TB4 Loc: TX

Does anyone have first hand experience with the new Panasonic ZS200? It looks like the ideal travel camera and I have read a LOT of the reviews. Several of them point out that the image quality is soft at the long end. Do you have this experience? Are you happy with the viewfinder? Any complaints or suggestions ? I am thinking of trading in my Sony a6000 and Zeiss 16-70 to get a more compact and longer reaching travel camera. I'd appreciate your input.

Bison Bud

I have no first hand experience, but I have been looking at it and the reviews online and I have to admit that it looks pretty good on paper for a high quality "Stow & Go," type travel camera. I think it might be tough to beat your present combination in picture quality, but 16-70 mm is somewhat limiting and the extra reach would be useful in my opinion. Anyway, I too will be watching this thread with interest!

le boecere

Just in case you've not read Tom Dempsey's remarks about this camera:

http://photoseek.com/2016/panasonic-zs100-10x-zoom-bests-sony-rx100-for-travel-flexibility/

BTW; I've handled Tom's ZS100, and have concluded it's "soft at the long end", as reported.

TB4 Loc: TX

I appreciate your input! The article was good and similar to many others but Dempsey seems very happy with the 100. My ONLY hang up now is “how soft?” at the long end? Especially with the ZS200 reaching out to 360? I’m not a professional selling large prints but I do admit to some degree of pixel peeping.

le boecere

Tom has answered email inquiries, in the past, so you might just send him a note, asking for clarification.

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

As a 'pocket camera', I have a Z80. It, too, is soft on the long end. Solution for me? I avoid using it at the end for 'telephoto'. If I want something that will be distant, I'll then crop it in my PS. The resolution is quite good, so cropping on 1/4 of the image still turns out sharp and not soft.

TB4 Loc: TX

Sounds like a good solution. Thanks for your input.

insman1132 Loc: Southwest Florida

I have two of the earlier Panasonic ZS model cameras and they have been wonderful, but as backups. However when it comes to travel I have some hesitation about a camera that has only a 10x optical reach. (Just my personal preference but something you might want to think seriously about.) Aside from that the ZS series are wonderful cameras in their own right.

TB4 Loc: TX

Glad to hear you’ve had good experience with the ZS line. Although the ZS100 has a 10x lens the 200 has a 15x lens of 24-360 making it more attractive to me. I figure since I don’t usually make big prints this camera should be sufficient and convenient.

kay55 Loc: NE Ohio

I know i am late to answer this, but I just returned the zs200. I wasn't happy with the camera overall, but the i wanted it for the zoom and the size, unfortunately I didn't like the zoom pictures and l took a lot. Granted I did have a lot of confusion with the Settings I managed to get into a few settings that I couldn't figure out how to turn them off, it was really frustrating. Once I managed to get out of a unwanted function I was leery of playing with the settings for fear of getting stuck again. Once I finally got it where I wanted it I didn't change much. If I would have had more time to play with it I am sure I could have figured it out. All that aside I went to the local pond and took hundreds of pictures of the ducks and some dogs. The pictures of the pond came out nice, and the ducks up close were good too. The ducks were cooperative they walked around and a couple took a spin around the pond. I took several of the swimming one he started near me and swam to the other side of the pond and back once he got about half way across the pond the pictures were not the best.
I am not a professional i just like to take pictures and if I had more time to figure out the settings issue it may have been better. I have experience with canon, finepix, Kodak, and hp cameras, which all have learning curves, but this one seemed a little more frustrating (maybe because I am getting older?). Its a good solid camera and the macro pictures I took were good, but the zoom was disappointing. Hope this helps

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Here is an example. Not a great shot, but whatever... Note the detail in the crop. This is the ZS100 at full zoom.

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