Digital Home Thoughts: Panasonic's Rugged & Waterproof Lumix DMC-TS1

This is a review video of the rugged and waterproof Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1 [affiliate]. This camera has a 4.6x optical zoom, a 12.1 megapixel CCD sensor, and can shoot 720p video in AVCHD Lite format or MJPEG. It's dustproof, can be dropped from five feet, and is waterproof to 10 feet. It also features optical image stabilization, a 2.7-inch 230,000-dot LCD display, and all the usual features such as face recognition and smart presets. It comes in orange, green, or silver.

The image quality on the DMC-TS1 is about what you'd expect; it's a completely average point and shoot camera. Below are four sample images; two without flash, two with flash.

The video on the DMC-TS1 is also equally average; it's 720p, which is better than most point and shoot cameras, but the sensor isn't particularly good in low light situations. But since you're more likely to use a camera like this to take videos at the beach than you are to take videos in a dimly-lit room, odds are you won't notice. All in all this is a good camera for the money, and since it's my first waterproof camera, I'm enjoying the novelty of being able to dunk a digital camera underwater.

The DMC-TS2 eclipses this model in a couple of ways; it offers a 14.1 megapixel sensor, waterproofing to 30 feet, and shockproof up to 10 feet. It retails for $399 USD at the time of this writing, whereas the TS1 can be had for $240 USD at the moment. If you don't need the extra waterproof depth, the TS1 is a much better deal.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, his son Logan, and his sometimes obedient dog. He likes having a camera he doesn't have to be gentle with.

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