As always, the key will be the image quality, as 18 million pixels on a small compact sensor will no doubt be a test of the in-camera image processing. It will also be interesting to see what the processed raw images look like. So the TZ60 / ZS40 performed almost identically to its predecessor in continuous shooting, delivering the quoted burst sizes, often at slightly faster speeds. What’s different this time round is support for RAW, so I retested the 5 and 10fps modes with this quality setting. At 10fps, I grabbed four RAW frames in 0.31 seconds, corresponding to a speed of 12.9fps, while at 5fps I grabbed four frames again, this time in 0.72 seconds, corresponding to a speed of 5.6fps. So again the speeds slightly exceeded the specifications, but in each case shooting in RAW meant capturing four rather than six frames. This is the same touch-sensitive screen that’s used on the TZ100 / ZS100 and, as on the flagship Lumix travel zoom, can be used to place the AF area for focussing, meter exposure, shoot and select soft function buttons, it also allows menu selection and entering of details when making network connections. I’m very pleased to see the touch-screen return to the TZ / ZS series and it’s one of the big advantages the TZ80 / ZS60 holds over Canon’s SX720 has which has neither a touch-screen nor a viewfinder. Wifi and NFC first came to the TZ / ZS series with last year’s TZ40 / ZS30, and the new model essentially inherits the same capabilities.

Included among the scene modes is an HDR (high dynamic range) option that takes three pictures of varying exposures and stitches them together in-camera. It’s clear from the views above that filming in the 1080 modes captures a wider field of view, but how does the quality compare? Below are 100% crops made from the 4k footage on the left and the 1080p footage on the right. Note that the 1080p crop on the right shows a larger area with smaller detail not just because of the lower resolution of the 1080p clip, but the wider field of view. What’s interesting about this comparison is that though the detail is larger in the 4k crop on the left, there isn’t more of it, what you can see though is more noise. So though you’re getting more pixels shooting with the TZ80 / ZS60 in 4k video mode, thanks to the noise you’re not really getting more detail or better image quality. When previewed at A4 size, images at the minimum ISO 100 sensitivity look clean with only a hint of luminance noise – if you are pixel peeping. The same can be said for images at ISO 400, but when zoomed in to 100%, many of the high-contrast lines in JPEG images start to become smudgy due to in-camera noise reduction. When previewing A4-sized JPEGs at ISO 800-1600, the luminance noise does not detract in any way from the images. However, these images do appear noticeably softer than ISO 100 images because so much detail has been lost due to heavy in-camera noise reduction. The Lumix TZ60 / ZS40 inherits the built-in GPS receiver of its predecessor, which allows it to record location and time details for each image and store them in the standard EXIF header. These can then be cross-referenced by a built-in database of landmarks to display location information; you can of course also use the location details to plot your position on mapping software on your computer later. One feature I found useful was the focus-peaking mode, which highlights any edges that are in focus or which are nearing their optimum point. The base of the lens acts as a focus ring in manual mode, and when engaged, MF assist helps with focusing by showing a 5x or 10x enlargement. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 review – Noise, resolution and sensitivityThe Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 is slightly bigger and heavier than the previous TZ40 model that it replaces, bit it does now offer a longer 30x zoom lens (the TZ40 had a 20x lens) and also a built-in electronic viewfinder. The 30x lens is equivalent to 24-720mm on a 35mm camera, which provides an incredibly versatile focal range that will cover every subject from ultra-wide angle landscapes to close-up action shots. Even when set to 720mm, the lens doesn't extend too far from the front of the TZ60, making it look to all intents and purposes like a "normal" compact camera. This helps to make the DMC-TZ60 great for candid moments, as people assume that you're using just a standard point and shoot with a much more limited range. There’s three options: Burst (which records video while the shutter button is pressed), Burst S / S (which starts recording with one press and stops with another), and 4K Pre-burst (which keeps a rolling buffer to avoid unwieldy clips to store and go through). Mostly I used the Burst mode, and above you can see an example selected from about a second of burst shooting which gave me a choice of around 30 frames. 4k Photo isn’t only good for action though, if you’re filming a relatively slow or even static subject, it can give you a choice of compositions and poses.

In your hands the new model looks and feels larger, but to be fair we should now be comparing it against other 30x zooms. Sony’s Cyber-shot HX60V measures 108x64x38.3mm and 272g including battery, while Canon’s PowerShot SX700 HS measures 113x66x34.8mm and weighs 269g including battery. This makes all three 30x travel zoom rivals very similar in size and weight, although both the Panasonic and the Canon are thinner than the Sony.However, this is with a fixed focus, and continuous AF will slow the rate to 5fps. Panasonic says the Venus Engine is also capable of more advanced noise reduction than in previous models, which should help when shooting at higher ISO sensitivities. The TZ60’s native sensitivity is ISO 100-3400, but it can be extended to ISO 6400. The battery used by the TZ60 is rated to 300 shots. However, there is no standalone battery charger included, so the camera is frustratingly out of use while the battery is charging. Spare batteries are advisable. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 review – Metering On the conditions of the day I required a shutter speed of 1/800 or 1/400 at a push to reliably handhold a shake-free image at 720mm, but with stabilisation enabled, I managed the same result at 1/100, or at a push 1/50, corresponding to about three stops of compensation in practice.