Panasonic ZS200 Performance

Generally very good performance for long-zoom compact.

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

The Panasonic ZS200's autofocus speeds were excellent in our tests, especially for a camera that uses contrast detection only. The ZS200 produced full-autofocus shutter lag (with the subject at a fixed distance) was 0.122 second at full wide angle and 0.149 second at full telephoto using 1-area (center) single-shot AF with the mechanical shutter. Enabling the flash increased lag quite a bit to 0.832 second, though, to account for preflash metering.

When manually focused, the ZS200's lag time was 0.051 second, which is fast. The ZS200's prefocused shutter lag time of only 0.025 second is very quick.

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 at under 0.5 second, however 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 but only slightly to about 9.4 fps. With continuous autofocus enabled, the top frame rate drops to 6 fps according to Panasonic, however we do not test with continuous AF in the lab.

In Continuous High Speed "H" mode full-resolution buffer depths were very generous for Large/Fine JPEGs at 139 frames, and when shooting RAW files buffer depth dropped to 33 frames, or 28 frames when shooting RAW+JPEG files. That's still quite good, though, and a big improvement over the ZS100's 14 and 12 frames respectively.

The ZS200'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 16.7 to 25.1 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) or change settings while the buffer is clearing. However, you can't view just-shot images until the buffer is flushed to the card.

Flash recycling after full-power discharge took an average of 2.7 seconds.

Bottom line, the Panasonic ZS200's performance is generally very good for its class. Startup is a bit sluggish but mode switching is fast, autofocus speeds are quick, and prefocused shutter lag is very 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.

Good battery life for its type.

The Panasonic ZS200 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 370 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 ZS200 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))