Sample photos: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1

Photos were very good for its class. Nothing was ever completely sharp, which I'm attributing to the extra glass protecting the lens. There is a slight grainy salt-and-pepper noise across all ISOs, but as usual, the higher the ISO and the larger you view the photos the more likely you are to see it. Between ISO 200 and 400, photos get a little fuzzier and softer from noise reduction, but detail is still fairly good. At ISO 800 and even ISO 1600 there's some decent detail left to make them usable on the Web or for smaller prints as long as you're not terribly picky. One last note: the auto white balance, while tolerable outdoors turned everything indoors yellow. Use the presets and you'll be fine, though.

This photo was taken at ISO 80. Viewed at 100 percent there is visible noise. However, unless you're looking for it, the noise isn't readily noticeable on an 8x10-inch print or viewed at an appropriate distance on a 52-inch HDTV.

This is about as sharp as the TS1 gets. It's not bad, but leave Macro mode and things get less defined.

No real barrel distortion at the lens's 28mm-equivalent widest (top), but there is very slight pincushion distortion at its longest position (bottom). Also, there was no discernible purple fringing in any of our test shots.

Colors were reasonably accurate and natural looking across the board. Exposure was good as well.