Best balance at the bargain price I paid.

[KonradDC]

This camera was purchased cheaply, due to a closing down sale. I would not have bought this camera otherwise.
It has won a lot of reviews, though the TZ25 has edged it in some. The image stabilizer is very good. The picture quality is fine, the speed in use is good most of the time except the slight delay when switching on in review mode. The touch screen is a bonus, you can take focus pictures of the target person or object. The TZ30 fixed a few issues of my trusty old TZ6 - mode dial does not get accidentally moved, got some manual functions and it has better video.
Because I have the TZ6 I have the battery charger plus a spare battery (3 genuine Lumix DMW-BCG10E batteries between 2 cameras). So I have a spare battery ready if needed and can charge off camera. The battery life is good.
The usb lead is not as propriety as I thought, as Nikon use the same lead and I found that it worked with my camera for downloading pictures and charging. The camera is very small for it's class and slightly smaller than the TZ6. I close-up photography is good at 3cm (Canon is nearly double the distance at 5cm). I nearly bought the TZ27 which is the same camera without the GPS and more internal memory - 70mb vs 12mb. I paid £187.99 from Comet before it closed for good at the end of November 2012, and got £35 cashback. At the time in UK, the cheapest was about £230 before the cashback. So I actually paid £152.99! That was the reason I went for it.
I like the panoramic mode. Very good and easy to use with the touch screen. Plenty of 'my settings' means I can go to my preferred setting quickly. Picture quality is good in most situations for the price I paid.
Overall a good camera that was a bargain buy.

Problems:

Typical of Panasonic cameras is make sure you leave the mode selector on shoot. The delay is long in review mode. No post red-eye removal in camera like my Canon SX200is. Needs external battery charger- internal charging too slow.

 

[KonradDC]

Since my review the camera has been good, but there has been two major issues.

The first issue was back in August 2013 when the lens jammed. It had this rough feeling, as though something had got into the lens mechanism. When it jammed, I got the lens error message. I took it to the official Panasonic repair section in Crawley, and they repaired it within a couple of hours. I picked it up the next day. It was under guarantee, so free.

The second fault which got worse over time, was the zoom lever began to be less responsive. Linked to this fault was that the camera would start filming. At first i thought it was my finger hitting the button by accident. The recently it really frustrating when trying to zoom and filming instead. I had to resort to using the touch screen zoom.

In the end since the camera is over 3.5 years old, I decided to disassemble the camera to see if can be repaired.


Lumix DMC-TZ30 disassembled.

The fault was is the top PCB which has the zoom control. I cleaned and used some contact cleaner on the zoom control and then reassembled. I notice some loose plastic from the white frame whilst the camera was apart.




The camera reassembled.

The camera went together easily, and I had no problem remembering which order and where every part fitted.




First power on a success.




Everything works as before, and the zoom is back to normal.




Power down.

On first switch on the camera zoomed the lens out, then retracted, then zoomed out again with a chime. The camera asked for the time and date to be set. Once that was done the camera went into normal operation. All my personal setting were still stored, so I was back in action straight away. The zoom works normally and filming only starts when I want.

I also have a TZ70 (ZS50), but like the small size of the TZ30 and the touch screen. I can take pictures quickly with the touch screen, especially from awkward angles.

Now I known the inner workings of this camera, and since found the repair manual, I will be using the TZ30 without worry. I wish I had bought the TZ40 when that was going cheap, as the Wi-Fi is very handy. The TZ70 has this and I can share photos fast.

One major gripe with Panasonic is the dropping of the separate battery charger. I also own a TZ6 which uses the same battery as the TZ30 and I also have a third genuine battery as well as the charger that came with the TZ6. I bought a battery charger for the TZ70 that looks like a Panasonic unit.

Will update any future info/issues.

 

[windmillgolfer]

I had the TZ30, a good camera and I miss the Touchscreen. Congratulations on the disassembly and fix.

When I got the TZ60, I immediately ordered 2 spare batteries (3rd Party) and external charger. In reality, I find the internal charging, by cable from a phone charger, more convenient when travelling. I take all 3 batteries ready charged and rarely need to charge more than one of them in a 24 hour period. At some point I mislaid the original, chunky charging cable. (since found) and bought a 3rd party cable, it is a good deal lighter/more compact. It is the 3rd party cable I take when travelling. The TZ60 is very good (see link below) and paired with the LX7 makes and excellent travel combo. I took it as my only camera to Malta earlier this year and it coped pretty well, aided by a mini-tripod

 

[J C Brown]

Thanks for a very interesting post which I have bookmarked for future reference.

In August 2012, near the end of a second year warranty, the zoom lever of my TZ7 developed a fault. The insurer said that it was beyond economic repair and as the TZ7 was no longer available agreed to let me pay the difference and replace it with a TZ30.

When the TZ30 arrived I was very pleased to find that in addition to being able to use the batteries and charger I could also use the folding LCD viewer I'd made for my TZ7.

Protected from dust by a cheap plastic bag, as recommended by Erik Ohlson and carried in a pocket my TZ30 is still in regular use.

If you haven't seen it before you may find this old thread of interest.

Jimmy