Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Panasonic ZS50 is an amazing camera. The images and video are the best I've seen out of a very small sensor small camera. What makes the camera unique is the beautiful EVF viewfinder, while small is bright; and sharp. Having an EVF (electronic) viewfinder improves the image quality because holding the camera against your head at eye level, steadies the camera almost as much as the built in image stabilization. The resulting view is closer to what your eye sees,and you don't get that sun glare that will wash out an LCD screen. The EVF shows the display settings and you never have to remove your from the EVF to view the resulting image. This saves time and allows you to quickly adjust settings and snap another image if you are unhappy with your image. The image stabilization is excellent. It’s possible to get sharp images even at the full zoom. The most amazing part about this camera is the low light capability because of Panasonic's choice of 12 megapixels rather than the higher 18 megapixels on previous models. Each pixel is much larger and as a result more sensitive to light. I tested ISO’s up to the maximum and was pleasantly surprised. Images are very good up to 1600 and 3200 was marginally acceptable*(purists might disagree) There is some noise but not enough to spoil the image. Images taken during the day at ISO’s between 100 and 400 were routinely excellent. You always want to keep the ISO low for best image quality. During the day I set the maximum ISO at 400 and raised it to 1600 in lower light. If you are into IA setting, no need to worry about the ISO setting. Note: Noise increases as the ISO is raised and is very visible without magnification between 3200 and 6400, . The camera in most settings including IA worked very well. If you want the camera to choose the settings for you, then set the camera to IA and the results will be very consistent. It won’t always select the perfect setting but most of the time it should work fine. If you are a manual only shooter, you are in luck too because there is A, S and M settings as well as multiple custom settings which are very easy to set. I like to use custom settings. I use one for landscape, one for shadows, one for low light and one for motion. The one bad part of changing individual settings is that if you forget to change them back, the results can be disappointing. That is a good reason why new camera users should start with IA and then experiment with other settings. P is a very safe setting because it allows you to change some settings without altering the basic exposure. The P setting is a favorite for many users. The scenic settings can also be helpful to a beginner and there are lots of them in this camera and they work great. There is a separate Panorama setting that is very easy to use and allows wide angle views like a super wide angle lens. The faster you move the camera, the narrower the resulting strip. Overall it’s fun to use and works great. There is a 3D setting which I couldn't really see much of an effect but the image did standout. The most important features of the ZS 50 are the big zoom range of 24 wide angle to 740 zoom, and the EVF. There are no other small cameras with these two features. The images at full zoom and hand held came out sharper than I expected in good light. This sharpness in the image was only possible with excellent image stabilization and helped by using the viewfinder. I tried using the camera using just the LCD display. The fully zoomed images were much lower in quality (much softer and some were blurry). I personally cannot hold a camera steady with the camera stretched out like everyone does with their smartphone and tablets. Perhaps you can, but few can do it well. It’s always best to use a tripod when using a big zoom or when taking macro shots but that defeats the advantage of a small camera. The video is also good but does need better lighting that you get during the daylight. It’s OK inside with plenty of good lighting and pumping up ISO to no higher than 800. The sound quality was fine as long as it isn't too windy. The stereo mike is on top of the camera. There is no port for an external mike. This is often seen on much more expensive or much larger cameras. I got much better video indoors when I added a small LED light panel which significantly improve the video quality. If there is a lot of good lighting in the room, extra lighting isn't required or necessary. Another interesting feature is the ability to change the image in camera to get a different look. Take an image and transfer it to sepia or black and white and many other effects. It’s fun but it won’t destroy the original image. This feature is available on other cameras but needs to be set before you take your image. The camera itself seems speedy enough from image to image but it cannot match the much more expensive Sony RX100iii for image quality with its larger 1 inch sensor or camera speed. The RX also has a small popup EVF that is quite sharp but less convenient than the EVF on the ZS50. The Sony cost 2X the ZS50. You may wonder if the ZS50 is worth $400. The answer is yes!...it’s a bargain for its capability and performance. Panasonic was able to price the camera at this low price by making some minor quality and feature sacrifices. The camera feels very solidly built mainly of plastic. Some people complained by the plasticy feel but it seems very solid for me. I'm guessing $400 is the most many people will spend for a camera and Panasonic attempted to offer as much as they could to keep to that top price. Want to spend $800 to $2000, then look elsewhere but plan on lugging a much heavier camera and spending even more for lenses which typically cost much more than the price of this entire camera with its lens attached. There are some smaller models in this price range but none offer the EVF, big zoom and feature set of the ZS50. Some good points to consider: 1. The camera is very easy to hold and grip and keep steady especially if you use the EVF. 2. The EVF is very sharp and clear and perfectly placed to view with your right eye (much less so for your left eye). 3. Enhanced low light capability because of larger pixels and lower 12 megapixel count. 4. The buttons, 4 way controller and wheel feel good and are easy to use. 5. The camera has a nice sold feel and feels like a quality camera. It’s light enough and small enough to put in your pocket. I use a cheap Targus bag and it fits with sufficient looseness so it’s easy to remove. Avoid a tight fitting bag which can cause an accident…camera drop. I carry the bag on my belt along with my phone so it’s ready to go at any point. 6. Excellent images and video with good to excellent lighting 7. Much better low light capability than previous versions of camera made possible with new MOS sensor which has much larger pixel size to capture light but has fewer of them, 12 megapixels. It should produce good 11 by 14 prints. 8. Lots of extra easy to use features like Panorama mode 9. Nice control ring on the front of the camera for control certain features like focus or exposure compensation. It's easy and works great 10. Wifi, which is useful for externally controlling the camera and transfer of images and NFC for direct transfer of images. 11. Level Guage helps keep the horizon level and is a great aid in keeping images straight. 12. Composition guides like the rule of third and 12 variants are useful for more interesting images. 13. Builtin memory will hold a few images if you forgot to put in your SD Card 14. Focus peaking and other higher end features help in exposure control 15. 30X zoom, ranges from 24 wide angle up to 700 plus zoom. This is an extremely useful very wide range. The not so good points . 1. The flash is placed exactly where you want to place your finger or fingers and is really a poor place to place a flash.. 2. Has a RAW feature for those that want it but it adds very little. Your best bet is JPEG and some purists are disappointed that some JPEG settings can’t be adjusted. These are settings you routinely find on $1000 cameras. You are buying an under $400 camera. 3. Tripod mount is centered. You will not be able to open battery door when mounted on a tripod. 4. No ports for mike, external flash, earphone, remote triggering. 5. Not weather sealed. Solution, carry a woman disposable shower cap to protect camera if it should rain. 6. Lens is fixed with no real options for lens hood or filters. Lens is susceptible to flare from too much direct light getting into the lens. 7. No touchscreen. This feature was present on some previous models and is really missed. 8. No GPS function. This was present on some of the previous models. There is a substitute way of logging with your smartphone. 9. There is a limited number of options for adjusting JPEG quality and other features. These were possibly excluded to keep the camera simple to operate and keep costs down. If this is an essential feature for you, look elsewhere. 10. The 12 megapixels will limit the size of enlargements. This improves low light and was a worthwhile compromise. 11. The aperture range starts at 3.3 and rapidly advances to 6.4 which means you have to raise the ISO in limited lighting as you zoom out 12. Not the best camera for low light or very low light. It's better than most but not great. . Update 4/27/15 A vacation is a great time for photography and I used this time to really test out the ZS50. I took about 5000 plus images and video spread among the ZS50 and several other larger sensor cameras. It was difficult to pick out the ZS50 images upon initial viewing except for the full zoom images because the viewed image quality seemed very close in quality to the much more expensive cameras. This was completely unexpected. The vast majority of images and video from the ZS50 had good focus, proper exposure, and excellent color and were uniformly sharp. I used primarily, the IA, P, A, C1, C2 and Panorama settings with the ZS50 and had the level gauge enabled. The Panorama images I tried were very good. Zoomed images were the most fun to take and were sharp and detailed in bright daylight helped by excellent image stabilization. The ZS50 proved to be a perfect travel camera because I could use it to image the landscape during the day and zoom in on interesting subjects that were far away. A dSLR with kit lens would have been very limited, unless you carried a heavy zoom lens. The ZS50 was very capable for taking indoor pictures but could not match the RX100iii in low light with it's much larger sensor and F 1.8 lens. Bottom-line: The ZS50 has many worthwhile features such as an EVF, huge zoom, improved low light capability, excellent images and video in a very small well built package. I was pleasantly surprised by the image and video quality and especially the improved low light capability. I've owned the Panasonic ZS7 and ZS19 cameras in the past and found them to produce surprising good image quality for a small sensor camera. Panasonic has done it again and produced a much better camera that outdoes all the competition at a very competitive price. This camera is one of the best small cameras for the money you can buy. I think it makes a perfect travel camera and it is light enough that you can carry it with you all day and be ready for the unexpected, like a gorgeous sunset. I did not need another travel camera because my Sony RX100 iii is great travel and everyday camera. The ZS50 with it's big zoom, small size and EVF is an even better travel camera. When searching for your perfect camera, there are a lot of excellent camera choices available but the ZS50 stands alone as the smallest most capable, least expensive camera that's perfect for vacations and everyday use.