Panasonic Lumix TZ60 Review

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The Panasonic Lumix TZ60 is a compact and solidly built “superzoom” camera if you’re after a simple compact camera with a bit more power than the average smartphone.

Panasonic Lumix TZ60: On the plus side

Panasonic describes the Lumix TZ60 as a “travel zoom” compact, which is the fancy marketing way of saying that it’s a compact camera with a zoom lens on board that it figures you’d buy if you were a heavy traveller. Nearly everyone carries a camera with them at all times thanks to the near-ubiquity of the smartphone, but zoom is an area that very few smartphone manufacturers have really attempted to bridge, leaving a distinct gap in the market.
The Lumix TZ60’s zoom lens measures in at a robust 30x optical zoom with an 18.1 megapixel sensor and f/3.3 aperture lens, giving it plenty of potential scope for photography where you genuinely can’t get too close to your target.

It’s a robustly built unit, as well; many compacts these days tend towards a plastic feel, but the Lumix TZ60 feels solid and able to take the knocks and bumps that befit that “travel” zoom moniker. Solid but small, because to look at it you wouldn’t pick that the lens on the Lumix TZ60 telescopes out as much as it actually does, giving it a lot of creative potential with the right photographer, especially as it supports shooting in RAW format.
That means it sits at an interesting intersection between the simple automatic shooters, and those who want a bit more fine control. There’s the usual array of buttons on the rear of the camera and a front adjustment wheel for those who need a bit more control over aperture and shutter speeds while shooting. It’s a good compromise that takes very little getting used to, which means that this is a camera that you could quite comfortably start out shooting automatically in and then use to further enhance your photographic aspirations.

At full zoom the TZ60 can't stand up straight, which could be an issue if you're not shooting with a tripod but need to zoom in.
At full zoom the TZ60 can’t stand up straight, which could be an issue if you’re not shooting with a tripod but need to zoom in.

The other feature that you don’t see on too many compacts at all these days is a electronic viewfinder. The Lumix TZ60’s EVF is small and not particularly high resolution, but it’s a good compromise for when you’re shooting in direct bright light where a full LCD screen can often be incomprehensible.
Low light performance is decent, although it can struggle a little with focus.
Sample shot: Low light performance is decent, although it can struggle a little with focus.

The Lumix TZ60 is both Wi-Fi and NFC capable for easy pairing and remote shooting. This is fast becoming “standard” within the standalone camera market, so its absence would be more of a talking point, although it does offer some flexibility for zoomed shooting. It’ll also handle GPS tagging, with the obvious caveat that heavy usage of all three connections will rather rapidly sap the TZ60’s internal battery.
Next page: Panasonic Lumix TZ60: On the minus side

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