By chance I came to this thread straight from the
Panasonic forum on dpReview.com.
I like my Panasonic TZ-1 and just gave one to Younger Daughter for Christmas. This model is the only pocketable 10x zoom on the market and it makes excellent short videos also. There are better cameras for primarily indoors use, but outdoors for nature or tourism photography there is nothing like it.
Here's what I was reading. It's typical of many posts in that forum:
"A friend of mine and a family member recently purchased the TZ1 based on my experience with Panasonic camera's and a little bit of research.
Firstly, their expectations did not exceed the capablity of any prospective camera, and they wanted a point and shoot with big zoom and compactness, so enter the TZ1! Both were very pleasantly suprised with what they got - I have now spent some time assisting them and taking lots of different samples to demonstrate the capability of the camera.
The construction of the camera is excellent, it fits in a pocket, the zoom is very good, the optics first class - pictures and sharp, clear and have good colour balance. Outdoor results are excellent, indoor results very good.
The video is very impressive, and the stabilisation and zoom capability during video is very usefull and very good.
The high angle lcd adjustment is good, so you can hold the camera high above your head and use the screen.
It all comes down to your needs and your own opinion in the end - In my opinion, if you want the best compact large zoom camera on the market today, that offers full point and shoot, no fuss, with all round excellent results, and excellent value (check the excellent Leica optics for example)then have a serious look at this camera - On top of that its fun to use, and you won't put it down.
For travel, and every day use it would be hard to find a better little all round camera."
Younger Daughter is interested in nature photography. No kid is going to listen to Dad's advice for more than 5 minutes on Christmas day, so I followed up with an email to her pointing out some sample TZ-1 nature photos on the web:
"For the TZ-1, John Reed is the most prominent disciple [on dpReview.com]. He lives [near SF Bay] and occasionally organizes birder outing to his nearby marshlands.
Reed Examples:
http://john-reed.smugmug.com/gallery/1357189/6/66835144
http://john-reed.smugmug.com/gallery/1357189/8/69002498
http://john-reed.smugmug.com/gallery/1357189/9/69691616
http://john-reed.smugmug.com/gallery/1357189/9/69692961
http://john-reed.smugmug.com/gallery/1357189/10/69693188
http://john-reed.smugmug.com/gallery/1357189/12/70786911
http://john-reed.smugmug.com/gallery/1357189/19/104167534
http://john-reed.smugmug.com/gallery/1357189/20/106406229
Enjoy!"