Pocket-friendly Panasonic ZS40 long-zoom courts enthusiasts with EVF, raw support
posted Monday, January 6, 2014 at 2:00 PM EST
If you're in the market for a pocket-friendly, long-zoom camera, you've got more than a few to choose from, but what if you want enthusiast-friendly features such as a viewfinder, focus peaking, and raw shooting? That's the market the Panasonic ZS40 -- known in some markets as the Panasonic TZ60 -- is aiming to capture. It's just 1.4 inches (34mm) thick, yet sports a Leica DC Vario-Elmar branded 30x optical zoom lens.
Of course, compromises have to be made to hit that size and weight while retaining so much zoom reach, and in the case of the Panasonic ZS40, the most notable compromise is a small 1/2.3-inch, 18.1-megapixel CMOS image sensor. If you're willing to live with that, though, you get fast 10 frames per second burst shooting, Full HD (1080p60) video capture, an electronic viewfinder, and full Program / Aperture-priority / Shutter-priority / Manual shooting plus two Custom modes.
There's also a raw file format option (as well as raw+JPEG), focus peaking to help determine the precise point of focus, a control ring around the lens barrel, and a level gauge function. The ZS40 also includes 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity, including Near Field Communications for easy setup on Android devices, and a GPS / GLONASS receiver for geotagging.
Pricing and availability hadn't been disclosed at press time. For much more on this interesting long-zoom enthusiast compact, read our Panasonic ZS40 preview!