The old saying; "It's Like Talking To A Brick Wall". I've started talking to brick walls. They are great listeners. Spoke to a few so far, but this one stood out and has become a good friend. The only good friend I've got. Warm mode with the Lumix.
Lumix Cool Mode Example Picture
Here is a quick picture I took in cool mode on my Lumix TZ1. It was cool vivid . On the TZ1 two options can be chosen. You get the colour modes: Black and White, Warm, Cool, Sepia etc. And then there's also the option of Natural, Standard and Vivid. These two can be combined together, which is really good. I like vivid black and white mostly. And normal picture [all colours off] with only vivid turned on. Cool mode is quite good. There's a coldness, blue-ness / blue tinge to the pictures.
Stray cat is always watching me but keeps his distance. He certainly closes the gap when there's food available. He loves cheese.
Are There Two Types Of Lumix TZ1
I've been reading quite a lot of reviews on the Lumix TZ1 over the last week or so. I wrote a bit about how it was still currently for sale on Amazon after all these years. You can read that post here. I was surprised by the mediocre review score for my favourite camera. Don't get me wrong, some people love the camera, and some don't for one reason or another. However, from reading through all the reviews, the one thing that has stood out to me was that some people were buying their second Panasonic TZ1.
They had owned the first one and thought it was an excellent camera. But for whatever reason, after some years of ownership there was a problem. As happens with cameras of all shapes and sizes that are being used in real life. Things like, they dropped it and it broke, it just stopped working, they lost it etc.
Whatever the reason, these people loved the TZ1 and wanted to buy another one. So they did. The pattern here is that all of these people were disappointed with their new TZ1. Most said it was like using a totally different camera. Their first TZ1 took really good pictures, had great stabilization, and just worked well. Their second one was the total opposite. Some said it was a struggle to even get it take a picture that wasn't out of focus.
I personally believe these people are correct. Maybe a good amount of TZ1's were made with a fault of some kind. Or some were just inferior products. That would explain many of the poor review scores. And going on the comments from people buying their second or third Panasonic TZ1, it's luck of the draw.
He can't believe it either.
Some customers got a good one, and some got a bad one. That's what it seems like. I'm thankful that mine appears to be a good one. If it wasn't I would have been having a right good moan about how bad it is. And, like others who got a bad one as their first purchase, in disbelief at how great some reviewers say this camera is. Are we on about the same camera I'd say, just like others have said. Well, in this case, probably not.
One man even accused websites reviewing this camera of uploading sample images that had been heavily edited in Adobe Lightroom editing software. He said there was no way those images came from the camera he bought. He could be right about the websites using editing software. Who knows for sure. But if I was to take a guess I'd say he probably got a bad camera.
So yes, going on peoples reviews and how some had experienced having both a "good" TZ1 and then a bad one, I'd say there definitely is two types of TZ1. This is terrible news for me, and anyone else thinking or needing to buy a TZ1 in the future.
It makes me hesitant to try and get another if something goes wrong with mine. I'd have to buy one used from somewhere online. So It's going to be hard to tell if its a goodie or a baddie before purchasing. And what if I, or anyone else looking for a good one, was on the receiving end of bad luck by purchasing one from somewhere and it ends up being a bad one. Then sending it back, then getting another one, and that's also a bad one. Imagine if this just kept on happening!
The TZ1 Is Still For Sale On Amazon
I was very surprised to see the Panasonic Lumix TZ1 DMC-TZ1K being sold on Amazon today. This camera was released almost 20 years ago now, and there have been thousands of new cameras released since then that have tons more features. But still, it is on there for sale. I've never read the reviews or viewed the buyers uploaded images on Amazon for this camera before, so that was cool. Sadly, though, the review score on the Amazon listing is quite poor. Reviews are quite mixed. It seems like some people did not like the TZ1 when it came out. Some were annoyed about its poor performance in low-light conditions among other things. And yes, I do agree. It isn't great in low light settings. But no camera is perfect.
This camera can still be found for sale on Amazon. You can see the listing here.
Also, the images on Amazon uploaded by buyers of the TZ1. Some are nice and have good sharpness [there's a great one of thunder striking the ground], but most are not so good. Most of mine are terrible, too. Haha. But I think some of the poor images on Amazon could possibly be down to Amazon striping some of the quality from the image in the upload process. Some websites do that, but I'm unsure if Amazon do. Maybe they did when these images were uploaded a long time ago [2006 / 2007].
I don't think they do it now. But then again, even with professional DSLR's, amateur and professional photographers take tens or even hundreds of shots in one sitting. Many of them are terrible and have noise, blur, wrong framing etc and get discarded. They go through all the pictures taken and pick out a few as the best ones. I think all cameras are the same in that respect.
I'm certainly no expert. I wouldn't even consider myself an amateur photographer. Just someone who likes taking pictures. But I've owned many cameras over years, DSLR's, Bridge cameras, point and shoots. And they were all the same. I never had a camera that could consistently take amazing shots one after the other.
Reading the reviews, it's strange to read such negative things about my favourite camera. I understand it though, it's not for everyone. However, I do think that maybe some of the negatives are due to people buying the camera, not knowing how to use it straight away, then rushing to write a review.
I bet many of the reviewers who didn't give the camera a great rating initially, on a first impressions basis, went on to use the camera for a week or two and ended up finding the best settings / stabilization etc. After that they got the hang of it and ended up loving it. They just couldn't be bothered to update their review. Or just forgot.
Brown Butterflies on Thistle flowers
This is just a theory of course. But I bet it did happen with some of those purchases. I've done it myself with other products. Not very often but it has happened in the past. I've bought a product, can't figure it out to begin with and think its terrible. Leave a review. Then, after a week I spend more time playing with it, figure it out and think its great. But the review doesn't get changed for whatever reason.
The price on Amazon. I mean, wow. It is high. I guess they are selling it with that - this is now a collectors item mindset. Someone would have to really love this camera to pay that much for it. I don't think anyone has bought a camera from that listing since 2006 / 2007. Actually, looking deeper and sorting by most recent, there has been reviews up to 2024 from people that bought the camera. And many of them are verified purchases.
Camera is available in Silver, Blue and Black. From different sellers. One of the sellers is from Japan, but the order is fulfilled by Amazon. So I think that means the product is in the USA. The TZ1 can be found much cheaper on eBay. I don't need a TZ1, I've got mine. But personally I wouldn't buy from eBay unless I really really had to. I am boycotting eBay due to all the bad changes they have implemented for buyers and sellers. And I advise others to do the same.
Amazing View From Hotel Window
I've seen some amazing views from hotel windows over the years. In real life and online. But nothing beats this one. This was at a Travelodge hotel in Birmingham UK. Frankley M5 Southbound to be exact, which is very near Bartley Green. Reviews are quite mixed for this hotel. My review would be good. Not a bad hotel at all. Staff leave you alone, room was nice, clean etc. Complaints. Freeview TV was terrible. It was really old and the "info" for what program was on at what time was non existent. Changing channels was really slow also. Other than that, and the fact that the toilet / bathroom never had a lock on the door, and that the bath was dirty and stained [did have a shower though], it was a fairly good experience for the price. I would stay there again.
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