Early Impressions: Panasonic Lumix ZS200

[OldMacs4Me]

Why the ZS200?:

So just some hopefully coherent thoughts on my new Lumix ZS200. I started out with a more formal approach, but eventually decided to dish out a little bit every so often.

My dad once told me the place to start is where you're at and that's more or less how my wife and I came to select this camera.

Recently the Kodak Z915 that was mainly my wife's camera up and died. The lens is out, never again to retract. Once it had lasted more than 4 hours I knew it was time to start looking around for a replacement. My better half was very insistent on three things, it had to be similar in design to it's predecessor. She wanted a zoom that would extend at least as far as the 350mm equivalent on the Z915. And she wanted to be able to use it as a straight out P&S.

I wanted a wider angle than the former 35mm equivalent. I wanted a much wider ISO range than the Kodak, which was pretty useless beyond ISO 200. I also wanted a larger sensor and a real viewfinder. Finally I wanted some ability to shoot continuously. When we bought the Kodak in 2009 we were both retired and living on savings. We had not yet started collecting any pensions so the budget was very tight. At the time it met most expectations, and was by far the best bang for our buck. However monitors have come a long way in the past 12 years. Nowadays the tiny sensors on iPhones and less expensive P&S cameras simply can't be relied upon to consistently deliver crisp images to even 1080x1920 monitors, let alone the newer 4 or 5K monitors. I also wanted to be able to count on a 16x24 print from my images. There won't be very many but I want that ability.

The Lumix checks all the boxes. Sensor size √. The sensor is 8.8x13.2mm compared to 4.8x6.4mm or 4.8x7.2mm on the numerous small sensor cameras. EVF √. Zoom lens from 24-360mm equivalent √. Similar form factor √. Easily set-up as straight P&S √. ISO is useful to at least 1000 and sometimes a bit beyond √. Sufficient control to be more creative √. Continuous shooting at 6 or 10FPS√. Solid prints up to 16x24√

Will finish these initial comments with a pair of photos showing the old and new. Flash images taken with my Fuji XP-90 waterproof camera.

More in a day or so.

 

[Hughmac]

Thanks for sharing your impressions. We need more reports from 'normal' people rather than the magazine reviews which can sometimes show a bias.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Point & Shoot

So to continue. One important spousal criterion was to be able to use as a point and shoot. Sounds easy especially as there is an iA setting to supposedly do just that. Took me about 2 frames to decide that setting was just not going to work. The issue was the focus method, just 2 available modes. One sort of cast around for the closest large object, the other was a tracking mode, but getting it to latch onto the point I wanted in focus, proved way too challenging for what is supposed to be the lazy approach. BTW my wife views it more as letting you concentrate on the important things rather than being lazy.

Switching over to P(rogram) mode still allowed for P&S style shooting but did bring different focusing modes into play. By far the most useful is the pinpoint setting. You can go between twigs to focus on a bird. There is a feature/bug that goes along with some of the focus modes. You can touch a point on the screen and the focus cross hair changes from centered to that point. Nice when the point of interest is off center. Lets you focus then keeps to a minimum the amount you shift the camera for final framing. It is however a bug as well as a feature. Just way tooooo easy to touch an edge of the screen and send the point in focus miles from the intended target.
EDIT: I did find a way to disable the touch screen, I recall it took a lot of menu diving, and suspect it would take me a long time to duplicate the chore.

Part of testing out the P&S approach was letting the camera pick its own settings. Generally the shutter speed was within an acceptable range, and the ISO would adjust to get the correct exposure. For shooting critters I found it better to switch to the S(hutter) preferred mode and pre-set the shutter speed at 1/500 in that mode. Between the two modes I covered a fairly broad range of ISO settings. I found anything between ISO 125 and 1000 delivered really good results. ISO of 1600 is generally acceptable, but noise becomes noticeable at ISO 3200.

In both modes I was using what Panasonic™ refers to as the program metering setting. I believe Nikon calls it Matrix metering. Center weighted average and spot metering are also available.

The camera delivers outstanding JPEGS. Without adjusting the exposure bias I only blew out the highlights on one image even though I deliberately attempted to do just that several times. Images consistently maintained highlight details but were a bit on the low contrast and light side. However post image corrections were minimal and saturation tweaks were at most very minimal. I find it much easier to add contrast and/or density as opposed trying to spill the same. For those who are convinced they need more control, images can also be saved as RAW(RW2), or RAW + JPEG.

Will finish this off with the one image I have where the ISO wandered up to ISO 3200. You will need to view the image full size to see get a better idea of the noise.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

So to continue. One important spousal criterion was to be able to use as a point and shoot. Sounds easy especially as there is an iA setting to supposedly do just that. Took me about 2 frames to decide that setting was just not going to work. The issue was the focus method, just 2 available modes. One sort of cast around for the closest large object, the other was a tracking mode, but getting it to latch onto the point I wanted in focus, proved way too challenging for what is supposed to be the lazy approach. BTW my wife views it more as letting you concentrate on the important things rather than being lazy.

Switching over to P(rogram) mode still allowed for P&S style shooting but did bring different focusing modes into play. By far the most useful is the pinpoint setting. You can go between twigs to focus on a bird. There is a feature/bug that goes along with some of the focus modes. You can touch a point on the screen and the focus cross hair changes from centered to that point. Nice when the point of interest is off center. Lets you focus then keeps to a minimum the amount you shift the camera for final framing. It is however a bug as well as a feature. Just way tooooo easy to touch an edge of the screen and send the point in focus miles from the intended target.

Part of testing out the P&S approach was letting the camera pick its own settings. Generally the shutter speed was within an acceptable range, and the ISO would adjust to get the correct exposure. For shooting critters I found it better to switch to the S(hutter) preferred mode and pre-set the shutter speed at 1/500 in that mode. Between the two modes I covered a fairly broad range of ISO settings. I found anything between ISO 125 and 1000 delivered really good results. ISO of 1600 is generally acceptable, but noise becomes noticeable at ISO 3200.

In both modes I was using what Panasonic™ refers to as the program metering setting. I believe Nikon calls it Matrix metering. Center weighted average and spot metering are also available.

The camera delivers outstanding JPEGS. Without adjusting the exposure bias I only blew out the highlights on one image even though I deliberately attempted to do just that several times. Images consistently maintained highlight details but were a bit on the low contrast and light side. However post image corrections were minimal and saturation tweaks were at most very minimal. I find it much easier to add contrast and/or density as opposed trying to spill the same. For those who are convinced they need more control, images can also be saved as RAW(RW2), or RAW + JPEG.

Will finish this off with the one image I have where the ISO wandered up to ISO 3200. You will need to view the image full size to see get a better idea of the noise.

It sounds like another great little Lumix camera. About the 2 available focus modes, I imagine that you should be able to set the camera so when in tracking mode you could manually move the focus point, but in reality focus tracking is only needed for moving subjects.

Anyways, focus seems to be about the same for most mirrorless cameras. For example if taking photos of birds that are moving around the tree branches, sometimes "tracking" may switch from the bird to a branch that is next to it. But if you watch the "youtube" videos from bird photographers, most point to the following settings to avoid losing focus of subject:

a. Set the camera so you can move the focus point manually. In this case you can move the focus point to an area in the frame where the camera should focus and meter.

b. Set the camera to "back-button AF," plus a second button in the back that you can assign "tracking" to. In this case, if the focus point is on the bird you should be able to focus on it with the first "back button focus. But if the bird starts moving around, use the second "back-button AF with tracking," since you only need tracking when the subject is moving.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Thanks for your comments Ray. I did not intend to imply that tracking mode is not useful. Simply that it was not a great choice for a basic P&S set-up. Nor is the multiblock system that is designed mainly for getting a group of people mostly into focus. Having said that, I will be exploring focus tracking more fully some time down the road. At the moment I can't comment as to how responsive it is.

For both me and my better half, pinpoint focusing is best, although the single block would serve just as well in most situations. Either way you're outside of the iA-mode which is supposedly the go to for P&S. That said both P-mode and S-mode can easily be set to be the base for P&S photography. I should add that there is almost zero lag between partially squeezing the shutter and the autofocus latching onto to the subject. Also pretty much zero shutter lag over all.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Electronic View Finder

Quite brief post today about the Electronic View Finder. Most of the reviews I read found it somewhat disappointing. However these were obviously written by those looking for a 'take it anywhere' supplement to their high end mirrorless cameras.

I have used it less often than I thought I would, but when the time comes to get an image with the sun shining on the display you can bet the farm I'll use it then.

The EVF is normally off to conserve battery life and wakes up when you bring your eye up close to it. Definitely placed so that you will want to use the right eye as otherwise your nose will be bumping the display. Whatever is on the display also shows in the viewfinder, including the level or histogram when they're activated. It shows what point you have picked for focus and lets you set zoom length, then get the framing exactly the way you want it. I probably would not be tempted to use it for critical exposure evaluation. If that's required I would be more prone to go ahead and activate bracketing. But I would be doing that in any tough lighting situation.

The EVF has a diopter correction, which is a click wheel located just to the right of the viewfinder. The placement of this is as shown in the image, which makes it awkward to adjust while looking through the view finder. The only approach is to shift it up or down a click at a time until you find the best setting. Once set, the image is quite clear and the thumbwheel is hard to disturb. The EVF should also work just fine with glasses.

 

[Hughmac]

Unfortunately I use the EVF, which is on the same side on my RX100, with my left eye, due to it being more clear to see; consequently I've had to disable touch to focus/shoot on all my cameras or my nose takes a lot of unusual photos.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Unfortunately I use the EVF, which is on the same side on my RX100, with my left eye, due to it being more clear to see; consequently I've had to disable touch to focus/shoot on all my cameras or my nose takes a lot of unusual photos.

Cheers

Hugh

Unfortunate as I find that feature very useful. And this coming from a guy who hates touch screens. Maybe hold the camera upside down?

 

[Hughmac]

It's no problem for me as I seldom feel the need for touch shooting, a little old fashioned I know, but I can still use touch for menus or chimping my shots if I want to.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[OldMacs4Me]

It's no problem for me as I seldom feel the need for touch shooting, a little old fashioned I know, but I can still use touch for menus or chimping my shots if I want to.

Cheers

Hugh

I don't touch shoot at all, not even sure this camera has that option, but sometimes I do find it extremely useful to touch the screen to set my focus point off center.

 

[Clix Pix]

I'm so used to using the "joystick" that I forget that I can actually just touch the screen to establish my focus point!

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

As a left-eye shooter, the first thing I do is disable touch focus right away. The joystick becomes quite essential after that.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Misses

So some things that bug me a either little or a lot.

Off the top, no filter ring. While this is a common omission in this style of camera, it is otherwise so powerful that leaving out the filter ring is just plain stupid. ND, polarizing and close-up filters are just three that might otherwise be frequently used with this camera. You can still use filters but most likely would need either a third hand or a tripod to pull it off. I am guessing close-up lenses would probably prove too awkward, However this camera will focus down to a width of 55mm without resorting to using the digital zoom.

There is no hot shoe or flash cable connection. This does not bother me much as I have reasonable slave triggered workarounds. The built in flash is pop-up. The first flash image I tried was of the living room which is about 18 feet deep. I used the maximum wide angle. I was super impressed with the incredibly even lighting, especially given the depth of the scene. I suspect this was largely accomplished in the software end. The camera used an ISO of 1600 to pull it off so the flash is not very powerful, my guess is that the guide# is somewhere around 16. The absence of any provision for an external flash is understandable as this camera would not have even been in the running had I been looking for a studio camera.

In 2010 and 2016 I was shopping for waterproof cameras. On both occasions I considered the Lumix version and rejected it, as I was sure I would be doing way too much menu diving in situations where I only had one wet hand available. I can't say that the Lumix line has improved in this area in the past 11 years. It's taken both hands and about 3 weeks but I have learned to find my way around the various controls and have also set-up 'My Menu' to consolidate the menu items I am most likely to want to grab quickly. That said there are literally hundreds of various menu and sub-menu selections and finding the one(s) you want can be time consuming, especially in the early days.

Then there is the Fn1 button which brings up the 4K continuous 30FPS selection. This button is placed exactly where a part of the thumb wants to rest. See the second image in the original post. My wife is still accidentally hitting this button almost every time she uses the camera.

Finally there is my love hate relationship with the touch screen focus point. I've already covered this one fairly extensively. If there is a joystick alternative I have as yet to dig it out of the menu catacombs.

 

[Hughmac]

My RX100 has an add-on filter ring. There may be one available for your camera.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[mollyc]

so i will never buy this camera. but i love reading your reviews on it. ?

 

[OldMacs4Me]

so i will never buy this camera. but i love reading your reviews on it. ?

Thanks Molly. This camera does do everything I expected, but were my criteria even slightly different I would probably have made a different selection. Certainly had portability not been a major consideration I think I would have been much more likely to go with the Lumix G95.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

My RX100 has an add-on filter ring. There may be one available for your camera.

Cheers

Hugh

There is but it is adhesive based and the area where it would attach is small enough that I have for the moment rejected the idea. That may change if/when I meet someone who has used it extensively with this camera.

 

[Hughmac]

There is but it is adhesive based and the area where it would attach is small enough that I have for the moment rejected the idea. That may change if/when I meet someone who has used it extensively with this camera.

Yes, that's the type I went for, a stick on base that is magnetic for attaching the filter holder to.
I remember fluffing the first install and had to remove the base to reposition it, and it come off reasonably easily if that's what you're worried about.
I haven't used it for a while but it seems to work well.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[mackmgg]

Have you tried it much at night? I'm curious how the low light capabilities of the Lumix are!

Right now I'm in the RX100 camp, previously had a G5XM2. Those two are very similar, though I think I prefer the Canon a bit. The Sony has way better autofocus, the Canon is significantly more responsive. That means it turns on/off faster, but also to Hughmac's point as a left-eye viewfinder person it also shuts off the screen faster and I've never had my nose hit the touchscreen before it was disabled. Whereas on the Sony the touchscreen is still enabled for enough time to touch it with your nose before it switches to the EVF.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Have you tried it much at night? I'm curious how the low light capabilities of the Lumix are!

Right now I'm in the RX100 camp, previously had a G5XM2. Those two are very similar, though I think I prefer the Canon a bit. The Sony has way better autofocus, the Canon is significantly more responsive. That means it turns on/off faster, but also to Hughmac's point as a left-eye viewfinder person it also shuts off the screen faster and I've never had my nose hit the touchscreen before it was disabled. Whereas on the Sony the touchscreen is still enabled for enough time to touch it with your nose before it switches to the EVF.

FWIW I think that activating the EVF simply makes the screen go dark? I believe the touchscreen aspect remains active. That may be adjustable buried somewhere deep down in the menu catacombs. I shoot right eyed and have not had the issue so had no reason to explore that aspect.

As to low light the ISO 1600 setting is still usable whereas 3200 starts to show noise. Beyond that have not used it enough at night to give you an honest answer.

If you do not need that full zoom range there are travel cameras with slightly with faster lenses. I am pretty sure that Sony has the best rep for maximum usable ISO.

EDIT: Here is a shot my wife took of the old monitor post surgery but awaiting the autopsy. ISO was 3200. First is as it came from the camera but resized to about 25%. The second cropped all the way in at 100% to pull the serial number of the power supply. North light from a window has biased the colour a shade towards the Cyan.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

FWIW I think that activating the EVF simply makes the screen go dark? I believe the touchscreen aspect remains active. That may be adjustable buried somewhere deep down in the menu catacombs. I shoot right eyed and have not had the issue so had no reason to explore that aspect.

As to low light the ISO 1600 setting is still usable whereas 3200 starts to show noise. Beyond that have not used it enough at night to give you an honest answer.

If you do not need that full zoom range there are travel cameras with slightly with faster lenses. I am pretty sure that Sony has the best rep for maximum usable ISO.

I owned this camera’s big brother, the FZ1000, and I have a few photos of 1/13s at ISO1600 that look pretty good. They were low light indoor shots, but not what I’d call night shots.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Bells & Whistles
Let's be honest. Whether we are talking about cars, cameras or refrigerators, Bells and Whistles are an integral part of the modern digital lifestyle. I doubt that (m)any of these are unique to Panasonic but here are those I like and use:
The Level: This can be accessed by a touchscreen double dip or via the menus. Makes it dead easy to get perfect horizon lines and/or completely eliminate tip and tilt. Cannot wait to try hand held panoramas and stereos using this feature.
My Menu: With a gadzillion options available, this lets you consolidate the handful you routinely use into one easily accessible location. My wife likes to shoot at a 4:3 aspect ratio I prefer 3:2. She finds the level just clutters things up, I love it. With My Menu it's one stop shopping to change both to my liking when I pick up the camera and back to hers when I set it down.
Histogram: If you're into making as few corrections as possible post image, the live histogram is for you. I find it distracting but really wish it was available when I was reviewing images as it would make it a snap to decide if I have what I want, or need to vary something to improve the exposure.
Bracketing: User defined to get a good range from 'normal' to under and over in whatever steps you like. I find this one a better option than the histogram. It too resides in My Menu.
EBV: This has been around long before digital cameras and I do hope it's universal by now. I still find it useful for taking multiple shots where I want an under or over bias. Would be the go to control if you were trying to use the live histogram to maximum advantage, without going full manual.
EVF: Even though I use the Electronic View Finder less than I anticipated, it was one of the must have features when I was exploring options.
Magnifier: This magnifies the spot you are focusing on. Can be turned off if you find it distracting, but I like it especially if I am trying to set a focus behind foreground twigs or branches.

Have literally just scratched the surface. For those who want an out of the camera shot as close to perfect as possible, there are levels controls. A couple of pre-sets and a couple more you can control. Might take some time but used in conjunction with the live histogram I am pretty sure you could fine tune the JPEG output exactly to your liking. Of course there are modes as well. They've been around forever but, I honestly have never bothered with them. Still there are a bunch of them if you believe you would find them useful.

 

[mackmgg]

Another thing I've been increasingly frustrated with on the RX100 that I'm curious how the Lumix fares is startup/shutdown times. And just overall responsiveness. I often use a P&S when I'm out running, and want to be able to quickly take it out, get the shot I want, put it back, and keep running. The Canon is just so much faster than the Sony:

Canon G5X Mark II:
Power button to photo taken (cold start) - 1.5s
Power button to photo taken (warm start) - 1.5s
Power button to lens retracted - 0.9s

Sony RX100 Mark VII:
Power button to photo taken (cold start): 5.5s
Power button to photo taken (warm start): 2.0s
Power button to lens retracted - 1.7s

Doesn't seem like a huge difference, but it's the difference of several missed shots! Especially coming from a cold start (the first time you start it after taking the SD card or battery out and back in or it's been sitting for a while), which doesn't seem to make any difference on the Canon.

The other thing I noticed during these tests is that the RX100 occasionally doesn't respond to the power button and you have to hit it again. I don't mind this too much, but sometimes it then does respond to the first power button hit and after a couple seconds the camera turns itself back off again! In those cases it's closer to 10s from when I first try and turn it on to when I can actually take a photo. I've noticed this occasionally while out using the camera but always assumed I just didn't hit it right or something. From doing a bunch of tests with the stopwatch I can confirm it's an issue even if you hit the button fully each time.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

^^^^
Lacking a stop watch, I am going to place power to pic cold at 3-4secs.
The rest pretty seem close to the Canon. Absolutely not worse than the Sony.

Once it's powered up, if I squeeze the shutter at my normal rate, it grabs focus without having to pause at the halfway point.

Power is rotating arm style switch so it takes every time. The switch is a feature I really like, pretty much impossible to accidentally switch it on or off.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Close-ups
Some thoughts on close-ups. In full auto mode the camera does seem to automatically adjust to full close-up mode. This will get you into to about a width of 5.7cm (2.25 inches) at the widest angle. However you will be right on top of the subject. In program mode you do have to change into close-up mode to get that close. Unfortunately Close-up only works at 8.8mm (24mm lens equivalent). That said with the lens fully zoomed in and normal AF mode, working from 3 feet away, the subject width is 11cm (4.3 inches). Thanks to the sensor size this should still crop down to about 2 inches with image quality good enough to produce an 8x10 print, or nearly fill my 1920x1200 monitor.

There is a close-up zoom mode, but be aware that the zoom is digital. You will be able to get in somewhat closer but at full zoom will be working from a 2.2MP portion of the sensor with the image then interpolated back up to 20MP. Still if you keep the ISO at or below 800 this may work reasonably well for you.

With subjects that are mobile, my approach will be to work from the long end and get the best image I can before going in tighter with the close-up setting.

Sample image is close-up with full digital zoom at an ISO of 160. Resized plus minimal horizontal crop.