Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I wanted this camera badly, so I bought it a day or two after it became available. It was through Amazon, but the order was fulfilled by Focus Camera. The ZS100 arrived in a few days (seemed a little slow on the shipping) and immediately there were problems out of the box. I got lots of error messages just trying to do the initial setup. I did get it set up and took a couple of photos, but was getting error messages and freeze ups every minute or so. So the same day I received it, I shipped it back to Focus Camera for a refund. Once the camera arrived at Focus, the refund was slow in coming and I was not reimbursed for the return shipping. I eventually got the refund and Amazon reimbursed for the shipping after I complained. The camera was in short supply and I wanted it badly for an upcoming assignment (a paying photography gig), so I ordered a replacement from Adorama. That one came promptly with a carton full of accessories -- and the camera worked perfectly out of the box. On to the review of the Panasonic ZS100: I like it... I really like it. I have had several Panasonic ZS series cameras starting with the ZS7, but the last one I got (the ZS50) was not nearly as good as I expected. It's photos were just fair at best, although video was pretty good. I loved the size and the long zoom (30x) but the lens added distortion and artifacts, especially when zoomed all the way in. I knew what I needed: I wanted to trade some zoom length for a bigger sensor. That's exactly what the ZS100 is, and it works much as I expected. The Panasonic ZS100 has a "1-inch" sensor, which works out to a diagonal of about 16mm. That doesn't sound that big, but it has something like four times the area of the sensor in the ZS50 (which is a 1/2.3 inch sensor). More area means bigger pixels that have better light gathering ability, which means lower noise and higher resolution from less optical interference. This sounds complex, but I can tell you that it works -- the ZS100 takes much better photos and much better video than the ZS50. Of course, it costs quite a bit more. What I like about photos from the ZS100: -Excellent clarity and color -Much better in low light than a small-sensor camera. The ZS100 really is usable to ISO1600. -The flash on the ZS100 is excellent. It's a pop-up flash that lines up with the lens almost exactly, eliminating ugly flash shadows. -Even though the lens is f5.9 when zoomed all the way in, I still get excellent bokah. Check one of my images below. -At 20 megapixels, there is plenty of resolution for my applications, which includes magazine publishing. What I don't like about photos from the ZS100: -The lens is not as good as the removable Panasonic lenses I have for my GX8 Micro-FourThirds camera. Lens quality seems to be the limiting factor on the ZS100 -The auto focus doesn't always find the right focus, even when the subjects are in the clear and seemingly obvious. I want to re-iterate what I said about the flash on the ZS100: This is the best flash I have seen on a pocketable camera, and I have owned about 10 such cameras over the years. It reaches out 15 feet or so with good illumination and the results look natural. Because it's a pop-up flash, it is virtually impossible to accidentally cover it with a finger. (It was much too easy to accidentally cover the flash on the ZS50.) I complained about the autofocus on the ZS100 and you might think that I could just use manual focus. I do use manual focus and it is easy to use, but it's just not as fast as touching the shutter button to get a focus. I love that the ZS100 has a convenient manual focus, which I find especially useful for video shooting -- more about that in a moment. As for my photography assignment, I completed it with the ZS100 with good results. A couple of these photos are shown below. Now onto the ZS100's video capabilities. I actually shoot video more than I do photos, so I was really excited to get the ZS100 for its 4K video capability. Here's what I like about the Panasonic ZS100's video: -4K video quality is excellent, and HD (1080p) is even better. -The format the ZS100 uses for 4K video (100 Mbps MP4) plays back on all my computers with minimal complaint. I can even take the raw video files and play them on my Hisense 4K TV. That has a REAL "wow" factor! -When shooting 4K video, the lens works out to be 37mm to 370mm, and I like the 370mm telephoto. Having 37mm at the wide end is not so good. -Although no one has mentioned it that I've seen, the ZS100 will record 1080p at 120 fps for nice slow motion. Yes, it will do 120 fps at 1080p -- very nice. When shooting at 1080p, either slow-motion or normal speed, the zoom range is 31mm to 310mm. Here's what I don't like about the ZS100's video: -Again, the lens is not as good as the MUCH more expensive lenses I have for the Panasonic GX8. As with photos, the lens quality limits the ultimate quality of the images. They just don't look quite as pristine as the photos and videos I get from the GX8, although the ZS100 does fine with both. (The cheapest lens I have for the GX8 costs as much as the ZS100 camera, so this is not a surprise.) -There's no jack for external audio. -Having the widest shot be 37mm (31mm at 1080p). For a pocketable camera, the ZS100 does a great job with photos and video, although a tick below the similarly priced Panasonic LX100. On the other hand, the LX100 has just a 3x lens, although higher quality... decisions, decisions. Ergonomics and handling: The ZS100 is chunkier and noticeably heavier than the ZS50. The ZS100 will easily fit in a jacket pocket and will even go in a roomy pants pocket, but you'll notice it. I carried it for four days at a big convention, where I took dozens of photos for publication. It was in the pocket of my sport coat and was not a problem there at all. The 3-inch touch screen display on the ZS100 is excellent, and I quickly adapted to the touch screen after not having one on the ZS50. The ZS100 also has a small but useful eyepiece (electronic) viewfinder that is wonderful when shooting outdoors or when I need the added stability of holding the camera to my face. The eyepiece viewfinder has just enough pixels to be useful -- as far as I can tell, the ZS100's eyepiece viewfinder is identical to the viewfinder on the ZS50. The other buttons and controls on the ZS100 are in logical locations, although there is a knob on top of the camera that I don't really see the need for. I can probably assign it to do something I regularly use, such as exposure, but I haven't yet done that. It's just there and does nothing at the moment. Overall, I like the size, photo quality and video quality of the ZS100 quite a bit. I wish the auto focus was better, but I very much enjoy the lower noise and higher sensitivity of the ZS100, as compared to the ZS50. It does exactly what I expected the larger sensor to do. And the flash -- I'm very happy with the flash on the ZS100, despite the fact that it shoots only straight forward and can't be pointed anywhere else. Below are a couple photos from the ZS100. Amazon won't let me post a link to a video, but if you go to YouTube and search on my name (Bob Kovacs) and ZS100, you will find multiple videos that I've shot with the ZS100. I also have a l-o-n-g video review of the ZS100, and a comparison video: ZS100 vs. the Panasonic LX100. One nice recent video I shot with the ZS100 is on Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day 2016. Go to YouTube and search on "arlington cemetery memorial day 2016 zs100" and you'll find it. I recommend the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS100, and appreciate Amazon's customer service for making right the initial problem I had.