Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ80EB-K Super Zoom Camera - Black

Product Information

The Lumix TZ90 / ZS70 is the third generation to include a built-in 1166k dot electronic viewfinder, the same one featured on the higher-end Lumix TZ100 / ZS100. An eye-sensor and a button for toggling between the viewfinder and the screen which doubles up as Fn4 works in the same way as other recent Lumix models with three options – viewfinder, screen or eye sensor, the latter activating the viewfinder when you put your eye to it and the screen at all other times. With a maximum optical focal length of 720mm on a body with a minimal grip, it’s very important to have effective image stabilisation. To put the OIS system to the test on the TZ80 / ZS60, I zoomed it into its maximum 720mm equivalent focal length and took a series of photos at progressively slower shutter speeds first without stabilisation, then with, to see what it was capable of ironing-out. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ80's viewfinder is small, but it's useful if there's very bright sunlight - or if you just prefer to compose your images through a viewfinder. There's a sensor on the viewfinder itself which switches it on - and the screen off - automatically as the camera is lifted to your eye. This makes for a nice seamless transition - but you can switch this off if you need to - for instance if you're shooting from the hip. Unlike the TZ57, the TZ80's screen is fixed, which is less useful for selfies and group portraits, but it helps to keep the camera slim. The time available for recording varies depending on the environment, the interval between recordings, and the manner of use.

The 4K Photo mode is great for capturing the perfect moment when faced with fast action, but it’s also surprisingly useful for portraits, especially of kids, where an expression can change between frames. Max. 4x (When Digital Zoom is used simultaneously with Intelligent Zoom, you can only increase the zoom ratio up to 2x.) Most times I will just lower in camera settings for NR, sharpness and contrast, then edit the jpeg..and all is well . Fitted with a UHS-3 card and set to AFS, I fired-off 45 Large Fine JPEGs in High mode in 4.18 seconds before it began to stutter. This corresponds to a speed of 10.76fps. Set to RAW, I captured 13 frames in 1.23 seconds for a speed of 10.57fps before the camera stopped shooting. Both essentially confirm the top speed, but if you want to shoot a burst of longer than around a second you’ll need to make do with JPEGs. All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 18 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 6Mb.

FAQs

This is the same touch-sensitive screen that’s used on the TZ100 / ZS100 and, as on the flagship Lumix travel zoom, can be used to place the AF area for focussing, meter exposure, shoot and select soft function buttons, it also allows menu selection and entering of details when making network connections. I’m very pleased to see the touch-screen return to the TZ / ZS series and it’s one of the big advantages the TZ80 / ZS60 holds over Canon’s SX720 has which has neither a touch-screen nor a viewfinder. 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.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ80 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 3cms away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop. There are two options for transferring images; Batch transfer provides a menu from which you can select options to transfer the current day’s images, or you can include the last 3, 7 or 30 days, or if you’re feeling impetuous you can opt to transfer everything. Further options allow you to restrict transferred files to just photos or videos. If you want to browse the images on the card in the camera before deciding which to transfer, then Transfer selection is the option to go for.

The TZ90 / ZS70’s combined battery and card compartment is accessed via a door in the base – note it’s not possible to change the card or battery when the camera is mounted on a tripod. The BLG10E battery (the same one used in the TZ80 / ZS60) provides enough power on a full charge for 380 shots using the screen exclusively or 250 shots with the EVF so, in practice, probably somewhere between the two. That’s a little better than the 250 shots you’ll get with the Canon PowerShot SX730 HS, but the SX730 HS’s Eco energy saving mode extends that to a more generous 355 shots. Wifi allows you to wirelessly browse the TZ90 / ZS70’s images on the larger and more detailed screen of a smartphone or tablet, copy them onto these devices, upload them to online storage or social media services (either directly or via a smartphone), or become remote-controlled using the free Lumix Image app for iOS or Android devices.

It’s clear from the views above that filming in the 1080 modes captures a wider field of view, but how does the quality compare? Below are 100% crops made from the 4k footage on the left and the 1080p footage on the right. Note that the 1080p crop on the right shows a larger area with smaller detail not just because of the lower resolution of the 1080p clip, but the wider field of view. What’s interesting about this comparison is that though the detail is larger in the 4k crop on the left, there isn’t more of it, what you can see though is more noise. So though you’re getting more pixels shooting with the TZ80 / ZS60 in 4k video mode, thanks to the noise you’re not really getting more detail or better image quality. It’s great to have such a wide choice of AF area modes, but it’s the touch screen that makes the biggest difference to focussing with the TZ90 / ZS70. You can simply tap the screen to position the AF area in single area mode. Custom Multi mode allows you to select a subset of the 49 areas arranged in a diamond configuration a single row or column, or a user defined pattern, then you simply tap the screen to position your AF grid. When you’re in Face detect mode you can also select which eye you want to focus on by tapping it.

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Here's an example. Tried to get the milky flowing water effect, by lowering shutter speeds...my ZS60 has no ND filter...so overblown highlights are the result: To put the OIS system to the test on the TZ90 / ZS70, I zoomed it into its maximum 720mm equivalent focal length and took a series of photos at progressively slower shutter speeds first without stabilisation, then with, to see what it was capable of ironing-out. As you can see from the 100 percent crops below, with stabilisation enabled I was able to get shake-free shots with the TZ90 / ZS70 at shutter speeds down to 1/25 – nearly five stops slower than conventional wisdom dictates is safe. I used the built-in viewfinder to take these shots and having the camera pressed to your face undoubtedly provides a more stable platform than holding it out in front while looking at the screen. This is more of a crop than you get with the TZ80 / ZS60 where, with the same lens but a lower resolution 18 Megapixel sensor, the equivalent range is cropped to 33-990mm. The TZ80 has a more advanced JPEG engine that offers fine control of in-camera image processing parameters so you can bring things in line with your own image quality preferences and better handle challenging shooting conditions.

Can see FZ1000 JPG vs RAW images HERE of example showing of the ability of RAW PP to recover highlights/ shadows. Used PSE 14 to process the FZ1000 RAW image. LVF (Live View Finder) (1,166k dots equiv.), Field of View: Approx. 100%, Lens 19.6x/Magnification: Approx. 2.59x / 0.46x (35 mm camera equivalent) i do like a touch screen for focusing, but very rarely use it. i'm a big panasonic fan, partly because the autofocus usually seems to focus on what i want to focus on, and if not, you just release, do another half press to refocus. The Lumix TZ90 / ZS70’s front grip is a good size and combined with the rear thumb rest, which is made of a soft rubber-like material, provide a secure grip which you can feel confident about even when using the cameraone-handed. The PowerShot SX730 HS’s grips aren’t so substantial, but the moulded contours and lighter weight mean they don’t need to be. Normal: Wide 50 cm - infinity / Tele 200 cm - infinity/AF Macro / MF / Intelligent Auto / Motion Picture: Wide 3 cm - infinity / Tele 200 cm - infinityAs you can tell from above, this camera puts in a lot of work to capture these moments and process them into high quality images. For that reason, it’s important to pair this camera with an SD card that can keep up. I am very much just the family photographer and need a small compact for a family holiday to Disney World this summer. I really want to try to get off Auto mode and hope to go on a photography course next week to help with this. I have been looking at the TZ70 and TZ80 which are the sort of size I'm looking for. I'm trying to work out which would be best for me but I've spent so much time Googling that I now am completely confused.... A lens ring controls manual focus, aperture or shutter speed control, depending on the selected mode. There’s also a rear wheel for exposure adjustments and swift menu navigation. Unlike its predecessors, this model includes a touchscreen, which greatly speeds up autofocus point selection and is welcome for menu navigation, too. 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.