Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS20 20x SuperZoom Review by dpreview With Rating 75/100

On January 31 2012, Panasonic announced two ZS-series SuperZoom compact cameras - the DMC-ZS20 (aka DMC-TZ30) and DMC-ZS15 (aka DMC-TZ25). At only 1.3 inches thick, the ZS20 is the world's slimmest digital camera with a 20x optical zoom 24mm ultra wide-angle LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens. The ZS15 has a 16x optical zoom instead. The ZS20 features a newly developed 14.1 Megapixels High Sensitivity MOS sensor. When coupled with the advanced image processor Venus Engine, the LUMIX ZS20 features high speed, high sensitivity image recording.  High speed burst shooting at 10 fps in full resolution and Light Speed AF. The ZS15 sensor is 12.1 Megpaixels.

"Camera performance is very good in most respects, with only two areas in which the camera lags a bit. The first area is startup time which, at 2 seconds, is a bit slower than average. Focusing times, on the other hand, are very responsive, and are among the best you'll find on a compact camera. Shutter lag wasn't an issue, and shot-to-shot delays were minimal, even with the flash. The ZS20 has a number of burst modes, with the two most important being one which takes 12 photos in a row at 4.8 frames/sec with continuous AF, and the other taking 10 photos at 10 frames/sec with the focus locked on the first shot. While the ZS20's battery life is a bit above average, the ZS20's new internal charging system is slow, and doesn't allow you to charge a spare battery. While the ZS20's photo quality is quite a bit better than on the ZS10 that came before it, there's still a fair amount of room for improvement. Exposures were generally accurate, though since the camera has the tendency to clip highlights, you might want to bracket in high contrast situations. Colors were nice and saturated, though like its fellow Panasonic cameras, the ZS20 tends to lean in the yellow direction under artificial light. Images are a bit soft with Intelligent Resolution turned off, and pleasing with it turned on (hint, hint). Even though the ZS20 is 1-2 stops better than the ZS10 in terms of noise performance, photos are still noisier than I'd like, even at ISO 100. You will also spot some smudged or mottled details in areas of low contrast, most likely due to noise reduction. If you're sticking to smaller prints or downsizing for web viewing, then this shouldn't be an issue. Those of you making larger prints (or just inspecting photos at 100% on your computer) may want to consider a camera with cleaner photos. Another issue the ZS20 has is redeye -- it's pretty strong, and there's no tool in playback mode to remove it. Purple fringing levels were low, as is usually the case with Panasonic cameras.

Overall, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS20 is a very capable travel zoom camera that I enjoy using. Panasonic has improved the image quality to the point where I can now recommend the ZS20 (which was not the case for its predecessor), though it still needs some work. While I'm yet to try them, I'm pretty sure that Canon and Sony's latest travel zooms will best the ZS20 in the image quality department, as their predecessors did last year. Even with that, if you're mostly making smaller prints or sharing them on social networking sites, then the ZS20 will do just fine. Its powerful lens, generally snappy performance, elaborate GPS setup, nice set of useful features, and Full HD video recording make it worth considering. If you can live without the GPS, touchscreen LCD, 1080/60p movie mode, and don't mind a 16X lens, then the DMC-ZS15 is also worth a look. Since it uses the FZ150's sensor, I have a feeling that image quality will be better than the ZS20's, as well. Some other GPS-equipped travel zoom cameras to consider include the Canon PowerShot SX260 HS, Fuji FinePix F770EXR, Nikon Coolpix S9300, and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V. Some non-GPS models worth looking at are the Olympus SZ-31MR iHS, Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS15, and the Pentax Optio VS20."