Panasonic Lumix ZS20 Pocket Superzoom Camera |
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Panasonic created the pocket superzoom camera category so it’s only right they have a camera in our top five. Don’t think it’s an honorary position, though. They consistently have one of the best – if not *the* best – spec’d pocket superzoom camera. It has a 14-megapixel CMOS sensor and a 20x 24-480mm Leica optical zoom – that’s the widest lens in this guide. And with a 20x zoom range, you’re not giving anything up at the long end. The ZS20 is the only camera here with a touchscreen LCD display, including touch shutter – meaning you can take a picture by simply touching your subject on the LCD display. For sports fans and athletes, the ZS20 can capture full HD AVCHD video at 60 frames-per-second. That’s twice as fast as most cameras, which means you can slow down the action for slow motion video. It also full-resolution stills at 10 frames-per-second or 3.5-megapixel stills at a crazy fast 60 FPS. The ZS20 has a full range of shooting modes, including Panasonic’s excellent Intelligent Auto mode, PASM manual exposure modes, and scene modes. As far as features and performance go, the Panasonic only has one competitor – the Sony HX30V – and it only edges the ZS20 out because it has built-in Wi-Fi. On the other hand, the Panasonic ZS20 is a little smaller and easier to fit in a pocket than the Sony.
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next camera – Canon PowerShot SX260 HS >> |
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A few days after I published this article, Samsung announced a new pocket superzoom camera – the WB700. The new Samsung outdoes all of these cameras spec-wise. It’s got an 18x optical zoom lens, RAW shooting and full manual exposure controls. It’s also smaller than all but one of the cameras in this gude. You can check out the new Samsung WB700 here: http://reviews.photographyreview.com/blog/samsung-wb700-pocket-superzoom-camera-18x-zoom-raw/
Too bad this camera wasn’t available a bit sooner. It’s a pretty sure bet it will be included when I update this article, sometime next year.
I love you camera reviews. They are extremely helpful. I agree with you about super zoom pocket cameras. I’m in the market for a new camera and can’t make up my mind about Nikon Coolpix S8100 or S9100 and now the Samsung WB700 excites me.
I will be using this camera for mostly stills indoor/outdoor/ landscape, wildlife, sports, grand kids and my four Maltese dogs.
Ease-of-use is important as well as night shots and the best quality images. Can you help me decide?
Thank you
I’m glad you found this guide useful. I actually started working on updating the guide with more current cameras. I am hoping to have that posted today. I think it will tell you everything you need to know. Check back tonight or tomorrow and please post again if you have more questions
OK, I realized that no matter how great the iPhone 5′s camera is, I cannot possibly give up a superzoom. I still like my TZ4, but this little Canon is looking pretty good.
Good for you, Patia! And I agree about the Canon SX230 HS. It snuck past me when it was announced and I only really discovered it while I was researching this guide. My experience with the SD4500 IS plus the SX230 HS specs made a strong impression on me and I bought the camera before I finished the guide. I am very, very pleased with it
Personally do have a pocket size superzoom (Fujifilm Finepix F800EXR to be exact). The camera is a little rectangle that fits nicely into my pocket and takes reasonable pictures. The manual overrides are not very refined so I rely on automatic settings a lot.
Despite the quality gap, there is a number of people who are non-photographers and accepted the bottom-line of an image is not to reproduce a poster (piece of paper) on your wall. Pros still print their images but there are those who are satisfied with enough resolution for sending by E-mail. The iPhone is an all in 1 device. Some people have become very up to date in the trend of carrying “portable” devices. You tell them a desktop computer has more processing power than a laptop and finally an iPad they’d rather be carrying the smallest thing that can fit into their purse or briefcase.
In the old days we don’t have a choice that prints must be made from negatives or need a good projector for slides. But when a choice is given, photo enthusiasts would still carry bulky SLRs but the casual photographer for quick sharing wouldn’t mind an image taken with a phone even at less than half the resolution.
By the way, the Fujifilm Finepix F770EXR listed here is already the previous model. Since Nov. 2012 the F800EXR is already out with the same resolution and a bit of enhancement. Some stores are already selling the F770EXR at a discounted price…