Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Panasonic's newest superzoom travel compact brings an electronic viewfinder and 30x optical zoom to the table, but drops the touchscreen display found in its predecessor. Will the camera as a whole be greater than the sum of its parts? Dive in to check out what we found!
By HardwareZone Team -
Should I Make Do with My Mobile Phone Camera For My Next Trip?
Sure your smartphone will make do when you’re in a pinch, but nothing beats having a dedicated pocket-able camera in terms of usability and picture quality. While we have to admit that smartphones cameras have come a long way, nothing can change the fact that the vast majority have small sensors. Furthermore, the optics and lens system may not match up to the better compact cameras.
For those who've not considered such details, a larger sensor is better because it is able to capture more light (and as a result, more imaging detail) than a smaller sensor, and thus is able to produce photographs with better dynamic range and less noise. A better dynamic range means that more detail is captured in the brightest and darkest areas of the photograph, and it’s never a bad thing to have too much detail. Consumers are often fooled by large megapixel numbers, but an 18-megapixel smartphone sensor will always be outperformed by an 18-megapixel compact camera sensor because the larger compact camera sensor is able to capture more light.
The popular iPhone 5S camera sensor (red) is smaller than the Panasonic Lumix TZ60's sensor (yellow), and is thus unable to capture as much light and details. Note that this is a relative representation and it's not the absolute size of the sensor.
So while it may seem like a good idea to just travel with your smartphone for your holiday, you might probably be disappointed with the quality of your pictures. That’s why superzoom compacts are still in the market; they offer larger sensors and most importantly, long-reaching optical zoom. All mobile phones use digital zoom, which is just manipulating the non-zoomed photo and causes image quality loss. So even if you manage to get 'closer' to the action, with a mobile phone it’s all at the expense of image quality.
So it’s no surprise that Panasonic has seen it fit to update their travel superzoom line with the Lumix DMC-TZ60. The camera features 30x optical zoom coupled with a new electronic veiwfinder. So will the Lumix DMC-TZ60 have a place in your back pocket for your next trip? Let’s find out.
Will the Panasonic Lumix TZ60 be your next travel camera?
Design and Handling
The first thing we noticed about the Lumix TZ60 was that it is chunkier than its predecessor, the Lumix TZ40. It will still slip into the back pocket of your jeans, but you might have some trouble trying to slide it into your front pockets. We feel that a slight increase in dimensions is pretty worth it though, in exchange for an increase in optical zoom capability (the Lumix TZ40 had 20x optical zoom, while the Lumix TZ60 has 30x optical zoom).
For some reason the Lumix TZ60’s design reminded us of the Sony RX100 Mark II, with its straight lines and boxy look. While the Lumix TZ40 sported some bumps and ridges in its design, the Lumix TZ60 has gone for a more masculine look by eliminating some of the curves found on the Lumix TZ40. Gone is the large rubber finger grip on the front; instead the Lumix TZ60 has a thin, raised strip of rubber. We found that the rubber strip worked just as well as the Lumix TZ40’s finger grip though we suspect some may prefer the larger rubber grip found on the predecessor instead.
There's a thin strip of rubber that helps you to maintain your grip on the camera.
The Lumix TZ60 is still reasonably easy to handle with the lens fully racked out.
The Lumix TZ60 also takes a page out of its prosumer compact sibling, the Panasonic LX7’s book, by including a control ring around its lens barrel. You can assign and adjust settings such as aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation, which streamlines the changing of certain settings, so you don’t have to access the sub-menus to make changes. For example, turning the ring while shooting in aperture-priority mode will adjust the aperture value, which feels more intuitive and comfortable since your left hand will be on (or near) the lens barrel when you shoot.
Turning the camera around reveals a 3-inch, 920k-dot LCD display. But what’s surprising is that the Lumix TZ60 has ditched the touchscreen display in favour of a standard display and an electronic viewfinder (EVF), which is just above the display. Similar to the EVF found on the Panasonic LF1, the viewfinder is just 0.2-inch large but is capable of displaying all the information that can be found on the main display such as aperture value and shutter speed. In fact, you can even playback images on the viewfinder and it also comes with a dioptre for those of you who are wearing glasses.
The Lumix TZ60 has lost the touchscreen display found on its predecessor, the TZ40, but has gained an electronic viewfinder. Is that a worthy trade?
The viewfinder is handy when you’re shooting in bright sunlight and it’s difficult to see the main display, but due to its small size it does get tiring when using it for long periods of time. The viewfinder does suffer from lag and ghosting however, so using it for anything other than still figures or landscape photography may not be ideal. And since the viewfinder does not have an eye sensor, you will need to press the LVF button to toggle between the main display and the viewfinder. The lack of intuitiveness, which is basically a cost control measure, may turn off some users. While having an EVF may sound useful on paper, we found the handiness of it to be quite limited; fortunately it provides a 100% field of view so it's easy to frame what you see.
The Lumix TZ60 comes with a more substantial thumb rest on the rear, which does help with your grip though we wished the rest was more pronounced. The control dial on the rear comes outfitted with a clickable scroll wheel this time around, making it easy to scroll through the various controls and settings as opposed to clicking away at a four-way d-pad.
User Interface and Camera Performance
The Panasonic Lumix TZ60’s autofocus is pretty quick, though it will slow down when you are going into the longer focal lengths (a trait common to all superzoom compact cameras). And since the Lumix TZ60 has dropped the touchscreen display, you’re left with using the d-pad to move and also adjust the size of the focus area. In an era of touch-to-focus becoming a norm in mainstream products, this hampers the tracking of subjects or choosing a focus point, which is important since the camera’s 23-area AF mode may lock focus on an area with high contrast as opposed to the area you would want it to focus on.
Image stabilization however, still remains one of Panasonic’s strong points when it comes to their compact superzooms, so we managed to get decent shots while shooting at the longest end (30x). Since the Lumix TZ60 shares the same sensor as its predecessor, the TZ40, image performance is more or less the same with the Lumiz TZ60 scoring 2000 x 2000LPH (horizontal and vertical).
30x optical zoom coupled with Panasonic's competent image stabilization helps you to get close to your subject.
The camera also lets you use your smartphone as a remote control and viewfinder. For this to work, you will need to connect your phone to the camera via Wi-Fi: you can choose to select the SSID and manually enter the password or to scan a QR code that will be displayed on the camera’s rear display.
For some reason the Lumix TZ60 only works with the Panasonic Image app, instead of the Panasonic Lumix app. As mentioned in our Panasonic Lumix LF1 review, the Lumix app makes it easy to share your images through various apps such as Facebook and Whatsapp. The Panasonic Image app however, feels like a work-in-progress. The interface is pretty sparse and it does not allow you to upload pictures directly to Facebook or Instagram; the only way to do that is to transfer the images to your smartphone and upload them. This is especially frustrating if you have used the mentioned Lumix app before; the Image app feels restrictive and backwater in comparison.
The Panasonic Image app isn't as user-friendly as the Lumix app, and sadly the Lumix TZ60 only works with the Image app.
The good news is that you can at least share images to various devices Wi-Fi compatible devices such as printers or A/V equipment. The Lumix TZ60 also comes with GPS and is able to geotag your pictures with location information. For those who are interested in recording video, the TZ60 is capable of 1080p video capture. The Lumix TZ60's battery life is rated at 300 shots, which is pretty standard for a digital compact, but do expect to see a lower figure if you're going to be shooting lots of video and connecting to other devices via Wi-Fi. Also, enabling the GPS functionality to geotag photos does drain the battery, so be sure to disable this function when not required.
The Lumix TZ60's user interface is easy to navigate, with all the settings split between the four sub-menus: record, setup, video, GPS and Wi-Fi. But then again, you probably won’t be accessing the main menu that frequently since the Quick Menu button brings up a list of commonly-accessed shooting functions when pressed.
Below are sample photographs shot with the Panasonic Lumix TZ60. The photos have not been post-processed and are copyright to SPH Magazines. They are provided for your reference only and we ask that you do not reproduce them elsewhere. Click for the full-resolution images.
f/3.5 at 31mm, 1/640 sec, ISO100
f/3.3 at 24mm, 1/1000 sec, ISO100
f/3.9 at 44mm, 1/60 sec, ISO100
f/3.6 at 36mm, 1/320 sec, ISO100
f/3.3 at 24mm, 1/4 sec, ISO1250
Conclusion
While we appreciate the fact that Panasonic is trying to push the capabilities of a standard compact superzoom camera, in some aspects the Lumix TZ60 feels like a case of one step forward, two steps back. For example, having 30x optical zoom definitely opens up more creative opportunities, and the Lumix TZ60’s competent image stabilization makes shooting at its far end quite possible with good lighting conditions (otherwise you will have to shoot at higher ISO settings and thus faster shutter speeds).
But the addition of a small EVF while not including a touchscreen display (found on its predecessor, the Lumix TZ40), feels like Panasonic is trying to reach too far while trying to contain the cost point of the camera. In this regard, we felt that it would have been better if Panasonic included a touchscreen display on the Lumix TZ60, while also improving the EVF found on the Lumix LF1. While most of the Lumix TZ60’s competitors don’t have touchscreen displays, having one on its predecessor (the TZ40), really worked in its favor and as such, it feels like the Lumix TZ60 is slightly behind its predecessor in terms of usability.
Another stumbling block for the Panasonic Lumix TZ60 is the Image app. It is less user-friendly than the Lumix app that we've assessed when reviewing the Lumix LF1. For the social media junkies, the inability to directly share photos to social media sites like Facebook might be a blemish on the camera. As mentioned earlier, sharing of photos would have to be accomplished in a two-step process by first transferring the images to your smartphone and then posting your content from the phone.
Trying to cram too many features into a single product usually results in certain compromises. In this case, if you don’t mind the lack of a touchscreen display and the disappointing Image app, the Lumix TZ60 actually has many positives such as its long reach, competent image stabilization, and a physical lens ring to help with control. But if you’re an existing owner of a Lumix TZ40, the lacklustre EVF and the exclusion of a touchscreen display aren't compelling enough to warrant the change unless you really need the 30x optical zoom. So while the Lumix TZ60 is a decent travel compact, have a go at the Lumix TZ40 to see if you prefer having a touchscreen display over the extended zoom reach.
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