Panasonic LUMIX DC-TZ90EB-K 30x Travel Zoom Camera - Black

Let's be clear - this is not a pocket point and shoot, it is a sophisticated SLR in disguise. I want a camera that takes high quality pictures, I can take on long walks without breaking my back, and I can take pictures quickly as the opportunity arises. I take bird pictures. countryside and visits to the likes of NT houses. (not so much of a people person). I take a lot of pictures but I want to take them quickly, not to allow the camera to dominate the day.I've got an older Lumix GH3 and this is instantly familiar with the same menu system and options. Until the weekend I had a TZ30, both several years old. The TZ30 was a good quality point and shoot and did have frustrations like no manual focus. The GH3 is about 5 years old and just a bit out of date - and heavy and inflexible with no 4K.What I love about the TZ series is the massive zoom range and the quality of picture that goes with it. I compared phone, GH3 and TZ30 and on wide angle you'd be pushed to notice the difference, where the TZ come into their own is as soon as you zoom in. Over a phone there is no contest, a digital zoom on a phone destroys any quality, the GH3 potentially requires 3 lenses to cover the same range so unless you are going for some seriously arty stuff, the choice is another 10% of quality (that often you will not notice) compared with getting the shot.Anyway, to focus on the TZ90 - it is substantial, bulkier than the TZ30. You can use it in two ways, as a point and shoot, set it to iA and click away. Where it gets interesting, is when you want to do more. Put it into Program mode and you have a wealth of complexity to play with. One of the immediately attractive things is the focus ring around the lens - how many shots have you missed because your point and shoot refuses to focus because of a stray twig? But even better, in manual focus, a quick screen press and you can get an automatic focus starting point - you don't even have to press a button to get into MF mode, you just override by turning the ring. It is also easy to use the aperture and shutter speed - somehow although there are no more buttons than a simpler camera, in general the options are easy to find (and there are some on screen prompts to help).Focusing is pretty reliable - better than on the TZ30 - though if the focus is initially way out it can take a couple of attempts to lock on. The 30x zoom is about as much as you can handle - I've had a play with a 40x zoom on a Canon, and it is very difficult to manage so doesn't really give much advantage over the TZ90 - once you get into tripod territory then a true SLR becomes more attractive again because of the stability.In terms of picture quality, the only negative is that it seems a bit too keen to drop into very high ISO values which affects the picture quality in low light - I'd prefer a setting which minimised ISO first before closing the lens or speeding the shutter, but you can programme a limit to the ISO speed (on my long to do list of trials with this beast).Next exciting thing are the range of 4k picture modes. With 4K the picture quality is slightly degraded from its potential. but it is like a super burst mode. What is clever is that you can have it in a "loop" mode where it saves a second before and after a press - great for that dolphin shot you've never got, or a movie mode (start and stop) and then a burst mode. Another clever option is a focus mode where it will change focus through a range and take multiple shots. What is great is that unlike burst mode which soon fills your camera with lots of pictures to sift through, the 4K mode provides a quick way to sort through the pictures and select the frame. The focus option allows you to invent massive depth of field (on stationary objects), or simply get the right focus on a messy shot with lots of, say, branches or leaves around. The 4K needs a class 10 U3 memory card, so you'll probably want to upgrade, but these cards are not massively more expensive (a couple of pounds for a 32G).The touch screen is large and easy to use. There are so many options though that it is difficult to find what you need - there is a learning curve with this camera. The on screen hints are pretty good.The (Android) Lumix Image App allows you to join the camera and phone together - the best thing is that you can reasonably quickly upload photos to things like Google Photos by using the app to transfer photos to the phone and then allowing the phone's apps to do their thing when they detect new pictures. The App isn't the slickest of beasts and the WiFi linking is quirky to say the least. You have a choice of linking over your home network or the TZ90 can be its own base station. (Beware, modern phones may have an option to always keep an Internet connection using mobile data and this option need to be switched off). Once you get it working, save a connection as a favourite and you might have half a chance of getting it to work a second time! I found the easiest way to transfer photos was to set the phone as a remote control and then select the photos from the phone preview. Very quick transfer.Other points - the viewfinder is adequate for those moments where the screen is unviewable (e.g. bright days). I have a pet hate of most camera designs as I am left eyed and have a nose where the camera wants to be but I can view with contact lenses or with glasses on. Older people will also recognise the problem with trying to use image screens that when you want to hold them close (e.g. confined area) you can't actually focus on them so the return of the viewfinder is a boon.So many features - some of which will baffle, like the Peak feature which I didn't know about so I was bothered by grainy speckling and odd artefacts on the viewfinder only to discover that this was the camera's way of showing elements of the picture that was in focus.The other thing that I was pleasantly surprised about was how easy in camera effects were to apply, like cropping a picture - the controls are intuitive for this. Selecting the right 4k picture was easy using finger on screen or the dial.The online manual is definitely worth downloading and reading to get a handle on all the functionality.In conclusion, yes it can point and shoot, but it packages up a very sophisticated camera into a very usable package - you have to be interested in photography rather than photographing to justify a step up to an SLR.EDIT: A couple of months on and still happy with this. I've also started using the RAW output and playing around with the exposure compensation. There is a knack to using the camera well, such as using the screen to pick a difficult subject to focus on - you can press the screen on the subject and then get it to remain focused on it. Attached are a variety of pictures I've taken to give you an idea of the quality and versatility.

Amazing versatile travel zoom camera with an array of features. Picture quality is excellent for all round use. Has video in 4K, so many modes so its best to read the Panasonic spec. The telephoto zoom is very impressive and covers a huge range of lenses. As you would expect with a small CMOS sensor the quality on full zoom does soften slightly when enlarging pictures, but more so when the optical zoom moves into digital zoom. In normal modes the resolution is very good. Tilting screen offers selfies on a timer, and also helps to take pics at ‘non eyelevel’ places. There are many pre-set scene modes to assist in different lighting conditions. This is an amazing travel camera… highly recommended, compact, would recommend the Baxxtar carrying case which can carry 2 additional batteries and SD cards. Great camera from Panasonic.

I have been into photography since I was very young. I have a Canon EOS D90 SLR, which is great. But I am disabled, and sometimes I don’t want to use the SLR, so I decided to buy this, to use when I don’t want to use the SLR. This Panasonic camera is of extremely high quality. The photos both in RAW and JPEG are excellent. The macro is excellent quality too. The zoom is vey powerful and excellent quality. The quality of the the lens is very high, Leica are very good. I have found the camera very easy to use too. It does not take place of my SLR of course, but takes very decent photos, when I don’t want to use the SLR.

I bought this camera because I have always had a mild interest in photography but not to the extent of expensive SLRs/Lenses, etc. I wanted something that could improve on my smartphone for holidays/events/family gatherings etc. and this fills the bill. After having it for a few weeks, here are my impressions:1) It initially seems complex but as you use it, the menus etc become more intuitive. I still have a bit to learn though and invested in a kindle book - The photographers guide to the Panasonic Lumix TZ90 by Alexander White. Its better laid out and more understandably written than the Panasonic user manual2) In good lighting conditions the 30 times zoom and image stabilisation work tremendously well although occasionally the auto focus can be a little laggy before it catches up with the zoomed image. The two photos above are taken from my house located on the East Bank of the Firth of Clyde. The first is taken on the automatic setting with no zoom of the view across the Clyde. The second is at max zoom looking at the same houses that are dots on the first photo. I suffer from what the docs call a "benign tremble" - basically a pretty shaky hand and thought that to use the camera at high zoom would need a tripod but this has not proven to be the case although I do have one. Both of these photos were handheld.3) I have not given the camera 5 stars because the low light, indoors performance has been, so far, a little disappointing. The inbuilt flash is inclined to create a halo effect when photographing people although that simply might be me using incorrect settings. If I find how to use it indoors better, my 4 star rating will go up.4) I have found the scene modes to be excellent and work mostly as on the tin. Particularly items like glistening water and those aimed at particular skin tones. Ditto the panoramic mode.There's a lot I have not tried yet and a lot still to learn about the camera but overall, I am very happy with it for the purpose I bought it for.