Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I never thought I would go back to a small sensor compact, especially with quality options like the Sony RX series or any of the Olympus/Panasonic micro four thirds cameras. Why the ZS40 then? The main selling points to me on paper and now in actual use are: 1) 24-720mm lens This is an amazing range for such a small body. The lens is sharpest from 24mm to around 300mm. Anything above that I will bump the aperture up a stop or two. This usually means I have to set the ISO around 400 to still get decent shutter speed. ISO 400 is quite good. 2) Built-in EVF When I first looked through the EVF, I thought it was way too small. I took it to an Okaland A's baseball game in brutal sun and the EVF worked fantastic. The rear LCD was beyond useless in the overpowering sun and the EVF really saved the day. I was able to get nice wide shots of the crowd and zoom in super close to the players. Using the EVF also let me steady the camera better. The best part was that the camera was so small I had it in a belt case and barely knew it was there until the times I needed it. 3) RAW support Usually RAW is just a waste on such a small sensor, but you can squeeze a decent amount of extra detail depending on how well you nailed the exposure. The latest LR and Adobe updates now support the RAW files so that's a big plus for me now. 4) 1080p 60p video and stabilization Really great video quality. Already took some great family videos, footage at the ballgame, and some indoor action. The lowlight video is still not as good as some Sony cameras, but it's much better than previous Panasonic cameras. 5) Stylish This is a personal thing, but I really like the two tones gun metal grey and black body of the ZS40. What about the negatives? Lack of a separate battery charger is definitely a downer, especially for a compact camera that costs this much. Image quality is still no match for larger sensor cameras. Limited customization, no way to adjust flash strength or assign any function to custom buttons. So why 5 stars? Like most cameras, the ZS40 is a matter of trade offs. For me, there is nothing in this size class that has this much range, a built-in EVF, great video quality, and very good (or good enough) image quality. My main camera is the Sony A7R with either the 35mm or 55mm prime attached to it. Superb image quality and great video, but larger, no stabilization, a slower shutter (which means not as great for capturing fast kids), and limited range. But added in a camera bag with the ZS40, I have every situation covered, but with very little space taken up in the carry bag. I wasn't sure paying close to five hundred dollars would make sense, but the real world usage situations the ZS40 excels at have me sold. I know this camera will come down in price in time, but this is a case where paying the premium of full price has so far paid off in shots and video I would have been hard pressed to get without it. I purchased a set of two third party spare batteries that came with an external charger on Amazon to complete the ZS40 travel kit. It costs less than one official battery. Wishlist for ZS50 I really would love a tilt LCD, even if it adds a bit of bulk to the body. I would also love a hotshoe since adding better light is much needed for such a small sensor. Bigger grip. The nub is not bad, but with such a big zoom range, a more substantial grip would go a long way. Hope this helps. UPDATE MAY 2nd 2014 I've officially owned the ZS40 for close to six weeks now and have been using it regularly since my initial review. I continue to be impressed by the camera. Some tips I can share from my usage: - You can playback images you've taken without fully turning on the camera (which extends the lens) by pressing and holding the Play arrow. The rear LCD will light up and you can look through your images, but the lens will not extend. Turn the camera back off by hitting the power button or you can fully wake the camera by tapping the shutter button - The C1 and C2 dial save customs settings and are handy when you have things you shoot often, but require lots of menu diving. On mine, C1 shoots in manual mode with smallest quality JPEGS and locked at ISO 100. I use this setting to trigger off camera flashes to take product photos for the web. For C2, I've set it to the Sports mode setting which is perfect for capturing my fast moving kids. I could use the SCN function to activate Sports mode, but I like to use different SCN types so it's not always left on Sports. Assigning it to C2 allows me to change the dial once and go straight to shooting in Sports mode. - The iAuto setting works extremely well. I've come to use it often for times I'm not going for a specific look. I also enable the flash as the fill flash function seems to work fairly well. In dark situations the light is still too bright though.