Panasonic Lumix Video

Autofocus
Just like with many other compacts with a large zoom range, the autofocus performs brilliantly at the wide end and less well at the telephoto end. The camera locks onto static subjects instantly throughout the zoom range, but struggles tracking moving subject at the telephoto end, even when using one of the ‘high-speed’ modes.

Five AF-area modes are selectable in the menu, the default automatically chooses from nine separate areas across the frame. Other modes include a high-speed mode that is limited to three areas across the centre of the frame and three variations of central autofocus modes including high speed and spot.

Battery life
I managed to squeeze just under 200 shots out of the Lumix TZ1 before the battery gave up. Some of these shots were taken with the built-in flash, and most had the optical image stabiliser enabled. There is no optical viewfinder provided so the screen cannot be turned off whilst shooting to save batteries.

Memory card
The TZ1 uses SD memory cards which fit into the slot beside the battery. The following are write speeds for Jpeg quality settings using a Sandisk Extreme III card.