Thoughts regarding the Panny ZS30?

Hello everyone. I've been away for a while... I was posting about 4 years ago when the ZS3 came out (I even put a bunch of thoughts about it here http://www.aaarpinball.com/Miscellaneous/dmczs3.htm).

My ZS3 has worked great and I've been very happy with it, but sadly the LCD got cracked. I purchased a replacement $14.99 screen from eBay and installed it. It looks pretty good, certainly makes the camera usable again, but I don't think it's as nice as the original.

So I'm thinking about moving to the ZS30. Other than a cameralabs review, I haven't found much about this guy. Am I just missing them?

I'd appreciate hearing any person experiences with the ZS30. It does seem pretty pricy compared to the Cannon HS 280 something or other.

Thanks!

Good camera. I like it. My review on Amazon sums up my experience with it. It's the loooong review. Best price I found was from Panasonic America Direct - the Panasonic store - about $349 - $399. It varies, but always seems to be more reasonable than Amazon.

ZS30 is a good balance of size, versality, fucntionality. Good zoom range, good HD video, decent image quality. SX260/SX280 may have an edge on IQ but battery life is a serious issue, not much performance improvment from SX280 from SX260 too, that's a disappointment.

Also checkout the ZS25. If you don't need the GPS, touchscreen, this may give you better result. It fees cheap though but I suppose you weigh image/video quality more than cosmetic.

Sony WX300 and HX50 are two good alternatives. I found Sony has better performance for startup time and AF (power-on to first-shot or power-on to start recording). HX50 stablization seems to slightly better than ZS30 in video mode, less sideway jerks at tele end. Sony has better battery life too but ZS30 should last a day for typical use in my own experience. I miss the Q menu on the Sony though. If you love to adjust shooting parameters a lot, Panasonic is easier to use.

altan said:

altan wrote:

I'd appreciate hearing any person experiences with the ZS30. It does seem pretty pricy compared to the Cannon HS 280 something or other.

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I, too, had a ZS3 - loved it but got a ZS6, 12x zoom, which had PASM & Noise, Contrast etc. adjustments + a "Real" panorama assist [1/3 frame "ghost" to assist lining up shots images & exposure lock] and I thought I was in heaven.

Then came the ZS20 & 19 [with, & without GPS] with 20x zoom, and MOST of the features of the ZS6 except the good Panorama 'assist' - they went to that silly "sweep Panorama" instead.

Unlike my usual plan of waiting until the price goes down, I immediately bought a ZS19 at full price, and never regretted it for a moment - marvelous camera, and I have seen nothing that confirms any IQ superiority for the Canons mentioned above - nor any other brand I know of.

Certainly, the ZS19 is FAR better than the 35mm film Leicas I carried for decades with Leica & Canon lenses.

A few examples:


Fushimi Inari, Japan - cropped.


Poorly lit interior "Low Light"


Tasmania, Australia - stitched panorama with polarizer.

I like it so much that when I broke it by letting the lens bang into the airplane window during turbulence, I immediately bought another refurbished one.

As far as I can tell, the ZS25/30 are equal to the ZS19/20 cameras.

These cameras have extremely fast "burst" modes, and the cameras use this to do in-camera HDRs and 'Handheld Night Shots' by shooting bursts [for the HDR - bracketed] and combining them in-camera which works very well.

All in all, for MY purposes {long zoom, quick action, very small size - 1/4" thinner than the ZS3] the ZS19/20 can't be beat, and the ZS25 & 30 are apparently just as good.

I unhesitatingly recommend them. [ZS19 can be got pretty cheaply these days] ;-)

-Erik














--
'He who hesitates is not only lost - he's miles from the next Exit.'
www.flickr.com/ohlsonmh/ [email protected]

You may find the previous model (ZS15/ZS20) cheaper, but the newer ZS models include Wifi control from a smart phone - something I would definitely take advantage of!

kkardster said:

kkardster wrote:

You may find the previous model (ZS15/ZS20) cheaper, but the newer ZS models include Wifi control from a smart phone - something I would definitely take advantage of!

--
Bruce
You learn something new every time you press the shutter

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Thanks.

I should have mentioned that, but since I don't have a "smart phone", I'm not really sure about what it is/does ;-)

-Erik





:-|

--
'He who hesitates is not only lost - he's miles from the next Exit.'
www.flickr.com/ohlsonmh/ [email protected]

Erik Ohlson said:

Erik Ohlson wrote:

Erik Ohlson said:

kkardster wrote:

You may find the previous model (ZS15/ZS20) cheaper, but the newer ZS models include Wifi control from a smart phone - something I would definitely take advantage of!

--
Bruce
You learn something new every time you press the shutter

Click to expand...

Thanks.

I should have mentioned that, but since I don't have a "smart phone", I'm not really sure about what it is/does ;-)

-Erik

:-|

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I don't either, but I do have an iPod Touch with Wifi that likely would work since it can run many iPhone apps. Having the ability to adjust zoom remotely and see it on the screen would be nice and I hope any FZ200 replacement includes this feature.

--
Bruce
You learn something new every time you press the shutter

Here are six reviews of the ZS30/TZ40 and they all give it high ratings:

Cameralabs: here

Techradar: here

Expert Reviews: here

Amateur Photographer: here

Pocketlint: here

T3: here

Back in April I posted my first impressions of my new ZS30 with some initial full-sized shots, which may be of interest: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51263100 . I've since added many further full sized images to my gallery.

BTW, I saw this on Cameralabs site (part of an ad): "DSLRs are left home 90.2% of the time".

I'm not sure how they arrived at such a precise figure, but it highlights the fact that the ZS/TZ cams can be carried around in a pocket all the time, and as they say, you get the shot with the cam you have with you, not the one you left at home.

Ian

Apologies, the link to that earlier thread is wrong and should be as here: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51263100

Ian

I have this little camera and I gotta say it's overrated by those review sites

feature wise yes it's insanely attractive but overall IQ is the same as any ZS in the past years

Ianperegian said:

Ianperegian wrote:

Back in April I posted my first impressions of my new ZS30 with some initial full-sized shots, which may be of interest: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51263100 . I've since added many further full sized images to my gallery.

BTW, I saw this on Cameralabs site (part of an ad): "DSLRs are left home 90.2% of the time".

I'm not sure how they arrived at such a precise figure, but it highlights the fact that the ZS/TZ cams can be carried around in a pocket all the time, and as they say, you get the shot with the cam you have with you, not the one you left at home.

Click to expand...

For me it is quite different, I use my phone most of the time, rarely carry any camera. If I need a camera, I always try to get a DSLR with 18-105mm VR. I enjoy these long zoom compacts for HD movie mode though, great companion but as far as IQ goes, even at bright outdoor environment, there is noticeable different in different sensor classes. Maybe it is just my skill. Great photographers can take good pictures with just about any camera.

Maybe IQ is "in the eye of the beholder". Anyway, as far as actual resolution figures go, although the pixel count has increased, the sensor/processing improvements have allowed the resolution to increase beyond that of earlier ZS/TZ models.

The results of my resolution tests for the ZS20/TZ30 are given here , and Jimmy's (JC Brown) tests of the ZS20/TZ30 are given here .

I found that the resolution of the ZS30 at 100 ISO was 2448 LPH, while that of the ZS20 was 2160 LPH, as shown here .

That seems to be supported by the fourth review which examined resolution and said "the TZ40 has an increased resolution with no detrimental effect on its image quality across a variety of lighting conditions and ISO settings. As travel compacts go, the TZ40 is about as good as it gets."

Ian

AndyHWC said:

AndyHWC wrote:

AndyHWC said:

Ianperegian wrote:

Back in April I posted my first impressions of my new ZS30 with some initial full-sized shots, which may be of interest: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51263100 . I've since added many further full sized images to my gallery.

BTW, I saw this on Cameralabs site (part of an ad): "DSLRs are left home 90.2% of the time".

I'm not sure how they arrived at such a precise figure, but it highlights the fact that the ZS/TZ cams can be carried around in a pocket all the time, and as they say, you get the shot with the cam you have with you, not the one you left at home.

Click to expand...

For me it is quite different, I use my phone most of the time, rarely carry any camera. If I need a camera, I always try to get a DSLR with 18-105mm VR. I enjoy these long zoom compacts for HD movie mode though, great companion but as far as IQ goes, even at bright outdoor environment, there is noticeable different in different sensor classes. Maybe it is just my skill.

Click to expand...

I hasten to clarify that I wasn't suggesting that the ZS/TZ models are superior to DSLRs.

I was only saying that a ZS/TZ shot or in your case, a shot from your phone, is better than no shot from your DSLR because you left it at home.

AndyHWC said:

Great photographers can take good pictures with just about any camera.

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I certainly agree, not that I claim to be one!

Ian

Hey Ianperegain, I knew what you mean exactly. There are pros and cons for each sensor class, at least until technology able to put a long zoom in pocketable large sensor. Sony RX100 is getting close but zoom range is not there yet and it costs 2+ times more than the ZS30 or even Sony's own HX50.

Your ZS pics are definitley better than mine but I rarely take stills with the ZS (or any compacts) ;-) What mode do you use? I mainly leave it on IA and AP mode when I need more control from the Q.menu. I generally happy with what IA pick for me but sometimes it need to take a few seconds to post-process after the shot, similar to Super-IA mode in Sony but even on pictures taken with lots of light. What exactly it is doing?

Ianperegian said:

Ianperegian wrote:

Ianperegian said:

I hasten to clarify that I wasn't suggesting that the ZS/TZ models are superior to DSLRs.

Click to expand...

I was only saying that a ZS/TZ shot or in your case, a shot from your phone, is better than no shot from your DSLR because you left it at home.

Ianperegian said:

Great photographers can take good pictures with just about any camera.

Click to expand...

I certainly agree, not that I claim to be one!

Ian

--
Ianperegian
http://www.ianperegian.com/

Click to expand...

AndyHWC said:

AndyHWC wrote:

What mode do you use? I mainly leave it on IA and AP mode when I need more control from the Q.menu. I generally happy with what IA pick for me but sometimes it need to take a few seconds to post-process after the shot, similar to Super-IA mode in Sony but even on pictures taken with lots of light. What exactly it is doing?

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Hi, I use P mode generally. I think the fully automatic iA mode can perhaps be useful in some special situations but P, A , S or M modes would allow you a lot more control.

iA mode not only selects the exposure (shutter speed and aperture) but it also selects the ISO setting and it may also change to a particular scene mode, depending on the situation. That may not always give you the results that you want.

If you are finding that there is a delay after taking a shot in iA mode then I suggest that iA may have chosen a scene mode such as HDR which combines a burst of several images. That takes a little while for the cam to process.

As you said, P mode gives more control and you can use the Q menu to make adjustments.

Ian

Ian, thanks. I'll look at these tonight or over the weekend. I'll also take a look at the post you reference.

I'm particularly interested in how the image compares to the ZS3. I'm hopeful it's no worse.

Ianperegian said:

Ianperegian wrote:

Here are six reviews of the ZS30/TZ40 and they all give it high ratings:

Cameralabs: here

Techradar: here

Expert Reviews: here

Amateur Photographer: here

Pocketlint: here

T3: here

Back in April I posted my first impressions of my new ZS30 with some initial full-sized shots, which may be of interest: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51263100 . I've since added many further full sized images to my gallery.

BTW, I saw this on Cameralabs site (part of an ad): "DSLRs are left home 90.2% of the time".

I'm not sure how they arrived at such a precise figure, but it highlights the fact that the ZS/TZ cams can be carried around in a pocket all the time, and as they say, you get the shot with the cam you have with you, not the one you left at home.

Ian

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