When looking at the front of the camera, the main attention is drawn to the silver outer frame of the lens (with the Leica logo). The whole arrangement of elements, as it were, mimics the shape of a perfect circle.
Everything has been done to make this, frankly, rather cumbersome but well made design look as light as possible. To some extent, the designers have managed to achieve this. Compared to the offerings from Canon, the TZ1 is much tougher, heavier and better made.
Rounded pen lines, rounded inscriptions. In this light, small elements, whether it be a flash or an auto-focus assist lamp, generally look like decorative ones. The observant reader has already noticed that the lens can be covered with a cap. It has a cable mount (included) so it will be difficult to lose.
By the way, despite its multiplicity, even in the tele position, the leading edge of the zoom does not strongly protrude beyond the dimensions of the device. Only at a far zoom length does the lens show itself. It will not even occur to others that you have a camera with a tenfold optical zoom in your hands.
On the side of the handle there is a special insert with an attachment for a hand strap. The top edge of the camera is full of controls. There is the mode selector, and the power switch, and the control button for the MEGA O.I.S. image stabilizer, and, of course, shutter release. It is framed by a metal ring zoom lever.
Personally, such a solution for controlling the zoom is not very important to me, but since reputable developers persistently use it in their products, it means that it is not so important, or works well for most consumers. I have grown to realise that it is very good when compared to other cameras.
There is a small wish for future developments to the stabilization control button. In this implementation, it simply initiates a submenu call, in which you need to select the desired item with the arrows.
Sure, that there are a significant number of people for whom it is more convenient to make a choice without resorting to the joystick, i.e. by pressing the button again, similar to choosing the desired flash mode or delay timer value. After all, there are only three points in it. If desired, you can even leave both methods of control. Despite a few quirks, I like this camera a lot.