Panasonic ZS200 Review

Panasonic ZS200 Review -- Now Shooting!

by Jeremy Gray
Preview posted: 02/13/2018

Updates:
04/30/2018: First Shots posted
08/09/2018: Performance posted
08/13/2018: Field Test posted

Click here for our Panasonic ZS200 Overview

Panasonic ZS200 Field Test

Compact camera with ample zoom, many features and pretty good image quality

by Jeremy Gray | Posted 08/13/2018

The Panasonic ZS200 brings with it several changes, including a brand-new 24-360mm-equivalent built-in lens, compared to the 25-250mm zoom lens found in the ZS100. There are other upgrades to be found as well, but much of the core of the camera remains unchanged, including the 20-megapixel 1-inch-type sensor and 4K UHD video recording.

Ultimately, despite the differences between the ZS200 and the ZS100, the ZS200's predecessor is its primary competition. Many other 1-inch-type compact cameras, such as the Sony RX100 series and Canon G7X Mark II, don't feature the same level of zoom found on either the ZS100 or ZS200. This largest relative strength of the ZS100 has been strengthened with the new lens in the ZS200. However, that doesn't mean that everything is perfect. Let's look at the pros and cons of the new ZS200 in the field.

Key Features

• Compact travelzoom camera
• 20.1-megapixel 1-inch-type image sensor
• 24-360mm-equivalent built-in zoom lens
• Panasonic Depth from Defocus autofocus technology
• Built-in electronic viewfinder
• 3-inch touchscreen LCD monitor
• 4K Photo
• 4K UHD video recording at up to 30 frames per second
• Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• Priced at just under US$800

Camera design and handling

The ZS200 has a substantially different design than the ZS100. The styling has changed and the camera is much more ergonomically friendly, thanks in large part to the front grip. Further, the ZS200 comes equipped with a larger, sharper electronic viewfinder, which I found to work well in real-world use.

Despite packing in a 24-360mm lens, when the camera is turned off, it remains quite compact. It's thick enough that it might not fit into a pants pocket, but it will easily slip away into a coat pocket or small bag. It feels solidly-built as well. Different pieces of the "silver" version are slightly varying shades of gray, which is not very stylish in my opinion, but doesn't affect the overall feel of the camera. (The ZS200 is also available in black.)

Regarding the displays on the camera, they are sharp, but they don't look particularly good. For example, the 3-inch 1,240K-dot touchscreen LCD is not easy to use in bright light and its blacks are washed out and look more like dark blue. The same issue with black level applies to the 0.21-inch 2,330K-dot electronic viewfinder. The viewfinder does offer 100 percent frame coverage, which is nice, but as I mentioned the overall picture quality is not great. With that said, it has 0.53x equivalent magnification, which is up from 0.46x on the ZS100, so its improvements are laudable.

The buttons on the ZS200 feel quite nice. I like the command dial on the top of the camera, it is easy to rotate but it has very distinct clicks for each adjustment, which is helpful. The shutter release feels quite good too. The buttons on the camera don't have much travel distance, but they feel decisive during use.

Menu navigation is generally decent. You can use the touchscreen to navigate menus, which works okay, although it can be a bit counterintuitive at times. You have to tap on the side of the display to be able to select different sections of the same menu, you cannot simply swipe to scroll, as this will trigger different menu elements rather than move through the menu.

Overall, the camera is designed well and generally easy to use. The EVF is useful, although its quality leaves a bit to be desired. A tilting display would also be a welcome addition, but all things considered, the ZS200 handles well in the field.

Image quality

The ZS200 features a 20.1-megapixel 1-inch-type High Sensitivity MOS sensor, the same one as was found in the ZS100. The native ISO range is 125 - 12,800 and it can be expanded to ISO 80 - 25,600. Let's take a closer look at the image quality the ZS200 can produce.

Sharpness

We'll take a closer look at the built-in lens shortly, which as we'll see is a limiting factor to sharpness at times, but at its best, what can the ZS200 produce with respect to sharpness? As it turns out, a fair bit. At lower ISOs and at shorter focal lengths, the ZS200 makes pretty sharp images with good detail.

As we can see in another shot, captured at a low ISO and wide focal length, the camera does a fair bit of processing to images. There is even some noise visible at base ISO.

High ISO

At higher ISOs, the ZS200 performs extensive noise reduction to try to compensate for the increased noise from the sensor. This noise reduction creates a digital, smudged appearance. In the image below, we can see that the fine detail of the brickwork is almost completely lost and the subtle tonal variations in the leaves, which is what creates separation of leaves and edges, is reduced a lot as well. Granted, ISO 3200 is a pretty high sensitivity for a 1"-type sensor, but nonetheless, it's worth looking at ISO 3200 considering the slowness of the built-in lens.

RAW file flexibility

The ZS200 captures nice RAW files. Sure, they lack a bit of fine detail, but they are surprisingly flexible for the sensor size. You can recover a lot of highlight and shadow detail. In the image below, I performed -100 Highlights and +100 Shadows adjustments in Adobe Camera RAW (which is comparable to the same adjustments in Adobe Lightroom) and the file came out looking quite nice. With that said, the relatively small sensor size does limit what you can do with shadows adjustments to some extent, as there is quite a bit of noise introduced as you recover shadow detail.

Built-in lens

The ZS200 features a new built-in Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens, which offers a 35mm equivalent focal length range of 24-360mm. This is in contrast to the ZS100, which offered a 25-250mm range. Compared to its competition, the ZS100 already offered a longer lens, so the ZS200 took that strength and expanded upon it further, making it both longer and wider than the ZS100's.

However, the increase in zoom has come at the cost of lens brightness. The ZS100's lens was an f/2.8-5.9 lens whereas the ZS200's 15x zoom has an f/3.3-6.4 max aperture range, which is half a stop slower. Looking at the construction of the 24-360mm lens, it has three ED elements, five aspherical elements and one aspherical ED element. It's an impressive design, proving to be quite compact when the camera is turned off and not particularly large when at 360mm. It's impressive engineering to fit a 15x zoom in a camera with a 1-inch sensor without making the camera too big to pocket.

At the wider end of the lens, the performance is pretty good. However, as soon as you get out past about 100mm, which includes much of the range, the performance drops off. At 360mm, as you can see below, the lens is not sharp. With that said, there really is not another camera like the ZS200. The 15x zoom is considerably greater than what you can find in 1-inch travelzoom cameras from Canon and Sony and is only rivalled by the ZS100.

Considering that the ZS200 is not great at higher ISOs -- although it's decent -- the slow lens issue is exacerbated slightly. The lens goes from f/3.3 to f/4.0 at around 40mm and to f/5.6 around 125mm. The lens hits f/6.3 around 238mm. The lens is already somewhat slow and becomes slower quite quickly.

Overall, the ZS200's built-in lens looks very impressive on paper and is definitely a selling point compared to its primary competition. In real-world use, the lens is pretty good through much of the range, although performance drops off as you approach the telephoto end.

Shooting experience

The ZS200 delivers a good shooting experience. The camera is easy to use, has good physical controls and offers fine menus and a good user experience. Further, the camera's built-in 5-axis Hybrid O.I.S. system works very well, not only for capturing sharper shots at slower shutter speeds but also for keeping the viewfinder image stable, especially when shooting at longer focal lengths.

Autofocus

The autofocus system is a Light Speed AF system which features 49 areas and relies on contrast detection. The autofocus performance, including Panasonic's Depth from Defocus (DFD) technology, is fast in good light, but it's not very quick in low light and also struggles a bit with accuracy. The system performs noticeably better at shorter focal lengths, which is not surprising, but does limit the capabilities of the camera as a long zoom camera to some extent.

Performance

The Panasonic ZS200 is quite speedy. It can shoot at up to 10 frames per second (6 fps with continuous autofocus), with generous buffer depths. In the lab, the ZS200 captured 139 JPEGs, 33 RAW or 28 RAW+JPEG files before slowing down. The ZS200's RAW buffer depth is a huge improvement over the ZS100's 14 frame buffer in our tests.

The ZS200 not only shoots fast, but it feels fast in use. The menus are quick and the camera is responsive, except for sluggish buffer clearing after long bursts. Further, the camera has good battery life for a compact, being rated for 370 shots per charge when using the LCD (250 shots with the EVF).

Shooting modes

Like many other recent Panasonic cameras, including the ZS100, the ZS200 has numerous 4K Photo modes. These modes allow you to shoot bursts of 4K JPEG images (8.3 megapixels) at up to 30 frames per second.

Wireless

The ZS200 includes built-in Wi-Fi which allows you to connect the camera to a compatible smart device, such as an Android or iOS smartphone or tablet. Connecting my iPhone to the ZS200 proved simple by following the on-screen instructions. Once connected, you can download images, remote control the camera and more.

Regarding remotely controlling the camera, it works very well. Adjustments to settings you make on the camera itself are recognized in the app without reconnecting, which alone makes it one of the better wireless offerings on the market, and the live view is also sharp and responsive. The app, simply put, works well.

Video

The Panasonic ZS200 has very nice video features for a compact camera. It can record 4K UHD video at up to 30 frames per second, which is impressive and right up there with its competition. The 4K UHD video is recorded at a bitrate of 100 Mbps in the MP4 format.

4K video quality with the ZS200 is pretty solid. The camera can record 4K UHD video at lower ISO settings with a good amount of detail. The biggest downside to the camera's 4K video is that there's a 1.5x crop, which is quite extensive and limits wide shooting possibilities. This means that at 24mm, 4K UHD video is recorded with a field of view of about 36mm. However, if you want more reach, the 1.5x crop would be beneficial.

If you need a faster framerate, you can shoot at up to 120 fps at 1920 x 1080 resolution, which is also quite impressive. Full HD video quality is fine, but of course noticeably softer than 4K UHD video. On the plus side, Full HD video not only has a higher framerate, it also features less of a crop.

Autofocus performance during video recording is acceptable, although a bit indecisive at times, which leads to some focus hunting. This can be particularly distracting in 4K video, as there is more detail. It's less noticeable during Full HD video recording.

Overall, the ZS200 has a very good video feature set. The 4K UHD recording quality is pretty good, autofocus is generally okay and the camera is easy to use for video recording.

Panasonic ZS200 Field Test Summary

A compact travelzoom with good image quality and not much competition

What I liked:

• Compact form factor
• High-resolution electronic viewfinder
• Good image quality at low ISOs and at wider focal lengths
• Good performance
• 4K UHD video recording at 30 frames per second

What I didn't like:

• 15x built-in zoom lens struggles some at longer focal lengths
• High ISO image quality is hampered by aggressive in-camera processing
• 4K UHD video crop is excessive

The Panasonic ZS200 is an interesting camera for a variety of reasons. In terms of cameras with a 1-inch sensor that can fit in your pocket, none offer more zoom than the ZS200. With that said, the image quality and optical quality does not quite match some of its competition. Still, the ZS200 can take nice images and it has many features, including 4K UHD video recording. However, if you don't need the zoom range of the ZS200, the ZS100 offers many of the same advantages at a lower price.

Panasonic ZS200 Overview

by Jeremy Gray

Introduction

It really wasn't all that long ago that Panasonic released their ZS100 travel compact camera. In fact, it was March of 2016. However, in compact camera segments, upgrades often come quite quickly. It's a category that is often refreshed on a near annual basis. The new Panasonic ZS200 improves upon its predecessor in numerous ways, not the least of which is with its 15x optical zoom, making it the first camera with a 1"-type sensor to include a built-in lens which can reach a 360mm equivalent focal length in such a compact body. There are a lot of new features with this camera, so let's take a closer look at the ZS200.

Key Features and Specifications

• 24-360mm (35mm equivalent) built-in lens delivers 15x optical zoom
• 20.1-megapixel 1-inch MOS sensor
• New larger and higher-resolution viewfinder
• 3-inch touchscreen display
• Native ISO range of 125 to 12,800
• 5-axis Hybrid Optical Image Stabilizer Plus
• Up to 10 frames per second continuous shooting
• 4K video recording at up to 30 fps
• 120 fps high speed Full HD video recording
• Many Creative and Scene shooting modes
• 4K Photo modes
• Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy

Camera Body and Design

When looking at the ZS200, it's immediately apparent that while the camera shares the same general shape and size as its predecessor, it's been upgraded ergonomically. One of our biggest issues with the ZS100's body was that it had a very slippery finish and no "grippy" surfaces. The ZS200 solves this by adding a vertical rubber grip on the front of the camera and a thumb grip on the back of the camera. The ZS200 remains very sleek and stylish, but these changes should make the camera much easier to hold.

With these additions, the ZS200 does weigh a bit more than the ZS100. The ZS200 is heavier by 31 grams (just over an ounce) so it's a small change. The new camera is a bit taller and deeper, but the general form is similar and even with the new lens, more on that in a bit, the camera is quite compact when powered off.

The control dial on the lens is still gripped although its design has changed slightly. The top and rear of the camera looks essentially the same and the button layout is the same on the new camera. The viewfinder is still on the far left side of the back of the camera.

Speaking of the viewfinder, another upgraded aspect of the ZS200 is its electronic viewfinder, dubbed a Live View Finder (LVF) by Panasonic. The ZS100 was equipped with a 0.2-inch viewfinder with 1,160K-dots (equivalent) and 35mm-equivalent magnification of 0.46x. The ZS200 ups the size, resolution and magnification. The ZS200 is equipped with a 0.21-inch, 2,330K-dot-eq. EVF with 0.53x magnification (35mm equivalent). That's a substantial increase. The display on the back of the camera remains a fixed 3-inch touchscreen LCD, but resolution has increased from 1,040K-dots to 1,240K-dots.

Inside, the ZS200 features Panasonic's 5-axis Hybrid Optical Image Stabilizer Plus, which in our brief hands-on with the ZS200 appeared to be quite impressive, even when zoomed in to 360mm with the new 15x zoom lens.

There have been numerous small, but significant, changes to the ZS200's body and design and adding in the new lens and is a substantial upgrade in a camera segment that doesn't always see big changes between models.

New 15x built-in zoom is the headlining new feature

The new built-in lens is the star of the show when it comes to the ZS200. While there are other improvements, going from a 10x zoom to a 15x zoom, the first of its kind for a travelzoom camera with a 1-inch sensor, is certainly the most noteworthy change. The ZS100's lens was a 9.1-91mm optic, which had a 35mm equivalent focal length of 25-250mm. The ZS200 not only ups the zoom, but it's also a bit wider, starting at a 24mm equivalent focal length. In total, the 8.8-132mm lens delivers an equivalent focal length of 24-360mm.

There's a new optical formula at work in the ZS200 as well, which shouldn't come as a shock. The Leica-branded zoom has 13 elements across 11 groups, including a total of 11 aspherical surfaces, which is an additional element, group and pair of aspherical surfaces compared to the ZS100. More specifically, the ZS200 has 1 aspherical ED lens, 5 aspherical lenses and 3 ED lenses.

With this larger zoom, the ZS200's lens is a bit slower than its predecessor, delivering an f/3.3-6.4 maximum aperture range whereas the ZS100 went as fast as f/2.8 and managed f/5.9 at the telephoto end. The slower telephoto end is not surprising, but it is disappointing that the ZS200 loses some light-gathering ability at the wide (albeit wider) end. Back in favor of the ZS200, its lens can close focus as close as 1.2 inches (3 centimeters) with its macro focus mode, which is just over three-quarters of an inch closer than the ZS100.

Ultimately, it's a hugely impressive feat to squeeze a 15x zoom into a compact travelzoom camera, particularly one with a 1-inch sensor. However, we need to see how the lens performs at its new extremes as the ZS100 actually was a bit soft at the longer end of its shorter lens.

Shooting Specifications

Equipped with the same 20.1-megapixel 1-inch MOS sensor, the ZS200 delivers a native ISO range from 125 to 12,800, although it can be extended as low as 80 and as high as 25,600. The sensor in the ZS200 performed quite well with DxO's sensor analysis and its predecessor produced nice images during our own testing, so we expect much the same from the ZS200. The big question mark with respect to image quality will be the new lens rather than the sensor.

The ZS200 has a contrast detect based autofocus system with 49 autofocus points and Panasonic's own Depth from Defocus (DFD) technology. There's nothing new of note here with the ZS200 compared to its predecessor, but its bevy of autofocus features is still nice. The camera offers face/eye detection, subject tracking, custom multi, pinpoint autofocus and allows for the use of the touchscreen to move the AF point throughout the frame. In our review for the ZS100, we found that the autofocus was fast during real-world shooting, so we expect much of the same from the new camera.

When using AF-S, you can shoot at up to 10 frames per second with the ZS200. By dropping the speed down to medium (7 fps) you can shoot with live view. If you want to use AF-F or AF-C, the maximum speed is 6 fps, which also includes live view. We don't have information regarding buffer depths. Regarding the shutter speeds available on the ZS200, you can shoot as fast as 1/2,000s with the mechanical shutter and 1/16,000s with the electronic shutter.

Video

Panasonic cameras have long been known for their very good video features and specifications. The ZS200 is no different. Like its predecessor, this compact camera can record 3840 x 2160 resolution video (4K UHD) at up to 30 frames per second. The camera can also record Full HD video at up to 60 frames per second in normal modes and 120 fps (played back at 30 fps) in a special High Speed recording mode. The ZS200 can record 4K clips for up to 45 minutes and Full HD clips for 50 minutes and bit rates top out at 100 Mbps. It is worth noting that the camera's 5-axis hybrid image stabilization does not work when recording 4K video, though purely electronic image stabilization is still supported. High Speed video is not stabilzed and sound is not recorded. Further, the camera can record in AVCHD and MP4 file formats.

Shooting Features

There are a few new shooting modes in the ZS200. There's a new L.Monochrome Photo Style which is designed to deliver black and white images with a film-like gradation. Further, in addition to the existing exposure and white balance bracketing modes, the ZS200 now has bracketing options for focus (up to 999 frames) and aperture settings. There is also new in-camera RAW processing functionality.

For users who want a distinct, creative look for their images straight from the camera, there are Creative Control and Scene Guide modes which offer a wide range of special filters including Expressive, Retro, Toy Camera, High Dynamic Range, Portrait, Nightscape and much more. In total, there are 22 Creative Control filters and 24 Scene modes. Some of the filters and modes are exclusive to still images, but many of them can be used when recording video as well.

Just as many Panasonic cameras offer 4K video recording, they typically also include 4K Photo modes. The ZS200 follows the trend and allows bursts of 4K images (8 megapixels) at up to 30 frames per second and includes Panasonic's neat "Post Focus" feature, which allows the user to capture a burst of images with different focus points and then decide which focus point they want to utilize after the fact. You can also stack all the images to have a 4K image with everything in focus.

For photographers looking to connect their smartphone to the ZS200, either for remote control or image transfer, the ZS200 still comes equipped with built-in Wi-Fi, but now includes Bluetooth Low Energy (4.2) which allows for a constant connection and instant transfer of images as you shoot them.

Power and Ports

The ZS200 may not boast a new imaging pipeline, but it is more power-efficient than its predecessor. The ZS100 was rated for 300 shots when using the rear display and 260 when using the EVF. The ZS200 adds 70 shots when using the display and includes a new Eco Mode for the viewfinder, which reduces the viewfinder frame rate to 30 frames per second but allows up to 350 shots. Without eco mode, the higher-resolution viewfinder actually offers 10 less shots than the ZS100 did, but overall, the battery life has been considerably improved. Further, like the ZS100, the ZS200 offers internal charging via USB.

The USB port on the ZS200 is Micro-B USB 2.0 and it also includes a Micro HDMI (Type D) port. The camera records to SD cards and is UHS-I compatible.

ZS200 versus ZS100

There are a few important differences between the old ZS100 and the new ZS200, which we have discussed in depth but will summarize below.

• New grips added to the camera body
• Higher-resolution, higher-magnification electronic viewfinder
• 15x built-in lens has a wider and longer focal length than its predecessor
• The ZS200 has a slower lens than the ZS100
• New L.Monochrome Picture Style
• Additional bracketing modes including focus and aperture
• Bluetooth Low Energy included for a consistent connection between your smartphone and ZS200
• Focus peaking

Our preliminary thoughts

The Panasonic ZS200's new built-in lens is very intriguing within the compact zoom camera segment. It is the first 1-inch sensor with a 15x optical zoom lens, so it's hard not to be excited by the potential. However, given that the 10x zoom in the ZS100 was somewhat underwhelming, particularly as you increased the focal length, and the ZS200 has a slower lens, our expectations are tempered.

With that said, Panasonic's 4K video and 4K Photo features are great and their ZS200 packs a lot of interesting features into its pocketable form factor. If the lens can perform well, then the ZS200 will be a very attractive option within its class.

Panasonic ZS200 Price and Availability

The Panasonic ZS200 ships in mid-March and will come in black and silver colorways. The camera has a suggested retail price of US$799.99, which is $100 more than its predecessor launched at in March 2016.

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