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Above: Lumix TZ80 / ZS60 Post Focus, Aperture Priority, 1/160, f6.1, 200 ISO, -2/3EV 101.7mm (567mm equivalent) The maximum image size is 8000×1080 pixels in landscape mode or 1440×8000 in portrait mode, so the total resolutions of around 8 and 11.5 Megapixels aren’t going to win any detail contests. Depending on how much you wobble, the camera may need to crop some of that down to an even smaller image. For example in my tests I typically captured images measuring 6000×864 in landscape and 1104×4440 in portrait. So you won’t even come close to matching the same resolution as a single frame shot in one of the normal modes, but the Panorama preset will give you massive coverage which may be preferred depending on the subject. Like other recent Lumix compacts, it’s possible to preview and apply some, but not all, Creative Filter effects to panoramas. Here’s a couple of examples. Confused? You might be, but if it makes it easier, the HX50V continues to be the flagship model for North America, while everyone else has the choice of last year’s HX50V or the updated HX60V. Either way, both are key rivals to the Lumix TZ60 / ZS40, so let’s see how the features compare. I’ll refer to the Sony now on as the HX50V / HX60V and mention any differences where relevant.
Above left: 100% crop, 4.3-129mm at 129mm, 1/25, 80 ISO, OIS off. Above right: 100% crop, 4.3-129mm at 129mm, 1/25, 80 ISO, OIS on. The addition of an EVF and raw shooting really transform the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 from a mere travel camera to one that deserves to be taken more seriously. Even the style of the DMC-TZ60 has a premium feel to it, and it will no doubt prove to be very attractive to a number of different types of users. There’s four continuous shooting modes on the Lumix TZ80 / ZS60: Low (2fps with Live View), Medium (5fps with Live View), High (10fps without Live View) and Super High (40fps for a burst of 60 frames and at a reduced resolution of 4.5 Megapixels using the electronic shutter). With Continuous autofocus, the top speed reduces slightly to 5fps reagrdless of whether you’re set to Medium or High, so you may as well go for the former and enjoy Live View. New to both the TZ80 / ZS60 and TZ100 / ZS100 is 4k Live Cropping which exploits the resolution of a 4k frame to provide a digital pan and zoom feature at 1080p resolution. You specify the start and end of the clip by tapping the screen to position a 1920×1080 sized frame. You can also set the overall time of the clip to either 40 or 20 seconds. The degree of zoom is limited to the full 4k frame at the wide end to the 1920×1080 frame at the ‘zoomed-in’ end to maintain quality. It’s a neat feature which, once again, makes innovative use of the camera’s 4k resolution to make life easier, particularly if you need a super-smooth panning shot, but don’t have a suitable tripod. You can see what the results look like in my video sample below. Wifi and NFC first came to the TZ / ZS series with last year’s TZ40 / ZS30, and the new model essentially inherits the same capabilities.The most important new feature of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 is undoubtedly the 0.2in, 200,000-dot EVF. Over the past few years, we have seen an increasing number of cameras fitted with electronic viewfinders, including Panasonic’s own Lumix DMC-LF1 that was released almost a year ago. Now the same viewfinder has been added to the TZ range, along with the welcome addition of raw shooting. is interesting on the TZ80 / ZS60 for several reasons, not least because it’s one of the first times we’ve tested it on a camera with a small 1/2.3in sensor. The Lumix TZ80 / ZS60 starts with a sensor resolution of 4896×3672, from which it takes what appears to be a 1:1 crop to generate a 4k UHD frame. To illustrate the difference in coverage I compared actual 4k footage I filmed with the TZ80 / ZS60 against still photos when using the same lens setting and position. In the image below, the 4k coverage is indicated by the outer edge of the red frame, resulting in a not insignificant reduction in the field of view; indeed when filming 4k video, the equivalent range is cropped from 24-720mm to 33-990mm – good news at the long-end, but you lose quite a bit of coverage at the wide-end. If the connection was unsuccessful for some reason you’ll hear an error sound from your phone or tablet, but if it works, you’ll hear a triumphant ‘ta-da’ sound instead. When it works you’ll feel like whooping too, at least the first couple of times, but clearly the Lumix engineers feel excited every time as the app plays the confirmation literally at full blast. The problem is some handsets, such as the GS3 and GS4, can be pretty loud at full volume and there doesn’t appear to be any way to change this sound or turn it down. It even plays at full blast when your phone is muted. This caused me some embarrassment on more than a couple of occasions including one time when literally every customer in a small bar turned round to see what was going on – quite alarming. I found that sensitivities of ISO 400 and below produce the best results, so for day-to-day shooting I chose to set the ISO to auto and limit it to ISO 400. Between ISO 1600 and the maximum extended ISO 6400, slight colour noise starts to become evident and luminance noise is very noticeable,while, the detail along high-contrast edges becomes jagged and smudgy.
So in terms of screen composition, the TZ60 / ZS40 is very similar to its two main rivals, with the same size display and resolution. But there is a very important difference between them when it comes to an alternative means of composition. The Lumix TZ60 / ZS40 is the only one to squeeze in an electronic viewfinder, impressively without resulting in a body that’s noticeably bigger. Like its shape and size, the TZ80 / ZS60’s control layout owes a lot to its predecessor. About the only difference is the addition of a creative video mode position on the mode dial – for which one of the two custom positions is sacrificed. That’s not so important as there are now more programmable function buttons than before – four in all compared with two on the earlier TZ70 / ZS50, and of course the touch screen provides more opportunities for configuring settings. As before, there’s a wealth of alternative image resolutions and sizes. You can shoot in the full 18 Megapixels, or at 12, 8, 5, 3 or 0.3 Megapixels in the 4:3 aspect ratio, or switch to 3:2, 16:9 or 1:1 cropped shapes instead, each with reduced resolutions. Again as before there’s also the choice of two JPEG compression levels, Fine or Standard, but new to the TZ60 / ZS40 is the chance to record RAW files, with or without a JPEG at either compression level. This is a major move for the Lumix travel zoom, and gives it with another valuable edge over the competition, at least in theory – you can see it in action in my RAW quality results. Of course a system which displays landmark names by location can be tripped-up by overlap or simply covering a large area. As such, you may need to move around a park, zoo or golf course before its name is revealed, while anything close to a known landmark will often display its name instead.The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 is slightly bigger and heavier than the previous TZ40 model that it replaces, bit it does now offer a longer 30x zoom lens (the TZ40 had a 20x lens) and also a built-in electronic viewfinder. The 30x lens is equivalent to 24-720mm on a 35mm camera, which provides an incredibly versatile focal range that will cover every subject from ultra-wide angle landscapes to close-up action shots. Even when set to 720mm, the lens doesn't extend too far from the front of the TZ60, making it look to all intents and purposes like a "normal" compact camera. This helps to make the DMC-TZ60 great for candid moments, as people assume that you're using just a standard point and shoot with a much more limited range. The Lumix TZ60 / ZS40 inherits the built-in GPS receiver of its predecessor, which allows it to record location and time details for each image and store them in the standard EXIF header. These can then be cross-referenced by a built-in database of landmarks to display location information; you can of course also use the location details to plot your position on mapping software on your computer later. Trying to choose between the TZ60 and TZ70? Read the What Digital Camera Panasonic Lumix TZ70 vs Panasonic Lumix TZ60 comparison There are two different modes, Mode 1 is on all the time including image composition, and Mode 2 is only on when you press the shutter button. An Auto setting is also available if you're not sure which one to use. You don't notice that the camera is actually doing anything different when anti-shake is turned on, just that you can use slower shutter speeds than normal and still take sharp photos. The TZ60 has a respectable battery life of 300 shots. Note that the camera battery is rather inconveniently charged via the USB port, rather than a separate charger, so it's a good idea to invest in some extra batteries. What I couldn’t have done without is the touch screen, so all credit to Panasonic for re-introducing it on this model as well as the higher end TZ100 / ZS100. You can simply tap the screen to position the AF area in single area mode. In 49 Area mode it’s used to position the 9×9 grid of AF points within the overall 7×7 area matrix that covers the entire screen. And when you’re in Face detect mode you can select which eye you want to focus on by tapping it.
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