

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    1. New, the TZ18 / ZS1 Panasonic Lumix costs about twice as much now as it did when I originally bought it, exactly four years ago. As CHM will confirm, "new and improved" models of all kinds of products, including cameras, aren't always really improvements on the old ones. There are transition periods while manufacturers try to bring new products up to speed.

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  2. Now those pix are crisp...
    CMOS is why a lot of pro-photographers...if not all...shoot in RAW and then "develope" their pictures in a computer darkroom...
    There is nothing wrong with the CMOS sensor according to what I've read on various forums....
    it is the algorithms that turn the raw into a JPG...
    they seem to be adjusted for "acceptable and quick save"....
    rather than quality....and in a small "compact traveller" like yours...or my carry-around....
    they seem to consider this reduction in size and quality is vital...
    It probably is if you shoot home movies to bore the pants off other people...
    but if you want to take nice pictures...it really sucks!!
    Now...put a sticker on the back of this one that reads....
    "Don't give this one away!"

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    1. But Tim, why wouldn't the same apply to the conversion and compression of CCD-sensor images into JPG files? You can be sure I won't be giving the TZ18 away anytime soon. Very few cameras use the CCD technology now, but I'm sure that the MOS sensors will improve over time.

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    2. The answer from one very techie site stated that the algorithms haven't been modified enough to handle the increased data properly.
      What I do know is that my *istD [ccd] handles light better than the K7 [cmos] and gives constantly sharper results...and the *istD is only 6megapixels to the K7's 14meg,
      With my new K3 I am back to real clean sharpness again... And Pentax claim to have had all the algorithms re-written...and who am I to deny that...I know that I am getting far more good shots...
      My bro has published some pix on his Flickr site that he's revisited the RAW file and reworked it...and ended up with stunning results.
      JPG...nice.
      RAW...invariably dull.
      "Redeveloped" in Lightroom...stunning!
      And the Ely to King's Lynn train has got his pictures all the way down one side!!
      Hassleblad has just bought out a 100megapixel 6 x 4.5 camera....there aren't any examples pictures yet...and I have no doubt that a 32Gb card is more akin to a roll of 36 analogue! The review I read said that it only shoots RAW!!

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    3. So you think there's any possibility that new algorithms for converting raw to JPG might show up in a firmware update for my newest Panasonic camera?

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    4. That is unlikely now Ken,I think...the manufacturers seem to stop supporting the older cameras after a very short while!
      There hasn't been an update for my K7 since the K3 came out...the *istD hasn't had an update in six years...no, we are meant to buy the new cameras and "shut up and put up" I think!!

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  3. I can see what you mean. These pictures are stunning. I have been very pleased with my TZ3 for many years.

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    1. The oldest digital camera I still have in my possession is the Lumix SZ1, which was sold in Europe as the TZ6. The TZ3, which was the first Panasonic model I ever bought, went as a gift to my niece several years ago. It was and still is, as far as I know, a good camera, and she was happy with it. Now I'm up the the TZ18, and for the second time, except this time it's a European model rather than an American one. Same difference, I guess. Now, what will I do with the newer, MOS-sensor Canon and Panasonic models that I bought last year? Just keep them for a while, I guess and then see what makes sense. They take very good photos in good light conditions, and the zoom on each of them is fantastic.

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    2. A pencil and a pen are two tools used for the same purpose: writing or drawing but used in different ways. The same goes with your various cameras they all take photos. One could be used for close-ups, the other for long-shot or zoomed photos like the ones you took of Bellême or Sancerre last year. It all depends on the effect you're looking for?

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    3. Interestingly chm, I have a different lens on each of my SLRs!

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  4. Great for you! And, all of that information about the CCD vs MOS, and the same camera going by a different name in different markets-- all very interesting.

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    1. International things are always so complicated, and so is technology.

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  5. Wonderful pictures, especially the tulip and plum (?) blossoms.

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    1. The last two images in the post show that multi-colored tulip and then flowers that I think are peach blossoms. The plum blossoms around here are white. I tried to post red or reddish pictures today.

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    2. i have to agree with Diogenes... that tulip is stunning!

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    3. I love the tulip. It's like swirls of paint.

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  6. Ken, do you use the fruit of your Chinese Quince [fourth picture]?

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    1. That shrub with red flowers is not on our property but on the neighbors'. They don't live there full time, and actually they come down here from Blois less and less as they get up in years. I often walk with Callie over there. I don't know if they use the quinces. I'll ask them the next time I see them.

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    2. It is a nice plant....you get those flowers that last quite a long time...
      Then the attractive foliage and the fruits that smell wonderful.
      We had one on our allotment...but the flowers were not as attractive as these...but the fruit made wonderful paste and jelly!

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  7. Those are wonderful pics, Ken. I'm so pleased for you that you've found the camera you really like again. More pictures please! ;)

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  8. I have a Panasonic DMC-LZ7 that I bought because you were talking about it back when -- your pictures were a good recommendation. I've been pretty happy with it, although just doing snaps and not trying to publish anything.
    Once we got away from film and SLRs and so on, I've never quite gotten my head around the jpg and other tech stuff of digitals. I do like having a travel camera inexpensive enough that I don't worry too much about it.

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  9. On your recommendation, I was looking into this camera...too expensive new. But, just before I opened your blog I saw a used version within my price range, and it will arrive in a few days. I only hope in my hands I can duplicate the photos you show here.

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  10. Great photos. I've thought for a long time that the secret to buying technology, particularly digital gizmos, is to go for the model that's being superseded. You'll get it cheaper than the shiny new thing, and it may very well be better, and almost certainly not that much worse, in quality of results. Though I've ended up with a Canon SX something or other rather than the Lumix.

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