It seems only a year ago we marveled at 10x zooms in flat compact housings, and now they build 12-13x zooms into the same housings, and Panasonic specialists have completed the new generation of their “travel” cameras with optics with 16x zoom, starting from 24mm wide angle. Other features of TZ18 and TZ20 are as advanced as the lenses.
14.1 MP 24-384 mm 16 x 3″
So, the older TZ20 has a MOS-matrix with an effective resolution of 14.1 megapixels, is able to shoot up to 10 full-sized frames per second or up to 60 frames per second with 3.5 megapixels and record Full HD video 1920×1080@60 i in AVCHD format .
The interface of the apparatus is built on a touch-sensitive 3-inch display with a resolution of 460k. The camera has a wide range of functions, and the controls are not limited to simple on-screen buttons.
For example, the camera can activate the focus and immediately take a picture when you press on this or that object or switch on the tracking mode, controlling the movement of the specified object in the frame.
Automatics not only detects the subject itself, but also the intended type of photography: portrait if you pointed at the face, landscape if the photographer’s finger outlined the background, etc. d.
The camera shoots a series of 20 frames, selects the most suitable ones and “glues” them into a single stereo image.
The resulting MPO-format image can be played on modern 3D-TV-sets, photo frames or even printed on printers that support this technology.
Finally – a feature travelers will appreciate even more than other skills – the TZ20 is equipped with a GPS receiver and can provide footage with markings of geographical coordinates of the shooting location.
The Lumix TZ18 is built in the same body and equipped with the same universal 16x stabilized lens as the TZ20, but lacks the touchscreen, GPS and 3 D shooting. The camera has a regular 3-inch screen with a resolution of 230 thousand. points.
The camera also has a CCD sensor with an effective resolution of 14 million pixels and a belt-type interface. pixels. In burst mode TZ18 produces only 1,9 frames per second at full image size, and records video in 720p mode in Motion JPEG format.
It should be noted that both cameras are very friendly not only to beginners in photography, but to experienced photographers.
For the latter, there are priority modes and full manual exposure control.
The cameras dimensions are 105×58×33 mm, the TZ18 weighs 210 g and the TZ20 weighs about 220. SD, SDHC or SDXC cards are used for data storage, in addition, the TZ18 has a small reserve of 70 MB of internal memory, while the TZ20 has only 18 MB for backup storage of user data.
Is the user interface of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ18/DMC-TZ20 compact cameras easy to navigate for those with limited photography experience? And for experienced photographers, does it offer advanced features and manual controls to truly maximize their creativity?