![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/panasonic_front_1_06_2012.jpg\" "\\"panasonic_front_1_06_2012\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The <\/em>Panasonic<\/em> <\/em>DMC-ZS20 (also known as the <\/em>TZ30 outside North America) is the latest travel-zoom compact camera from the company that practically invented the category. Panasonic claims it is the slimmest camera with a 20x optical zoom starting at an impressive 24mm equivalent ultra wide angle, sporting a new 14.1-megapixel Live MOS image sensor, 1080\/60p video AVCHD capability, built-in GPS, and 3-inch touchscreen LCD. This time, however, Panasonic have convinced me otherwise and in order to prove them wrong, I deliberately only brought the Panasonic DMC-ZS20<\/em> as my sole camera for my 2-week travel to Indonesia.<\/p>\n Image Quality<\/strong> Noise Level<\/strong> Noise was a primary concern I had with the performance of last year\u2019s Panasonic<\/strong> ZS10<\/em> (where even ISO 400 was atrocious). I was left impressed by the ZS20<\/em>\u2019s improved performance in this area (ISO 400 and higher), with the camera returning a relatively minimal noise at the maximum ISO setting of 3200. The camera did show an average noise level at ISO 100, but with noise reduction not taking the broad-stroke and hamfisted approach of previous years\u2019 models the results at ISO 100 were very impressive.<\/p>\n ISO Options Conclusion If you\u2019re still sceptical, I don\u2019t blame you. I was sceptical too.<\/p>\n The GPS is still practically useless unless you\u2019re standing still in a wide open field, the image sharpness is vastly improved, the high ISO performance is much better (though ISO 1600 is the maximum I would ever use in this camera), and the 20x optical zoom lens provides an extremely serviceable image quality. Color accuracy is still a bit lacking, however, but I\u2019m extremely impressed by the improvements made in this camera. I wish there were more creative features and a little more fine control in the camera, but there\u2019s always my dSLR should I want that type of controls.<\/p>\n Altogether the Panasonic<\/strong> DMC<\/em>-ZS20<\/em> is a fine camera, an extended zoom model that doesn\u2019t sacrifice too much in key areas (color accuracy and lens performance) while surpassing ,y expectations in others (high ISO performance up to ISO 1600). For a camera that provides a very attractive combination of size and zoom range, I can live with its faults and take advantage of its strong points. All in all, I hardly miss my dSLR during my two-weeks stint in Indonesia.<\/p>\n https:\/\/panasonic.ca\/<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Panasonic DMC-ZS20 (also known as the TZ30 outside North America) is the latest travel-zoom compact camera from the company that practically invented the category. Panasonic claims it is the slimmest camera with a 20x optical zoom starting at an impressive 24mm equivalent ultra wide angle, sporting a new 14.1-megapixel Live MOS image sensor, 1080\/60p […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe <\/em>ZS20 replaces last year\u2019s <\/em>ZS10 and is available starting in March 2012 for $399.99 in black, silver, brown, red, and white. For this pictorial report, <\/em>Panasonic<\/em> provided me with the red one.<\/em>
\n[nggallery id=52]
\nLet me start that I may just be the biggest sceptic in pocket cameras. I hate them… no, I loathe them. They are only good for \u201cemergencies\u201d and that\u2019s about all. Slow focus, shutter lag, bad metering, oversaturated colour rendition, unuseable ISO higher than 200. To put it simply, I\u2019d rather lug my gigantic dSLR even while travelling literally half way around the world rather than to use one of those pocket cameras.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>Last year\u2019s Panasonic DMC<\/em>-ZS10<\/em> was an appealing collection of features, cramming a 16x optical zoom lens into a compact little body that could fit in your pocket. It was an impressive feat of engineering, but it sacrificed image quality significantly with a poor sensor and a lens that restricted image sharpness. The Panasonic ZS20<\/em> is a complete reversal of the ZS10<\/em>, with an even more expansive zoom range in front of a retooled and dramatically better 14-megapixel image sensor. I\u2019m particularly impressed especially by the sensor\u2019s high ISO performance, which preserved some measure of detail while keeping noise to a bare minimum even at ISO 1600. There are some performance hitches, of course, and you\u2019ll want to read on to get my full impressions of the image quality of the ZS20<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>Noise on the Panasonic ZS20<\/em> was hardly apparent all the way through its ISO sensitivity peak of ISO 1600 (although it becomes very apparent at ISO 3200). The camera\u2019s JPEG engine was able to very accurately diagnose and reduce noise without destroying too much of the fine image detail at low ISO, though noise reduction is heavily applied at ISO 1600 and above. Small details such as text were all but gone, but the overall application of noise reduction was better than most pocket cameras out there.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>ISO options aren\u2019t too extensive on the Panasonic<\/strong> ZS20<\/em>, with a whole-stop scale of 100-3200 available, along with an automatic and intelligent ISO option. It is not a bad thing. In fact, simplifying things are key to the pocket camera users. Intelligent ISO simply selects from a range up to ISO 1600, but it accounts for both subject movement and brightness. If you go into the camera\u2019s scene menu you can also select a \u201chigh sensitivity\u201d scene mode that allows for a maximum ISO of 6400 when absolutely necessary, but for performance sake we recommend sticking to the main ISO scale of 100-1600 when possible while leaving ISO 3200 and 6400 for 4\u201dx6\u201d prints only<\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>The Panasonic<\/strong> DMC<\/em>-ZS20<\/em> (or TZ30<\/em>, outside of North America) is a travel zoom model that manages to fit just about everything you might ask for into a compact camera that can fit easily into a jacket pocket or purse. It has a 20x optical zoom lens, new 14-megapixel image sensor, 3-inch touchscreen LCD, optical stabilization, and built-in GPS.<\/p>\n