Panasonic DMC-ZS45K 16 MP Digital Camera with 3-Inch LCD (Black)

Absolutely beautiful camera and it's a bang for the buck. Had some trouble with it getting frozen in iA mode but it was just a matter of formatting the SD card and the camera was good to go from then on. I use DSLRs but got this for my girlfriend and I was actually amazed by the picture quality and also the lens stabilization. She was impressed too she didn't have to apply filters or any editing with her phone. As of video, some people say it's bad in low light but I actually found the ISO noise pretty decent looking at 1600 and oddly didn't need to go up to 3200 in extreme low light. The zooming is amazing even while recording as it zooms in and out very smoothly and keeps the image amazingly stabilized. Audio is pretty good too and so is the wi-fi sharing. I would absolutely recommend this product to anyone looking for much better selfies and social media content as well as for vlogging. Also, the product is very sturdy (almost all metal), little heavier than you'd imagine (which I like), and with the wrist strap it feels good and safe in your hand. I would even have it as a second camera always ready in my pocket.

I bought this Lumix DMC-ZS45 more to complement than to replace my old PowerShot Canon camera. The feature that attracted me to the Lumix was the ability to rotate the monitor in order to see yourself when taking selfies. I bought a refurbished camera and so far its performance is satisfactory. The camera comes with a very basic foldout owner’s manual. If you want to take advantage of and learn more about the camera's different features, it’s best to download the manual from Panasonic’s website. I found that the camera is user friendly once I understood that settings may appear and/or change according to the recording mode I choose. I’m not an expert at photography so I usually set the camera to IA (intelligent auto mode) and let the camera do the figuring out. The settings on the dial are for recording modes that go from automatic to allowing you to select your owns setting for aperture, shutter, and exposure. Also it allows you to access the scene and creative modes. Portrait, Soft Skin, Scenery, Night Portrait, Baby, Pets are a few of the recording modes included in the Scene menu. Creative Control Mode allows you to add effect filters (black and white, sepia, etc.) to the pictures you’re taking. To set any of these modes, however, you have to fumble through a menu, which means it may take some precious seconds or minutes if you’re trying to go from “Portrait” to “Scenery.” I think this is probably one of the biggest disadvantages of the Lumix. With my Canon, I can make the same switch by just turning the dial. I also found the flash of the Lumix to be weaker than the Canon. Under some conditions and settings, it will fire twice and if you’re not aware of that, your subject probably would have moved by the time it goes off the second time. Overall, I think the camera takes good pictures and it saves them to memory faster than my Canon. I’m sure it helps that I’ve given the Lumix a high speed memory card (SDHC UHS-I card). The main appeal of this camera is the ability to take selfies. The camera goes into Self mode shot as soon as you flip the monitor to face yourself. The wink detector works well (if you wear glasses, you need to remove them if you’re the one winking at the camera) but it’s not a quick wink that it’s going to activate the camera’s countdown. You have to close one eye and keep it so until the countdown starts. You can set the camera to take up to 4 selfies in succession and choose from 3 defocusing patterns (background blurring), but you have to make sure you’re inside the frame. Anything outside the frame is blurred. The camera may freeze if you accidentally set the dial in between two modes while doing a selfie. I found out that taking the battery out and then putting it back in will restart the camera. I usually transfer my pictures to my PC by using the USB connection cable that’s included with the camera. It’s easy and fast. I don’t want to worry about passwords or about the safety of transferring data over Wi-Fi. I’ve only had this camera for about a month and I’m still playing with it. But so far, I like it

This camera has it all......20X Zoom, 3 to 14 mega pixels, wi-fi, AF Tracking, selfie enabled, image stabilization, video in 3 levels in High Def, motion deblur, handheld note shots, burst shooting, and all this for under $300. in a small shirt pocket size. Great buy and I am extremely happy with this Panasonic Lumix. Highly recommend you get this camera before the word really gets out!

We purchases our first DMC-ZS?? LUMIX 20X from best buy in Wichita in 2009 for $125 with 1 yr. drop or break. UNIT WAS Open box nothing missing. LUMIX 20X WAS Best camera we ever owned, loved it. Around 2010 picture quality deteriorated drastically it did not focus close ups and had very little depth perception, and poor color quality. Sent for repair twice in 2010, camera photo quality never improved at all. Third time returning in 2010 to best buy best buy paid us $125, and best buy keep the camera. We purchases our second LUMIX, a refurbished DMC-ZS45 LUMIX 20X Zoom fry’s, the first photos WERE GOOD. But 45 days later, it did not focus close ups and had very little depth perception, and poor COLOR quality buy we must keep the camera, fry’s gives 30 day warranty. We purchases our THIRD LUMIX, a DMC-ZS45 LUMIX 20X Zoom Camera from Andorama Camera - Amazon, from the first photo, it did not focus close ups and had very little depth perception, and poor color quality we want to return THIRD LUMIX to Andorama Camera or FIX LUMIX. they said we could return and they would RETURN our MONEY. We PREFER a good LUMIX OVER MONEY. We will never buy a point and shoot LUMIX again. When working they are a great camera, just not dependable, but we may buy LUMIX SLR, > $600. Panasonic DMC-ZS45 LUMIX 20X Zoom Camera with Wink-Activated Selfie Feature (Black)

I bought this camera for a trip I was taking. The camera worked great. It is small and takes good quality photos. The camera does use a specialized charger. I forgot the charger, but fortunately the person I was with had the same exact camera and it worked out.The charge does hold for a long time.

UPDATE: Now, exactly one year after purchase, the camera has completely quit working. And it only had very light use since I wasn't that fond of it anyway. I purchased this camera because a friend had the "older version" and it was really good. Unfortunately this one is significantly worse, it is far heavier, reacts slower, and worst of all, takes (mostly) bad pictures. When the picture comes out, it looks great. However, most shots end up out of focus and there is no way to make sure it is focused when you take the picture. It seems incapable of taking pictures in low light, such as at a restaurant, and the flash makes things look too stark. The most annoying thing is that the auto program constantly thinks scenes are "back-lit" and then takes several pictures in rapid succession and edits them together. The results are consistently disappointing. The only reason to have a camera as opposed to taking pictures on my phone is that the pictures should be better, however, they rarely are.

I love my new camera. Bought after doing some research on Youtube. Fast shipping, came in a sturdy box with a lot of protection. Looks & feels new! I've never owned a camera before, but it takes much better photos and videos than my HTC phone! 10/10 would buy again! Definitely buying a case though, I feel like an over-protective mom (don't want to break the screen!)

Honestly, the only thing that this camera has going for it is the optical zoom. The best way to put it is, that the images on this camera are on par to what you can get from a budget cell phone. I bought this for my wife because she wanted a vlog style camera. She didn't want anything too complicated or too difficult to use. So after doing a bit of research, I purchased this camera. Once It got it, there was a lot to be desired. First off, video quality is very noisy (grainy). I tried to remedy this with a lower ISO and still images where noisy (indoors). Second, the sound quality is horrible. There's a lot of white noise. Plus, the mics are located on the top of camera. Now, there are some cameras with mics on the top as well, but this camera was not made with video in mind. If you are buying this as a beginner camera for vlogging, DON'T. Save the money and buy something else. This camera is not made for video. Although it says it can record 1080, honestly, it looks more like 480 with a lot of noise. Now onto picture quality. Pictures are ok at best. To get the best image quality, you are limited to only shooting outdoors in great light. This lens starts at f3.3 so it doesn't let in a lot of light. On the tele end of things you are at f6.3. If you are indoors and zoom, forget about it. It get so dark, the camera has a hard time finding focus. So who is this camera for? If you are one that's only interested in photos and not obsessed with quality, this is your camera. The user interface is very simple and easy to navigate through. The user experience is so simple, that the include manual is just a leaflet. If you have young kids that are interested in photography, this would be a great starter camera if you can find it used. If your grandparents want something small and light and VERY easy to use, this is a great choice. If you are a photo enthusiast, a semi pro or even a pro....DON'T BUY THIS. You may think that you are saving a few penny, but you will only end up buying a new one and therefore spending more money. It may seem like I am bashing this camera. I am not. Like all things, there are good and bad. This camera is gear toward people who take a lot of selfies and it excels in that department. If you are simply buying this camera for pictures, keep in mind you will need good light. If you can avoid it, don't use the zoom (unless you have a lot of light....such as noon). The scene mode can help with images on a whole, just don't zoom in to pixel peep (images will be a little soft). Lastly the image stabilization works great.

I received this camera for Christmas and it's the best camera I've ever had. The photos are clear and sharp and the colours are true. I love the wi fi feature that lets me copy my pictures over to my iPad.

Great camera. Easy to take Selfie's with the flip up screen function. So far battery life has been excellent. Tried the different picture sizing options but the standard 4:3 seems to work the best.

Great. All features worked as stated. Like the selfie mode. Knew it was discontinued but wanted to buy it before it became unavailable. Has some good features for the right price

Great little point-and-shoot camera. Love the 20 times zoom and the clarity of the pictures I have taken so far.

I have had several point and shoot cameras, but Lumix continues to impress. First test shot were very good. This camera feels a bit more substantial that it's competitors.