Panasonic LUMIX ZS100 4K Digital Camera, 20.1 Megapixel 1-Inch Sensor 30p Video Camera, 10X LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT Lens, F2.8-5.9 Aperture, HYBRID…

My first ZS100 camera arrived DOA. It seemed to work until the first time I tried to zoom out. Then, part way out the lens ground (literally) to a halt and I got the dreaded “System Error: Zoom” message on the screen. I tried turning it off but the lens was jammed. I applied a little pressure and tried turning it on and off a few times and finally got the lens to retract normally. I powered it on and it seemed normal until I tried to zoom and then the same thing happened again. I went online and tried the few things recommend by Panasonic. No help. I did a chat with a Panasonic rep online and he said the camera needs to be returned. I was NOT a happy camper. I had been very excited to get this new camera and it was defective! Worse, I found I was not alone in this, there were a significant number of others that had the same issue, though some did not have it occur right out of the box. I called Amazon support and they were GREAT. I had a replacement camera in my hands the next day!!!!

The replacement has worked fine for the past couple of months, but I still have the thought in the back of my head each time I turn it one, “is it going to fail this time”. That is NOT what you want to have in you head when using a fairly expensive camera. Note that I did not deduct any points for this issue since it was rectified immediately and the replacement camera works fine. But it is disappointing to read online about all the others that have this issue and yet Panasonic has not seemed to address the problem other than offering to repair it (which requires paying to send it to them and waiting several months for it to be fixed – and possibly being denied a warranty fix because they claim you must have damaged the camera). This did not happen to me, but others reported this added abuse after their camera broke.

Anyway, back to the replacement camera. I have been very pleased with almost all of the features and operation of the camera. Yes, there are way too many items in the menu making for a high learning curve. But I don’t have to use all those features and settings. If I just ignore those I do not understand or that do not interest me, I am able to have a lot of control over the features of the camera that I care about. The negatives I found are 1) the camera does not focus well in low light. I have had a number of blurry pictures that should have been clear. I am talking about light like normal indoor room light not darkness. 2) The facial recognition (the camera can memorize up to 6 people’s faces and will identify them on screen when it sees them) is inaccurate. It usually knows it is seeing one of the people in the list but id’s the person as someone else in that list. 3) There are some “gotchyas” – for example, the touted 5-axis stabilization does not work during 4K video recording. Why not? 4) If you want to let the camera process the pictures into a JPG format (rather than using the much larger RAW format files that need post processing by you) the results are not always good. Some JPG format photos look great, others have too much contrast or details have been lost in bright or dark areas (low dynamic range). The RAW (unprocessed) photos do not usually have these shortcomings. I have started to save BOTH the JPG and RAW format files for each picture (which the camera will do) and use the JPG picture where it looks good, or use the RAW picture if the JPG has issues that can be fixed by using the RAW format file.

Many reviewers have said the camera is slippery. I do not find it slippery as much as “not tacky” to the touch. But given the choice of using only the words “solid, firm feel” or “slippery” I would have to choose the latter. You can use some rubberized tape or buy one of the add on grips by Flipbac ($9.95 on Amazon) to address the issue.

While the camera DOES fit in my shirt pocket (but would not be a good fit in a normal pants pocket) it is slightly too heavy and pulls down that side of the shirt. So, yes I do keep it in a shirt pocket most of the time, but if you care about how your shirt looks, which I don’t, you may decide to use a neck strap (which I think would actually look worse – but would be more convenient).

I have read and watched a LOT of reviews of this camera both before and after I purchased it. The reviews are about 95% positive. It feels good to read reviews by experts (or at least authorities) on cameras and hear them say nice things about the product I just spent a lot of money to purchase (though I did catch the camera on sale for under $500). Thinking about all the pros and cons of the camera that reviewers have mentioned AND that I have experienced, I am happy with my decision and would definitely recommend this camera to someone who wanted a compact, easy to carry and use camera with great features. My biggest issue is that zoom failure problem which might reappear at the worst possible time. But I am thinking positive and hoping that this camera is not going to have that issue.

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.

 I take tons of photos, mostly moving targets in bright sunlight, tree canopy covered areas or in snow, rain and low light. I’m an off-roader and a downhill skier and don’t want to kill my phone battery so I bought this camera. I miss a big DSLR but truthfully they are too big to lug around. This camera is a rockstar performer. I chose these pics attached to the review because it was either too bright, or too bright under a shaded tree area with dust flying around, or in bad forest fire air quality and the pictures are great. I even did a photoshoot for a friends website and social media posts and people rave about his posts. It takes some getting used to for sure, changing the photo modes and how quickly/slow the shutter speeds are in different modes. But honestly, it’s a gem of a camera. Even the video in bright sunlight under trees with dust flying, the quality is good.

I really like the camera, but it will not show on HDMI while recording. I wasted time and money buying a cable and connecting it up to my monitor to only be able to show on the monitor before recording and not being able to see how focus is while recording. This issue with the screen not tilting would have been a deal breaker for me. Such a shame because I have had videos with autofocus issues and it was missed due to not being able to see very well how the image is. Very nice camera other wise.