Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200/TZ200: First Impressions Review

Meet the Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200 / TZ200: the world's furthest reaching pocketable 1" -type camera. It sits beside the near-identical-looking ZS100 as the longer reaching model, providing a 24-360mm equiv. F3.3-6.4 zoom range compared to the 25-250mm equiv. F2.8-5.9 lens of the ZS100.

What's cool about the ZS200 is its greater zoom range is achieved while barely increasing the size of the body (it's 1mm thicker and 1mm taller than the ZS100), though the lens is nearly a half stop slower at the wide end, compared to its older sibling.

Both cameras use a 20.1MP 1" -type sensor but the ZS200 gains a higher resolution 2.33M dot equiv. electronic viewfinder compared to the 1.7M dot LVF on the ZS100 (still field sequential, more on that later). Panasonic has also added low power Bluetooth connectivity, in addition to Wi-Fi. It also gains a 3cm macro mode (available on the wide end only), Panasonic's L. Monochrome Photo Style, and a new highspeed 1080/120p video mode.

Key Features:

• 20.1MP 1"-type BSI CMOS sensor
• F3.3-6.4 24-360mm equiv. zoom lens
• 2.33M dot LVF with 0.53x equiv. magnification
• 10 fps burst (AF-S), 6 fps burst (AF-C)
• 5-axis in-body stablization
• UHD 4K/24/25/30p video
• 3" touch LCD
• Depth from Defocus AF
• Wi-Fi and low power Bluetooth
• 4K Photo
• USB charging

To put it simply the ZS200 seems to take the excellent pedigree of the ZS100 (one of our picks for best travel camera), makes some slight improvements and adds a longer, slightly slower lens. Combined, these two cameras fill a gap in the 1" -type compact camera market, providing significant telephoto reach beyond that of other pocket friendly models, such as the Sony RX100 series.

Compared to its peers

Speaking of the RX100 series, here's how the ZS200 stacks up in terms of specification to its peers.

	Panasonic DC-ZS200	Panasonic DMC-ZS100	Sony DSC- RX100 V	Sony DSC-RX100 IV	Canon G7 X Mark II
MSRP	$800	$700	$999	$899	$699
Lens range (equiv.)	24-360mm	25-250mm	24-70mm	24-70mm	24-100mm
Aperture range	F3.3-6.4	F2.8-5.9	F1.8-2.8	F1.8-2.8	F1.8-2.8
Autofocus	Contrast detection	Contrast detection	Phase detection	Contrast detection	Contrast detection
Viewfinder	2.3M-dot (field sequential)	1.7M-dot (field sequential)	2.36M-dot	2.36M-dot	No
Rear screen	Fixed	Fixed	Tilt up/down	Tilt up/down	Tilt up/down
Touch sensitive?	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Video capability	4K/30p 1080/120p	4K/30p 1080/60p	4K/30p 1080/120p	4K/30p 1080/120p	1080/60p
Burst Shooting	10 fps	10 fps	24 fps	16 fps	8 fps
Wifi, Bluetooth, NFC	Yes, Yes, No	Yes, No, No	Yes, No, Yes	Yes, No, Yes	Yes, No, Yes
Battery life (CIPA)	370	300	220	280	265

As you can see, the ZS200 matches up or beats its peers in some areas, like offering touch sensitivity and ample video capture options. But it also gets beat in others areas like maximum aperture range and burst speed. Though one thing worth calling out is the ZS200 features the best battery life of the bunch, something we look forward to confirming in real world testing.

We'll also include an equivalent aperture vs equivalent focal length graph, comparing the ZS200 to its peers, as soon as we get a final version of the camera back in our office.

Pricing and availability

Available mid-March, the ZS200 can be yours for $800 in either black, or silver/gunmetal, shown here.

[Read More ...]
Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200/TZ200: First Impressions Review was originally posted by proton T2a