Panasonic ZS80 Performance

Very good overall performance for long-zoom compact.

Startup time was pretty good a long-zoom compact, and switching from Play to Record mode and taking a shot was quick.

The Panasonic ZS80's autofocus speeds were very good in our tests, especially for a camera that uses contrast detection only. The ZS80 produced full-autofocus shutter lag (with the subject at a fixed distance) was 0.156 second at full wide angle and 0.189 second at full telephoto using 1-area (center) single-shot AF with the mechanical shutter. Enabling the flash increased lag to 0.351 second, to account for preflash metering.

When manually focused, the ZS80's lag time was 0.053 second, which is fast. The ZS80's prefocused shutter lag time of only 0.038 second is good.

As you can see above, using the electronic shutter mode adds some delay, and the flash isn't supported.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Single-shot cycle times were very fast when shooting best quality JPEGs at about 0.5 second, however when shooting RAW+JPEG files, the average was quite slow at over two seconds with a lot of variation as there was a pre-press penalty. (If you press the shutter release too soon after taking a shot, the camera will ignore it and you have to press again to take another shot.)

Continuous High Speed "H" mode burst rate was fast at 10.1 frames per second for best quality JPEGs, meeting Panasonic's 10 fps spec with AFS (focus locked at the first frame). When shooting RAW or RAW+JPEG files, the frame rate dropped slightly to about 9.5 fps when using the mechanical shutter. (With the electronic shutter, the frame rate was more consistent at just over 10 fps no matter the file type.) With continuous autofocus enabled, the top frame rate drops to 5 fps according to Panasonic, however we do not test with continuous AF in the lab.

In Continuous High Speed "H" mode full-resolution buffer depth was very generous for Large/Fine JPEGs at over 100 frames. When shooting RAW files buffer depth dropped to 32 frames or 27 frames when shooting RAW+JPEG files, though that's still quite good for the class.

The ZS80's 4K burst mode allows you to shoot 8.3-megapixel JPEGs at up to 30 fps continuously for up to 15 minutes.

Buffer clearing can take some time even with a fast card, though, ranging from 3.3 to 27.2 seconds for full-res files with our fast 64GB Lexar Pro 2000x SDHC card, but you can continue shooting (at a much slower rate; see table above). You can't however change settings or view just-shot images until the buffer is flushed to the card.

Flash recycling after full-power discharge took an average of 2.6 seconds.

Bottom line, the Panasonic ZS80's performance is generally very good for its class. Startup and but mode switching are fast, autofocus speeds are quick, and prefocused shutter lag is low. Burst performance and buffer depths are quite good when shooting JPEGs or RAW files, however buffer clearing can take a long time with those deep buffers and there's a shutter button pre-press penalty which can slow you down when shooting RAW+JPEG files in single-shot mode.

Good battery life for its type.

The Panasonic ZS80 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with a single battery and an AC adapter for in-camera charging via USB. The CIPA-rated 380 shots per charge when using the LCD and 250 shots when using the EVF is good for its size and class, but we still recommend getting a second battery for your ZS80 if you plan any extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))