Being a food blogger generally means lugging your camera everywhere you go, in case you eat something worth blogging about. The amount of times I've been out and forgot my camera is just disgraceful.
Having a DSLR camera with different lenses and tripod, all fit into a bag, PLUS carrying a hand bag can lead to feeling very bulky, and sometimes I find I just can't be bothered bringing my camera along. Although I always try to bring it again when food is involved! But other times, I just need a camera to shove in my handbag and not have to lug my trusty DSLR along.
For the last week, I've been lucky enough to give the new Panasonic Lumix TZ10 a spin, and it's been with me everywhere I go. It's a great travel camera, and it has a built-in GPS for easy organization of the photos. Especially if you have iPhoto like me, and you can see the locations you visited on the map. It would be great to take on holidays and pin point all the places on the map in relation to each photo. That way you'd never be like.. "uh... where were we in this photo?".
It has double hand-shake correction allowing you to take beautiful night shots at slow shutter speeds without blurring. I haven't tried taking night shots with it, but I will be in the up and coming weeks, but I noticed I was shaking a bit when taking some photos, and the shot still came out crystal clear. (Took a night shot just before posting, check it out below):
Another great thing about this compact little camera is what Panasonic like to call "Intelligent Auto" or "iA". It's great for when you don't know what setting to have the camera on, or you don't have time to fiddle faddle around. You just put it on the iA mode, aim and shoot. The camera will automatically detect and correct. It will automatically adjust the brightness of dark areas in an image, the face detection helps you to achieve clear portraits, and the intelligent scene selection selects the best settings for that particular scene.
This compact little camera records movies in HD with no loss of image quality. We were playing around making a video and plugged the SD card straight into the said of Hamsely's Panasonic Viera TV and within seconds we were viewing the video and pictures. It was all too easy.
Recording is SO easy too. With my last compact camera, when I was at a live concert, I'd have to spin the little dial and try to find video in the dark; with this camera, there is a button that just says 'record'. So to start and stop, all you have to do is press the record button. MUCH easier, and less fumbling around.
turn off your sound.
Some facts and figures for the camera nerds that are reading this: 12.1 Megapixels for great quality pictures, and a 25mm wide-angle 12x optical zoom f/3.3-4.9 LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens…allowing it to have twice the shooting area of the standard 35mm lens.
We found it really easy to switch from normal to wide screen, for those nice panoramic shots.
In fact, the menu of the camera is very easy to navigate, I never had a moment were I had to dig out the manual and figure out what to do. Playback on the large screen makes it easy to see if you didn't quite get the photograph you were after.
I don't carry around a big handbag, it's really quite small compared to most women's handbags. But I can tell you, my new camera will be living in my handbag, so I don't miss another foodie moment.
The Panasonic Lumix TZ10 retails at $650.00 AUD.
More information about the camera can be found at http://lumix.panasonic.com.au/products/Lumix/Camera/DMC-tz10
Terms and Conditions of Entry for the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 Giveaway
1. Information on how to enter and prize details form part of these conditions. Entry into this Promotion is deemed acceptance of these terms and conditions of entry.
2. The Promoter is Nuffnang Australia Pty Ltd ACN 133 905 647 of 28 St Edmonds Road, Prahran VIC 3181 ("Promoter").
3. The Promotion will be open from 12:01 am Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time (“AEDST”) on 3 August 2010 and will continue until 11:59 pm AEDST on 3 September 2010 ("Promotion Period").
4. Entry is open to all Australian residents, aged 14 years and over, other than management, employees or contractors of the Promoter and other agencies, firms or companies associated with the Promotion (including suppliers of prize), and their immediate families ("Eligible Entrants").
5. In order to enter the competition:
*Participants need to leave a comment on the Panasonic competition post published in one of the nine participating blogs (The comment must include their preferred contact method in case they win [blog URL, Twitter or E-mail Address]:
a) chocolatesuze.com
b) herecomesthefood.com.au
c) ironchefshellie.blogspot.com
d) jeroxie.com/addiction
e) ladymelbourne.com.au
f) melhotornot.com
g) myfoodtrail.blogspot.com
h) sarah-cooks.blogspot.com
i) violetlebeaux.com
6. The winner will be the entry the judges most creative and practical by the judges.
7. The judges' decision (including any decisions as to prize distribution) is final and the Promoter will not enter into correspondence regarding the result.
8. The winner will be notified via their preferred contact method, and will be asked to provide their email and contact phone number at that time. If they do not respond to the notification within 48 hours, Nuffnang reserves the right to select another winner.
9. To claim the prize, the winner must reply to the winner notification and accept the prize within 48 hours of the blog notification, as well as indicate their preferred address for the camera to be sent. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, they will forfeit the prize, and another winner will be selected using the same judging process.
10. The results will be published on the Nuffnang Australia website, the Nuffnang Australia Facebook page and Twitter account. Nuffnang Australia and Panasonic also reserve the right to publish the results, including a photo of the winner, in the media.
11. Nuffnang Australia’s business directors, management and employees, their immediate families, their retailers, suppliers, associated comapnies and agencies are ineligible. Panasonic’s business directors, management and employees, their immediate families, their retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies are ineligible.
12. Nuffnang Australia reserves the right to change these terms and conditions. If any changes are made Nuffnang Australia will notify the public via its website.
This post was made possible thanks to the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 and Nuffnang.
I would take the camera to the UK and take a photo of my 8 month old daughter with her cousin who is 10 days younger (they haven't met yet). It's not exactly the most creative photo, but it's a moment I would definitely want to capture!