Just Posted: In-depth Review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS20/TZ30

Been on here for years. Good review by Jeff. Man people are anal regarding getting all bent out of shape about a 'guest reviewer'

One thing the never ceases to tire me is all these photography wonks criticizing a camera in the context of comparing the IQ to cameras not in the same class. For a 20x zoom pocketable camera, this (and its competitors) are pretty amazing, and more importantly, USEFUL little wonders. I admit I didn't upgrade from a ZS3 and ZS7 for years just because I didn't want to take a step backwords in noise and detail just to get 1080P video, GPS, touchscreen, or a longer zoom. Thankfully at least the ZS20/19 is now about on par with the ZS7 and the ZS15 even better.

Have a ZS19 sitting on my desk and a ZS15 arriving today. If the video quality with the nono mic on the ZS15 is not significantly different and the IQ improvement is decent, I'll keep the ZS15.

OK who got my DCResource in my DPreview?

What's going on guys? Why is Jeff writing for dpreview when he has his own great site?

I was very surprised when I came across Jeff Keller’s description the Extra Optical Zoom feature in the DC Resource review of the ZS15 and even more surprised to find an almost identical description in the DPR review of the ZS20 in which he wrote "....so you'd top out at a whopping 67.5X if you used both at the 5MP resolution; don't forget your tripod!”

When statements such as these appear in "official reviews", it is hardly surprising that there is confusion about the true nature of Extra Optical Zoom.

As can be easily demonstrated, the use of EZ does not increase the need to use a tripod to prevent blurring due to camera shake.

With a camera set for a full frame image at maximum zoom find the lowest shutter speed at which the camera shake warning is not displayed then select a much smaller EZ image. As that does not cause the camera shake warning to appear it is obvious that the focal length is unchanged and the use of EZ has not increased the need to use a tripod.

J C Brown

A very good review that didn't sugar coat anything. The overall final grade of 75 was a tad high but still in the ballpark I suppose. Once you start assigning number values to things you can argue all day long. I simply want to thank Jeff and especially DPR for including other experts reviewers like Jeff (who's from Digital Camera Review - DCR) to appear here. DPR represents the best and they got it in Jeff.

I would like to applaud DPR for involving Jeff from (DCR) to review here as well. He is absolutely capable and did a good job on this review. The tent is big enough to include rather than exclude valued opinions of other experts. Good job DPR.

I disagree with those who think Jeff's reviews are suitable to be published here. The two sites are completely different, and I don't think that DPR's reviews and conclusions should be confused by the addition of non-standard testing. Jeff, I'll always continue to read your reviews on DCRes, but I value more the consistency of reviews on both your site and this one. I would much prefer the sites remained distinct.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS20 for these which may like to create waterpaintings with a camera. Canon Powershot SX240/260 are marginally better http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_sx260-review/gallery
Nikon Coolpix 9300 just about OK. But it is a quite bad copy of the zoom which have been used in the test with full-size sample images which I noticed. Especially the left side of the zoom seems to be very soft. Noticeably in the picture with all the flowers and also some other. http://dpinterface.com/2012/04/23/nikon-coolpix-s9300-photo-gallery/

Bravo, Jeff! I always like to see compact camera reviews, and DCR has more compact camera reviews than DPR.
This COMPACT camera is a result of pixel count and long range lens war: 14MP + 24~480mm lens = poor IQ (although improved). Target for travelers like my Grandpa who don't really need long range and mega pixels.
For that same price and size you can have 10MP 24~90mm Psonic LX5 which gives you much better image. Or pay a little more you get another fast 10MP 28~112m Oly XZ1.
Look at page 8 and compare yourself.

Given that K-01 has been out for a while, when is the review due in dpreview
Jeff keller says his K-01 review is ongoing

Personally I've been a huge fan of his for years. He's always been honest and I think takes a real world perspective on how the user is going to use the camera. While his image quality tests aren't as scientific as DPR, I feel that they reflect how the person is going to use the camera.

Jeff Keller reviewing for dpr- that's interesting.
I won't say more otherwise my post will be deleted again (very classy btw).
Suffice to say I think the guy knows his stuff and concentrates on the important things.

TS-20...???... click the review and look at the top.

Why does the top of the review pages say "TS-20" ...this isn't the TS-20 ...a typo I'm sure, but still, title the page with the right camera guys, c'mon.

Excellent review; I've always liked Jeff's personal style. I'm a little dismayed though to see antiquated British Imperial Measurements used exclusively in some charts. I would appreciate metric equivalents or being able to switch back and forth.

The review concluded that the ZS20 images were a little noisy and appeared soft. However, it takes only a few keystrokes in post processing to make major improvements in the noise and image clarity. For cameras that have tiny sensors that should be a standard practice for any image for which you want to make large prints or do 100% screen viewing. Cameras that try to do such processing in the camera often produce comparatively poor results. The OOC camera comparisons may be valid if you only want quick snapshots but they may not be accurate, or even useful, if the objective is to produce high quality final images.

The whole dpreview desperately waits for in-depth reviews of D4, D800, 5D3, E-M5, K-01, X-Pro 1, NX20, X-S1... and you choose to review just another P&S first?

I always admire Jeff's reviews over at DCResource, so I'm very pleased to see his on here .

Good to see Jeff on board..been a quiet admirer of his work for years.

To Dpreview or/and Dcresource : Have any info about ZS15's sensor?
Please

nice, but where is the d800/d800e review?

I'm happy to see Jeff Keller writing reviews for DPR. His DCResource.com website is my other main source for photography reviews and I hope DPR and he can work out a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Image quality, ouch! Price about the same as my Olympus XZ-1, but pictures far, far worse. Not ready for prime time.

Thanks for the review. Not many P&S reviews lately here.

However, I think it's pity it was not a twin review of TZ30 *and* TZ25. The other latter is equiped with 12MPix sensor, presumably the same one utilized in FZ150. It might have been an interesting comparision between those two models.

The image quality is absolutely appalling at anything beyond ISO 100 ... very disappointing indeed... Panasonic should have stuck to the 12 MP sensor, such as the one found in the FZ150...

Canon seems to be the only company capable of delivering good IQ at high sensitivities, using a high density 1/2.3" sensor... such as the exceptional IXUS 125. I guess its got to do with their superior JPEG processing & Digic 5 combo producing great results...

By the way... Sony's new 18.2 MP BSI Exmor R CMOS chip seems like a very promising proposition... their DSC-HX200V delivers good IQ all the way till ISO 800... (visibly better than their HX100V) and thats saying something coming from Sony... which is infamous for their heavy handed NR & overcooked JPEG's...

If you can't tell the difference between photos from a Nikon D300S and a Panasonic point and shoot either there is something wrong with your vision or every other photographer on the planet has been doing it wrong all this time.

I used my Nikon D300S for study and my panasonic ZS-20 for hollidays. There no difference between the pictures of both camera's in automatic. The panasonic is a super !!! camera

Marcel

Well, an interesting thing, if you compare cameras from the times of the first Superzooms (Sony H1, Minolta Z, Canon S1...) than they a kinda making progress step by step, but when I compare the image quality of my old Sony H2 (6MP, 10x zoom) with recent mega-zooms, it is BETTER!!!

14 MP on a tiny sensor is nonsence. IQ is crap. Yes, they have video and other rings and bells, but the most important thing of all photo cameras is IQ and it is not getting any better.
If you buy modern P&S, you can simply use reduced image size.

The ZS30 gets a 75 and the far superior FZ150 gets a 76. DPR scoring is ludicrous at best as they literally seem to change their criteria from one review to the next.

Using the comparison tool, I found that the Canon SX230 is much better overall. The Lumix looks veeeeery soft around the edges, you can't see the characters on the batteries down left even at ISO 100.

Wow, this is awesome! I am a big fan of DC Resource and it's great to see their (very consistent) reviews here on DP Review. A great collaboration, a win-win in my humble opinion :-)

Long time no LX6.

I have a few Panasonic LUMIX Pocket cameras, the quality of the picture is always or mostly good, especially under low lights. whats wrong with 75% overall rating? It's Leica lens what matters with panasonic Body and affordable.

Glad to see DCResource and DPreview joining forces! I'll keep my eye open for the Mickey figure :)

The review is excellent.

But an overall 75% rating is kinda high and seems a little out of sync with older ratings in DPReview, especially since its jpeg image quality leaves much to be desired. What do others think?