Underexposed, grainy images with a light stripe running down the center

The flash has a range of up to around 10 feet at the wide end of the zoom, down to 6.5 feet at the tele end. Maybe you are using it on to big a distance or at to low ISO? Try setting the ISO to 800 and see if it helps. images get a bit more grainy at 800 ISO but are also less prone to camera shake, if you use it without the flash. The camera goes as high as 1600 ISO, but images get very grainy at that setting.

The grainy effect has to do do with the ISO setting, try adjusting that. A higher ISO is generally better for darker conditions. I have noticed that this camera frequently takes grainy images.

The TZ series is not known for good indoor pictures. T Z is short fot Travel Zoom. The is great for outdoor pictures and long distance shots.

Indoors, be sure you use flash and your subject is within 8 feet so flash light can reach them. Let the camera select the proper settings using the Intelligent ISO setting.. Or set it to Night slow shutter speed) while holding the camera, and subject very still for 3 seconds after shutter press, and with Image Stabilization on.

Also, don't forget if you are viewing the pics on your big screen PC, then the pics will always look worse than they will either on your Camera screen professionally printed pix fo 5x7, which will likely be fine to acceptable. If you get up to 9x10 printed sizes, then you will likely see what you would see on a large PC screen....not very good.

There is a chance you have a bad camera. If it is under warranty, take it to a panasonic repair center locally. I am afraid if you send it off to a depot, they may charge you while declaring nothing is wrong with it.

Set the metering mode to Partial Metering. This uses only 9% of the field of view, centered around the middle square in the viewfinder, as the subject area. If you still find it too bright, try changing the exposure compensation a couple of clicks.

If you can adjust the ISO sensitivity to a lower number then the graininess will be reduced.

However, by reducing the ISO, you will need a slower shutter speed and a larger aperture. A tripod, table or other support may be necessary.

The "noise reduction" setting on the camera can also be adjusted a step up.

Taking pictures at full resolution and fine compression will also help.
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Overall, at least try lowering the ISO, and using the flash brighter.

Set camera:

Single shot mode not servo/C modes
Focus sensor set for center
Make sure exp. comp is not set on -(minus) side.
Make sure your subject is locked on and not moving out of the autofocus (center) sensor.

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Whenever you are taking pictures of people within six feet of them, it is a good idea to turn on the flash - whether you are indoors or out. The Flash mode is easily accessed via the arrow pad on the back of the camera. Press the right arrow key, which has a lightning bolt icon, to enter the Flash Mode. Press the down key to select the lightning bolt icon and press “OK”. The flash will fire every time in this mode. Your outdoor pictures of people should improve in appearance since the flash will fill-in shadows normally apparent in outdoor shots.

Whenever you are taking pictures of people within six feet of you, it is a good idea to turn on the flash whether you are indoors or out. The Flash mode is easily accessed via the arrow pad on the back of the camera. Press the up arrow key, which has a lightning bolt icon, to enter the Flash Mode. Press the down key to select the lightning bolt icon and press “OK”. The flash will fire every time in this mode. Your outdoor pictures of people should improve in appearance since the flash will fill-in shadows normally apparent in outdoor shots.

Whenever you are taking pictures of people within six feet of them, it is a good idea to turn on the flash whether you are indoors or out. The Flash mode is easily accessed via the arrow pad on the back of the camera. Press the up arrow key, which has a lightening bolt icon, to enter the Flash Mode. Press the down key to select the lightning bolt icon and press “OK”. The flash will fire every time in this mode. Your outdoor pictures of people should improve in appearance since the flash will fill-in shadows normally apparent in outdoor shots.

When you are photographing scenes with mostly light objects (for example, snow, water, and sand), the picture is usually underexposed (darker than it really is). The camera meter registers the brightness of the scene and tries to set the camera lens and aperture for an exposure based on average brightness levels (18% reflectance) causing it to underexpose, as in the following picture. When you are photographing scenes with mostly dark objects (for example, shade, shadow, and overcast skies), and very few light objects, the camera may overexpose the image, causing it to be too light. If you have a flash on your camera, you can compensate by adding "fill flash" for some extra light. If your camera has an exposure compensation adjustment, you can increase or decrease the exposure to correct for these exposure problems. Increase the number to make the image lighter, and decrease the number to make the image darker. You may want to try a series of shots with different exposure compensation adjustments to get a feel for how much difference these adjustments make.