Panasonic ZS100 Review

Overview

With the Lumix ZS100 digital camera, Panasonic takes its long-running ZS-series in a very interesting new direction! The Panasonic ZS100 is the first model in the ZS lineup to be based around a relatively large 1-inch image sensor, instead of the more typical 1/2.3-inch or smaller sensors of past models. If that size seems familiar, it's for good reason: It's the same size as used previously in the larger, SLR-styled Panasonic FZ1000, as well as in the unusual non-zoom Panasonic CM1 Communication Camera. 1-inch sensors are also to be found in enthusiast-oriented cameras from the likes of Canon, Nikon and Sony.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the Panasonic ZS100's sensor has an effective resolution of 20.1 megapixels, the same as those in the FZ1000 and CM1. However, instead of pairing its image sensor to a powerful 16x optical zoom lens with a bright f/2.8-4.0 maximum aperture as in the FZ1000, though, Panasonic has opted for a still far-reaching 10x zoom lens with a maximum aperture that falls from f/2.8 at wide angle to f/5.9 by the telephoto position.

That change makes for a much smaller camera than the FZ1000. In fact, the Panasonic ZS100 is only a couple of tenths of an inch larger in each direction than a popular competitor, Sony's pocket-friendly RX100 IV. And impressively, it's barely any heavier than the RX100 IV when loaded and ready to shoot, either, despite providing almost 3.5x the zoom range of its rival.

We should note that while it's uncommonly compact for a large sensor, long-zoom model, the Panasonic ZS100 isn't what we'd call pants-pocket friendly. It will easily fit in a jacket pocket or small purse / bag, however, making it easy to carry with you wherever you go.

And that's accomplished despite catering to more experienced photographers with a generous helping of physical controls that keep you out of the menu system. The ZS100, says its maker, offers physical controls for all of the most common exposure variables, including shutter speed, aperture, ISO sensitivity, focus and lens zoom. Other enthusiast-friendly features in the ZS100 include RAW or RAW+JPEG file support with in-camera raw development possible, and exposure bracketing for as many as seven frames.

The Panasonic ZS100 provides plenty of performance, as well. Owners will be able to shoot at a manufacturer-rated five frames per second at full resolution, and that's with autofocus enabled between exposures. Locking focus from the first frame and disabling live view during the burst will allow this to be pushed to a swift 10 fps. And if you're willing to switch to an electronic shutter, you can push this even further to as fast as 50 fps, though you can only capture 5-megapixel JPEGs at that speed.

The Panasonic ZS100's far-reaching lens displays Leica DC Vario-Elmarit branding on the front of its barrel. The optic has a 12-element, 10-group design with five aspheric elements, of which four are double-sided. Providing a 25-250mm-equivalent zoom reach, the ZS100's lens offers owners everything from a very generous wide angle to a decent telephoto, nicely covering your bases for diverse uses like family, travel, nature or sports photography. As noted previously, the maximum aperture falls from f/2.8 at wide angle to f/5.9 by the telephoto position.

Helping to fight blur from camera shake, the Panasonic ZS100 also includes a five-axis hybrid O.I.S. image stabilization system, with a handy level shot function that will save your photos from tilted horizon syndrome. To ensure your subjects are rendered sharply, there's a Light Speed Autofocus-branded AF system which uses Panasonic's Depth from Defocus technology to keep focusing time to a minimum. The system offers up 49 autofocus points, as well as providing both face and eye tracking functions, and it's said to be capable of focusing in just a tenth of a second.

Of course, you'd expect a viewfinder in a camera aimed at enthusiasts, and despite its compact nature the ZS100 includes just such a feature. Specifically, the camera's electronic viewfinder is based around a 0.2-inch, 1,166k-dot equivalent panel. An adjacent proximity sensor allows the camera to trigger autofocus as soon as the finder is when raised to your eye. As well as the viewfinder, there's also a fixed-position LCD panel with a diagonal of 3.0-inches, 1,040k-dot resolution, and a touch-screen overlay which allows it to double as an input device.

Of course, if you're shooting with a camera like this, you're going to want to get your artworks online where friends and family as soon as possible. The Panasonic ZS100 doesn't disappoint here, offering in-camera Wi-Fi wireless networking that can connect to your phone or tablet's Wi-Fi hotspot using quick-and-easy QR code pairing.

And with ultra high-definition video being the latest must-have, the ZS100 also offers 4K video capture in-camera. You have a choice of 24 or 30 frames-per-second capture in MP4 format at this maximum resolution. And of course, if you're not yet ready for 4K you can drop the resolution to Full HD instead, unlocking access to a 60 fps framerate in the process.

As if that wasn't enough, the Panasonic ZS100 includes the company's 4K Photo function, which allows easy extraction of 8.3-megapixel stills from 4K videos. If rolling shutter isn't a concern for your subject, this can be a huge advantage as it takes your reflexes out of the equation almost entirely. The ZS100 also provides Panasonic's Post Focus function, which varies focus during 4K video capture, and then lets you indicate which subject should have the sharpest focus post-capture. The video is then analyzed, and the frame with the sharpest focus in this area retained.

Available since the end of March 2016, the Panasonic ZS100 is sold in either silver or black body colors. Pricing in the US market is set at around $700.

In the Box

The Panasonic ZS100 retail package contains the following items:

• Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS100 digital camera (in black or silver)
• DMW-BLG10 lithium-ion battery pack
• AC/USB adapter
• USB cable
• Hand strap
• 2 Shoulder strap adapters
• One-year limited warranty

Recommended Accessories

• Large capacity SDHC/SDXC memory card. We recommend at least 32GB capacity, with a minimum UHS Speed Class 3 rating for recording 4K video.
• Camera case
• Extra battery pack for extended outings

Optics

Lens Test Results

Zoom
A 10x zoom, with mixed optical performance.

The Panasonic ZS100 is equipped with a 9.1-91mm lens, offering an optical zoom ratio of 10x, translating to a 35mm-equivalent focal range of about 25-250mm. The lens features a maximum aperture ranging from a relatively fast f/2.8 at wide angle to a somewhat dim f/5.9 at telephoto. As is often the case, maximum aperture does fall-off rather quickly as you zoom, already reaching f/5.9 at around 160mm equivalent. The following table reflects the maximum and minimum apertures as reported by the camera at various focal lengths:

F.L. (mm eq.)	25	30	35	50	70	100	160+
Max.	f/2.8	f/3.2	f/3.4	f/4.1	f/4.5	f/5.2	f/5.9
Min.	f/8 at all focal lengths

Far-field performance is pretty good at 25mm equivalent at f/5.6, with very good sharpness and good contrast across most of the frame, though corners and edges do show some softness and some minor flare is visible around very bright objects. Chromatic aberration is well-controlled, suppressed by the ZS100's JPEG engine. Performance at 49mm equivalent is also pretty good at f/5.6, but full telephoto at 250mm equivalent and f/5.9 is a touch soft across the frame, with some additional blurring and loss of contrast in extreme corners.

See below for lab results on macro performance, geometric distortion, corner softness, etc.

Macro
An average-sized minimum coverage area, with very good performance in the center. Flash is partially blocked at minimum focus distance.

The Panasonic ZS100 captured an average-sized minimum area at maximum wide-angle (25mm eq.), measuring 2.83 x 1.89 inches (72 x 48 millimeters). Sharpness in and around the center of the frame is pretty good, but corners and edges show quite a bit of softness even at the smallest aperture of f/8 (most lenses show some softening in the corners at macro distances). Exposure with the flash is very uneven with the top portion of the frame well-exposed, but the bottom is dark due a shadow caused by the lens. You'll likely want to use external lighting for the closest ZS100 macro shots.

Geometric Distortion
Very low distortion in camera JPEGs, but very high in uncorrected RAW files at wide angle.

Camera JPEGs

Barrel distortion at wide angle is about 0.3%

Complex barrel distortion at telephoto is about 0.1%

Uncorrected RAW

Barrel distortion at wide angle is about 3.7%

Complex barrel distortion at telephoto is about 0.1%

Thanks to in-camera distortion correction, there's low geometric distortion in the ZS100's JPEGs. At maximum wide angle, we measured just over 0.3% barrel distortion which is pretty low and not very noticeable. At full telephoto, distortion was even lower, at just over 0.1% of complex (wavy) barrel distortion. This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel -- usually at wide-angle) or inward (like a pincushion -- usually at telephoto).

To see how much correction is taking place in the camera, we converted RAW files from the above shots with dcraw, which does not correct for distortion. As you can see at wide angle, barrel distortion is very high, at about 3.7%, while telephoto shows about the same very low distortion as JPEGs. This is not unusual, though. We expect to see fairly significant distortion in uncorrected RAW files in fast, compact lenses allowing lens designers greater flexibility in optimizing center sharpness and other aberrations, as well as in reducing cost, size, and weight. The downside is that the distortion correction contributes additional blurring to the corners of the frame where pixels are "stretched" during correction and where lenses are usually already a bit soft. Note that most RAW converters are capable of applying distortion correction automatically, as specified by the manufacturer in an embedded lens profile.

Chromatic Aberration and Corner Sharpness
Moderately low to very low chromatic aberration in JPEGs. The lens produces soft corners wide-open, though corner sharpness improves stopped-down.

Aperture: maximum
Wide at f/2.8: Upper left C.A.: Moderately low Softness: Quite soft	Wide at f/2.8: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Sharp
Tele at f/5.9: Lower right C.A.: Moderately low Softness: Soft	Tele at f/5.9: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Fairly sharp

Chromatic Aberration. Thanks to effective in-camera chromatic aberration suppression, there's moderately low CA in the corners at wide angle and telephoto in JPEGs. As expected, though, uncorrected RAW files (see below) show much more CA than seen in the JPEG crops above.

Corner Softness. Wide-open at maximum wide angle, the ZS100's lens is soft in all four corners, and blurring extends fairly deep into the frame. The center is however quite sharp. Corners are a little better at full telephoto when wide-open, but they are still slightly soft, and the center isn't as sharp as it is at wide angle.

Vignetting. There's some minor vignetting (corner shading) but mostly just at wide angle, as shown by the darker the corner crops compared to the center.

Aperture: f/5.6 (W) and f/8 (T)
Wide at f/5.6: Upper left C.A.: Low Softness: Slightly soft	Wide at f/5.6: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Sharp
Tele at f/8: Lower right C.A.: Low Softness: Slightly soft	Tele at f/8: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Fairly sharp

Stopped-down: Stopping down a few clicks (in this case to f/5.6 at wide angle and f/8 at telephoto) improved corner sharpness and contrast significantly at wide angle, but less so at full telephoto. However, corners were still not as sharp as the center, and full telephoto was slightly softer than wide-open near the center of the frame, due to diffraction.

Chromatic Aberration Correction

In-camera JPEG	Uncorrected RAW
Wide (f/5.6): Upper left CA: Low	Wide (f/5.6): Upper left CA: Moderately high
Tele (f/5.9): Upper left CA: Low	Tele: (f/5.9): Upper left CA: Moderately high

As you can see in the crops from uncorrected RAW images on the right (taken from RW2 files converted with dcraw), the ZS100's lens produces moderately high and bright lateral chromatic aberration at both maximum wide angle and full telephoto. But the ZS100's processor does a pretty good job at suppressing CA in camera JPEGs (crops on the left). Note that most RAW converters should also automatically suppress CA when converting the ZS100's RW2 files.

Overall, decent performance from the ZS100's lens when considering size and zoom ratio, but it's not very sharp at telephoto and it's a bit soft in the corners even when stopped down at both ends.

Viewfinder Test Results

Coverage
Excellent accuracy from the LCD monitor and electronic viewfinder.

The Panasonic ZS100's LCD monitor and EVF both provide essentially 100% coverage. This is excellent performance, especially considering the amount of geometric distortion correction taking place at wide angle.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS100 Photo Gallery .

Exposure

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Slightly below average mean saturation and hue accuracy.

In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located toward the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center. Click for a larger image.

Saturation. Overall, mean saturation levels are a little lower than average from the Panasonic ZS100 using default settings, at 7.4% oversaturated. The ZS100 pushes dark blues and greens quite a bit, but only oversaturates red and orange by small amounts, and it undersaturates yellow and aqua tones moderately. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. Here, the Panasonic ZS100 did fairly well, producing reasonably natural-looking Caucasian skin tones, but they were a bit warm and yellow with both manual and auto white balance settings under simulated daylight. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. The Panasonic ZS100 shifts cyan toward blue by quite a bit, but most other shifts like red toward orange, orange toward yellow, and yellow toward green are small. (The cyan to blue shift is very common among the digital cameras we test; we think it's a deliberate choice by camera engineers to produce better-looking sky colors.) The ZS100's handling of yellows is one of its weaknesses and is typical of Panasonics: Yellows are undersaturated, and shifted slightly toward green which can make them look dingy. With a mean "delta-C" color error of 6.19 after correction for saturation, hue accuracy is slightly below average at base ISO, but still pretty good overall since there are no major shifts in one particular color except for cyan (which as mentioned is quite common). Hue is "what color" the color is.

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
The Auto white balance setting produced somewhat cool results and Incandescent was quite warm. Manual was pretty accurate, just slightly warm. Average exposure compensation required.

Indoors, under normal incandescent lighting, color balance was a touch cool with the Auto white balance setting, while results with the Incandescent setting were very warm and orange. The Manual setting was by far the most accurate, just slightly on the warm side with a very slight yellow tint. (Note: The ZS100 also has a Kelvin Temperature White Balance option, however we did not test that mode.) The Panasonic ZS100 required +0.3 EV exposure compensation which is about average for this scene. (Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.)

Outdoors, daylight
Decent color and exposure accuracy under harsh lighting, though with high contrast.

Outdoors, the Panasonic ZS100 struggled a little for its class. +0.7 EV exposure compensation was required to keep the mannequin's face reasonably bright in our "Sunlit" Portrait shot, which is about average among cameras we've tested. However default contrast is a quite high and the camera ended up clipping some highlights in the white shirt and flowers, and also produced some very dark, discolored shadows as well, though they are fairly clean. Auto color balance performed well in our "Sunlit" Portrait shot, though skin tones are a little yellow. Manual and Daylight white balance produced slightly warmer skin tones. The Far-field shot with Auto white balance looks a bit cool, and default exposure is slightly underexposed producing some very deep shadows that are heavily posterized and flattened.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
~2,500 to ~2,600 lines of strong detail.

An in-camera JPEG of our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns up to about 2,600 lines per picture height in the horizontal direction, and to about 2,500 lines per picture height in the vertical direction. Some may argue for more, but lines begin to merge at that point. Complete extinction of the pattern didn't occur until about 3,000 lines. An Adobe Camera Raw conversion produced similar results, but complete extinction of the pattern was extended to about 3,200 lines and color moiré is more visible. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See thumbnails of all test images

Sharpness & Detail
Slightly soft images but with good detail; some sharpening artifacts are visible. Moderate noise reduction at base ISO.

Sharpness. The ZS100 produces slightly soft-looking images at base ISO due to somewhat conservative default sharpening combined with a less than tack-sharp lens, however obvious sharpening halos can still be seen around high contrast transitions, such as the lines and text in the crop above left. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows good detail for the class of camera, with moderate levels noise suppression in the darkest areas of the mannequins's hair, and almost no chroma noise. Some individual strands are smudged together in areas of low contrast at base ISO, but performance here is actually quite good considering the size and resolution of the sensor. Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears.

RAW vs In-Camera JPEGs
As noted above the Panasonic ZS100 produces slightly soft images with noticeable sharpening halos. Let's see how an Adobe Camera Raw conversion at base ISO compares.

Base ISO (125)
Camera JPEG, defaults	RAW via Adobe Camera Raw

In the table above, we compare an in-camera JPEG taken at base ISO using default noise reduction and sharpening (on the left) to a matching RAW file converted with Adobe Camera Raw 9.1 via DNG Converter 9.5 using default noise reduction, then sharpened in Photoshop.

As you can see, ACR produced additional detail that isn't present in the JPEG from the camera. The biggest increase in detail is in the fabric crop, where ACR was able to resolve much of the thread pattern in the red-leaf swatch which the camera's JPEG engine presumably treats as noise, and ACR also did a bit better reproducing fine detail in the pink fabric, as well as producing more accurate color. But as is usually the case, much higher levels of luminance noise can be seen in the RAW conversion particularly in flat areas as shown in the bottle crop, thanks to ACR's light default noise reduction and the relatively strong sharpening required to keep the somewhat soft RAW images crisp-looking (we used 300% USM with a radius of 0.5 pixels and a threshold of 0). You can of course apply stronger noise reduction (default ACR NR used here) to arrive at your ideal noise versus detail tradeoff. Bottom line: As is almost always the case, you can do noticeably better than the camera with a good RAW converter, provided you're willing to apply your own noise reduction and sharpening to taste.

ISO & Noise Performance
Good high ISO performance for its class.

Default High ISO Noise Reduction
ISO 80	ISO 125	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 800	ISO 1600
ISO 3200	ISO 6400	ISO 12,800
ISO 25,600

ISOs 80 through 200 produce similar results, with detailed images containing low levels of fine-grained luma noise and almost no chroma noise. ISO 400 shows a more noticeable drop in image quality as noise reduction ramps, but fine detail is still quite good. ISO 800 shows another step down in image quality with additional blurring of fine detail and stronger luminance noise, but is still pretty good. ISO 1600 is noticeably softer thanks to stronger noise reduction and more visible luma noise, but chroma noise is still fairly low. At ISO 3200, image quality takes a larger hit with higher noise, both luma and chroma, and the camera's processing produces images with a somewhat crystalline look. Image quality drops off very quickly from here, with ISOs 6400 through 25,600 being quite noisy with strong luma noise and chroma blotching.

Overall, though, high ISO performance is good and much better than average for a travel zoom thanks to its relatively large 1"-type sensor, but the ZS100's image quality isn't quite as good as some other 1" models. We're of course pixel-peeping to an extraordinary extent here, since 1:1 images on an LCD screen often have little to do with how those same images will appear when printed. See the Print Quality section below for our evaluation of maximum print sizes at each ISO setting.

Note: We used to shoot this series at f/4 because of the relatively low light, but we now shoot it at f/5.6 or f/8 for 1"-type and larger sensors, as lens performance well away from center where we take the above crops is often not optimal at wider apertures. The added depth of field for a scene with this depth is also a better compromise than the potentially slightly sharper but shallower focus depth that a larger aperture would produce.

Extremes: Sunlit, dynamic range and low light tests
Poor dynamic range for its class in JPEGs. Good low-light performance, capable of capturing bright images in near darkness.

Sunlight. The Panasonic ZS100 struggled under the deliberately harsh lighting in the test above. To keep facial tones reasonably bright, +0.7V compensation was required, which led to quite a few clipped highlights in the mannequin's shirt and flowers. Detail is quite good in moderate shadows at +0.7 EV, though very deep shadows are plugged, discolored and posterized.

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here.)

Face Detection
Aperture Priority, f/5.6, 0 EV Face Detection Off	Aperture Priority, f/5.6, 0 EV, Face Detection On	iAuto, f/5.0, 0 EV

Face Detection. Like most cameras these days, the Panasonic ZS100 has the ability to detect faces (up to 15 in a scene), and adjust exposure and focus accordingly. As you can see from the examples above, face detection improved exposure in both Aperture Priority at f/5.6, and in iAuto mode where the camera had control over aperture and automatically applied Intelligent D-Range to reduce overall contrast.

Far-field Intelligent D-Range Examples
Off	Auto	Low	Standard	High

Panasonic's Intelligent Dynamic Range
The above shots are examples of Panasonic's Intelligent Dynamic Range Control (or iD-Range) at work, with no exposure compensation. Note that the camera does not take multiple shots and merge them as HDR mode does (see below). It's a system that adjusts local contrast and exposure more akin to Nikon's Active D-lighting, Canon's Automatic Lighting Optimization or Sony's Dynamic Range Optimization.

There are three levels of iD-Range available on the Panasonic ZS100: Low, Standard and High, plus Auto and Off. It's automatically invoked in iAuto and some scene modes and manually selectable in PASM modes. Interestingly, i-D-Range didn't work as well as expected for this scene, attenuating highlights in an already somewhat underexposed shot, while only slightly boosting darker midtones and shadows as well as generating a subtle halo effect around darker subject matter.

Far-field HDR Examples
Off	Auto	+/-1 EV	+/-2 EV	+/-3 EV

HDR mode
Here, you can see the Panasonic ZS100's High Dynamic Range mode at work with our Far-field shot. HDR mode takes three images at different exposures and combines them to increase dynamic range. Mouse over the links, and click on them the view the full resolution files.

Auto did a decent job, producing results identical to +/-2 EV which was the best for this scene, while +/-3 dimmed the entire image. Notice the double images and ghosting of the flag, leaves or people moving between frames. Also notice the angle of view is narrower in the HDR images, likely because the images have been cropped and upsized during the optional auto alignment process. Oddly, the +/-1 and +/-3 settings show more noise than the +/-2 and Auto settings.

	1 fc 11 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16 fc No NR
ISO 125	1.6s, f2.8	25s, f2.8	25s, f2.8
ISO 3200	1/15s, f2.8	1s, f2.8	1s, f2.8
ISO 25600	1/125s, f2.8	1/8s, f2.8	1/8s, f2.8

Low Light. The Panasonic ZS100 performed well in our low-light tests thanks to its relatively fast lens at wide angle coupled to a 1"-type sensor, capturing bright images at the lowest light level (1/16 foot-candle), even at the lowest native sensitivity setting (ISO 125). As expected for a 1"-type sensor, luma noise is a little high at ISO 3200, but fairly fine-grained, while chroma noise is well-controlled. The ZS100's highest ISO of 25,600 is quite grainy with noticeable noise reduction artifacts, but that's no surprise.

Color balance is pretty good with Panasonic ZS100's Auto white balance setting, just a touch cool, even at highest ISO and lowest light level. We didn't notice any significant issues with pattern noise or heat blooming, however a few bright pixels can be seen at base ISO (default noise reduction at the higher ISOs takes care of them).

The camera's AF system was able to focus on our low-contrast target unassisted to below the 1/16 foot-candle (-2.0 EV) light level in our tests, which is excellent. And with the AF assist lamp enabled, the ZS100 could focus in almost complete darkness. This of course will vary with subject and distance, though.

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) For such applications, you may have better luck with a digital SLR camera, but even there, you'll likely need to set the focus manually. For information and reviews on digital SLRs, refer to our SLR review index page.

Output Quality

Print Quality

A good 20 x 30 inch print up to ISO 200; a good 8 x 10 inch print at ISO 1600 and a nice 4 x 6 at ISO 6400.

ISO 80/125/200 prints look good at 20 x 30 inches. An increase in size to 24 x 36 inches is fine for wall display purposes and less critical applications, but for important prints we advise remaining at 20 x 30 inches and below.

ISO 400 requires a reduction in size to 16 x 20 inches. Contrast detail is now somewhat low in our tricky Still Life target red-leaf swatch, a common phenomenon at slightly higher ISOs, but generally not so low at this sensitivity. But otherwise this size print looks good at this ISO.

ISO 800 shots almost pass our "good" seal of approval at 13 x 19 inches, and are fine for less critical purposes. In order to pass our good grade you'll need to stick with 11 x 14 inches and smaller at this gain setting.

ISO 1600 images look good at 8 x 10 inches. All contrast detail is now lost in our red-leaf swatch, and there's a trace of mild noise apparent in a few flatter areas of our target such as in the shadows, but saturation, fine detail and contrast are still fairly good at this size.

ISO 3200 yields a good 5 x 7 inch print, suffering only similar minor issues such as the ones seen in the 8 x 10 inch print at ISO 1600, but otherwise produces a usable print. Anything larger simply looks too muted and lacks "pop" here.

ISO 6400 delivers a good 4 x 6 inch print. Larger prints are a bit too flat and muted to be usable for anything but less critical applications.

ISO 12,800/25,600 produce prints that are simply too flat and scorched looking to pass our good grade, and these gain settings are not recommended for printing purposes.

The Panasonic ZS100 does a fair job in the print quality department, but it's not quite in the same league as some of the other popular 1-inch sensored cameras. The Panasonic FZ1000 performs better at base ISO up to ISO 400, and both the Sony RX10 II and the RX100 IV perform better by roughly a print size across most of the available ISO spectrum. It appears that in order to achieve a 10x lens in such a small package, some optical performance was sacrificed in the trade-off. But with all that said, if you keep the gain setting to ISO 1600 and below you'll still be assured of good 8 x 10 inch prints across the board. Like most smaller cameras that can grant so much zoom range, compromises are inevitable, so it's up to your own needs to determine if zoom range is more important than the ability to print larger prints.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS100 Photo Gallery .

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS100 with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!

Performance

Image Quality

The Panasonic ZS100 is currently in a class of its own offering a 10x zoom coupled to a 1"-type sensor in a compact "travel zoom" body. Below are crops from our laboratory Still Life target comparing its image quality to a range of point & shoot cameras with longer-than-average zoom lenses and a variety of different sensor sizes: the Canon G7X Mark II, Olympus Stylus 1, Panasonic FZ1000, Panasonic ZS60, and Sony RX10 II.

NOTE: These images are from best quality JPEGs straight out of the camera, at default settings including noise reduction and using the camera's actual base ISO (not extended ISO settings). Clicking any crop will take you to a carrier page where you can click once again to access the full resolution image as delivered straight from the camera. For those interested in working with the RAW files involved, click these links to visit each camera's respective sample image thumbnail page: Panasonic ZS100, Canon G7X II, Olympus Stylus 1, Panasonic FZ1000, Panasonic ZS60, and Sony RX10 II -- links to the RAW files appear beneath those for the JPEG images, wherever we have them. And remember, you can always go to our world-renowned Comparometer to compare the Panasonic ZS100 to any camera we've ever tested!

Panasonic ZS100 vs Canon G7X Mark II at Base ISO

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 125	Canon G7X Mark II at ISO 125
The Canon G7X II "only" offers a 4.2x zoom lens compared to the 10x zoom of the ZS100, but it's a much brighter f/1.8-2.8 vs f/2.8-5.9 optic, and both cameras use similar 1"-type 20-megapixel sensors and are currently priced the same as well. Image quality here at base ISO is fairly similar, with about the same amount of detail captured and similar noise levels, however there are some notable differences. First, the Panasonic's tone curve is such that its image looks a bit darker than the Canon when middle gray is the same brightness, giving the G7X II's image a brighter look overall. Colors from the Canon are also more neutral and pleasing. The ZS100 does however hold onto a little more detail in our red-leaf swatch, showing some of the fine thread pattern which the G7X II's default processing smooths over. Sharpening halos are also a little less noticeable from the Panasonic, though both produce visible haloing along high-contrast edges.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Olympus Stylus 1 at Base ISO

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 125	Olympus Stylus 1 at ISO 100
The Olympus Stylus 1 features a 10.7x constant f/2.8 aperture lens, but its imager is a much smaller 12-megapixel 1/1.7"-type sensor. As you can see here at base ISO, the ZS100 easily resolves significantly more detail as well as produces lower noise, though stronger noise reduction from the Stylus 1 helps to compensate further reducing detail compared to the ZS100. Tone curve and colors are however more pleasing from the Olympus.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Panasonic FZ1000 at Base ISO

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 125	Panasonic FZ1000 at ISO 125
Here, we compare the ZS100 to its bigger brother, the FZ1000, which likely shares the same or very similar sensor and processor, however the FZ1000 features a larger 16x f/2.8-4 lens. As you'd expect image quality is quite similar from these two siblings, however the FZ1000's image is a bit sharper with higher contrast and slightly better detail, thanks to a better performing lens.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Panasonic ZS60 at Base ISO

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 125	Panasonic ZS60 at ISO 80
Here we decided to compare the ZS100 to its little brother, the 18-megapixel ZS60, to show what advantages a 1"-type sensor has over a much smaller 1/2.3"-type sensor typically used in travel zoom cameras. The smaller sensor allows the ZS60 to offer a 30x optical zoom in roughly the same form factor as the 10x ZS100, however as you can see, the ZS100 offers much better image quality even here at base ISO. The ZS60 has to apply much stronger noise reduction to keep noise levels in check, which smears fine detail even here at ISO 80. Contrast and sharpness are lower as well, but that's likely due to the longer lens.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Sony RX10 II at Base ISO

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 125	Sony RX10 II at ISO 100
The much larger Sony RX10 II actually features a shorter 8.3x lens, but its constant f/2.8 lens is much faster (brighter) at the tele end. Here at base ISO, the Sony produces a brighter, more contrasty images with more pleasing colors and fewer sharpening artifacts. The Sony also produces a cleaner, smoother rendering of our difficult red-leaf fabric, however the Panasonic actually resolves some of the fine thread pattern which the Sony does not, but the ZS100 obscures some of the low-contrast detail.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Canon G7X Mark II at ISO 1600

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 1600	Canon G7X Mark II at ISO 1600
The ZS100 produces a cleaner looking image here at ISO 1600, however the G7X Mark II holds on to more detail and generates fewer noise reduction artifacts. Tone curve, contrast and colors are still more pleasing from the Canon.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Olympus Stylus 1 at ISO 1600

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 1600	Olympus Stylus 1 at ISO 1600
The Stylus 1's image quality falls further behind the ZS100's here at ISO 1600, already pushing the limits of a 1/1.7" sensor. The Stylus 1 image is noisier despite suffering from stronger noise reduction artifacts which smears fine detail. Interestingly, the Stylus 1 does retain slightly more detail in the red-leaf swatch, though the higher noise makes it look more detailed than it really is. Color and brightness are still more pleasing from the Olympus, though.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Panasonic FZ1000 at ISO 1600

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 1600	Panasonic FZ1000 at ISO 1600
Again, very similar image quality from these two 1"-type siblings, with just a slight edge going to the FZ1000 in terms of sharpness and contrast, but slightly lower noise from the ZS100.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Panasonic ZS60 at ISO 1600

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 1600	Panasonic ZS60 at ISO 1600
There's really no contest here at ISO 1600 between the ZS100 and ZS60, with the ZS100 producing a noticeably cleaner, more detailed image thanks to its much larger sensor.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Sony RX10 II at ISO 1600

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 1600	Sony RX10 II at ISO 1600
The Sony RX10 II continues to produce a brighter, more contrasty image than the Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 1600, but noise is coarser and more evident in flatter areas, and fine detail in the mosaic crop is more blotchy. The Sony does much better with our tricky red-leaf swatch while the Panasonic smears almost all fine detail away.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Canon G7X Mark II at ISO 3200

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 3200	Canon G7X Mark II at ISO 3200
Here at ISO 3200, the Canon G7X II shows much higher luminance noise, but it arguably manages to reproduce fine detail in our mosaic crop a little better than the ZS100, however both show strong noise reduction artifacts and mottling. Both cameras really struggle to reproduce any detail in our red-leaf swatch, but the ZS100 does show a touch more. Once again, color and contrast are better from the Canon.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Olympus Stylus 1 at ISO 3200

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 3200	Olympus Stylus 1 at ISO 3200
There's really no contest here at ISO 3200 between these two cameras. The ZS100 produces much lower noise levels while retaining much better detail. Colors have started to fade from the Stylus 1, but are arguably still better overall than the ZS100.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Panasonic FZ1000 at ISO 3200

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 3200	Panasonic FZ1000 at ISO 3200
Once again, very similar image quality from these two 1"-sensored siblings at ISO 3200, with only minor differences in noise, sharpness and contrast.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Panasonic ZS60 at ISO 3200

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 3200	Panasonic ZS60 at ISO 3200
As expected, the much larger sensor in the ZS100 is able to produce a much better, cleaner image at ISO 3200 than the tiny one in the ZS60.

Panasonic ZS100 vs Sony RX10 II at ISO 3200

Panasonic ZS100 at ISO 3200	Sony RX10 II at ISO 3200
The Panasonic ZS100 continues to produce lower noise levels than the Sony RX10 II, and it manages to hold on to slightly more detail. Interestingly, it's now the Sony which is showing more obvious sharpening artifacts along high-contrast edges, but it still produces more pleasing color and contrast.

Panasonic ZS100 vs. Canon G7X Mark II, Olympus Stylus 1, Panasonic FZ1000, Panasonic ZS60, Sony RX10 II

Panasonic ZS100 ISO 125 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Canon G7X Mark II ISO 125 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Olympus Stylus 1 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Panasonic FZ1000 ISO 125 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Panasonic ZS60 ISO 80 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Sony RX10 II ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400
Detail comparison. High-contrast detail is also important, pushing the camera in different ways, so we like to look at it, too. Of the 1"-sensored models, the ZS100 produces the lowest contrast, due to a slightly soft lens combines with a tone curve which tends to make our white bottle label look a little darker than other makes. At base ISO, the G7X II, FZ1000 and RX10 II all perform better, and this trend continues at higher ISOs. As expected, all the 1"-type models do noticeably better than the smaller sensors, especially as ISO increases.

A good 20 x 30 inch print up to ISO 200; a good 8 x 10 inch print at ISO 1600 and a nice 4 x 6 at ISO 6400.

ISO 80/125/200 prints look good at 20 x 30 inches. An increase in size to 24 x 36 inches is fine for wall display purposes and less critical applications, but for important prints we advise remaining at 20 x 30 inches and below.

ISO 400 requires a reduction in size to 16 x 20 inches. Contrast detail is now somewhat low in our tricky Still Life target red-leaf swatch, a common phenomenon at slightly higher ISOs, but generally not so low at this sensitivity. But otherwise this size print looks good at this ISO.

ISO 800 shots almost pass our "good" seal of approval at 13 x 19 inches, and are fine for less critical purposes. In order to pass our good grade you'll need to stick with 11 x 14 inches and smaller at this gain setting.

ISO 1600 images look good at 8 x 10 inches. All contrast detail is now lost in our red-leaf swatch, and there's a trace of mild noise apparent in a few flatter areas of our target such as in the shadows, but saturation, fine detail and contrast are still fairly good at this size.

ISO 3200 yields a good 5 x 7 inch print, suffering only similar minor issues such as the ones seen in the 8 x 10 inch print at ISO 1600, but otherwise produces a usable print. Anything larger simply looks too muted and lacks "pop" here.

ISO 6400 delivers a good 4 x 6 inch print. Larger prints are a bit too flat and muted to be usable for anything but less critical applications.

ISO 12,800/25,600 produce prints that are simply too flat and scorched looking to pass our good grade, and these gain settings are not recommended for printing purposes.

The Panasonic ZS100 does a fair job in the print quality department, but it's not quite in the same league as some of the other popular 1-inch sensored cameras. The Panasonic FZ1000 performs better at base ISO up to ISO 400, and both the Sony RX10 II and the RX100 IV perform better by roughly a print size across most of the available ISO spectrum. It appears that in order to achieve a 10x lens in such a small package, some optical performance was sacrificed in the trade-off. But with all that said, if you keep the gain setting to ISO 1600 and below you'll still be assured of good 8 x 10 inch prints across the board. Like most smaller cameras that can grant so much zoom range, compromises are inevitable, so it's up to your own needs to determine if zoom range is more important than the ability to print larger prints.

Field Test

A decent compact camera that offers a versatile lens

By Jeremy Gray · 05/20/2016

Introduction

The Panasonic ZS100 marks a new entry into the compact travel zoom market for Panasonic. This 10x optical zoom camera is the first ZS-series camera to come equipped with a relatively large 1-inch sensor. The inclusion of this larger sensor puts it in direct competition with a variety of cameras, including Sony's wildly popular RX100 series. At a list price of around $700 USD, the Panasonic ZS100 offers a versatile lens and good performance.

Key Features

• 20.1-megapixel 1"-type CMOS sensor
• 10x optical zoom lens (25-250mm eq. f/2.8-5.9)
• Built-in electronic viewfinder
• RAW file support
• Up to 10 frames per second continuous shooting
• 4K video at up to 30fps
• 4K Photo features
• Built-in Wi-Fi

Panasonic ZS100 is compact & versatile, but it has some issues

The first thing I noticed about the Panasonic ZS100 is its striking design, with a cool two-toned silver color scheme and a distinct red accent on the front. It's nice to see a camera offer up something a bit different and stand out, although there is an all-black variant if you want a more typical, subtle design. The second thing I noticed is that the camera body surface is very smooth, making it bit difficult to firmly grip. Just a small rubberized grip or coating would have gone a long way in addressing this issue.

The Panasonic ZS100 will easily fit into a jacket pocket, a small bag, or pants' pocket. It's only slightly larger than Sony's RX100 IV despite offering a lot more zoom range. While compact, the Panasonic ZS100 has a lot of buttons and allows the user to quickly access all critical settings. It is always a delicate balance with a compact camera to offer the enthusiast photographer enough control without sacrificing usability or overwhelming more casual shooters, and I think the ZS100 strikes a good balance in this regard.

Electronic viewfinder

I'm glad that the Panasonic ZS100 includes an electronic viewfinder, but it's simply too small for my taste. The 1160K-dot EVF is sharp and has good colors, but it's just too small to be all that useful with only a 0.2-inch display and a 35mm equivalent magnification of 0.46x. The EVF delivers a close to real-time image, though, and I didn't experience any strange lag or stuttering effects. An aspect of the EVF that I really liked is that you can use simultaneously with the touchscreen to move the autofocus point around. Occasionally my nose would hit the display and accidentally move the AF point, but most of the time I found the touchscreen to be really helpful. You can disable this feature, called Touch Pad AF, in the menus, however, which will deactivate the touchscreen while the EVF is active.

Display

I typically opt for a viewfinder experience, particularly when shooting at longer focal lengths, but the ZS100's 3" rear touchscreen display felt like the better option when compared to the small EVF. However, the display doesn't tilt, which is a feature I'm very used to having in a new camera at this point. Nonetheless, it's a good display that does its job well. The 1,040,000-dot resolution panel is crisp and easy to ready, and the touchscreen functionality works well for both adjusting the AF point and navigating the menus.

Built-in lens

The built-in 10x optical zoom lens is what sets the Panasonic ZS100 apart from some of its compact competitors. The Leica-branded DC Vario-Elmarit lens includes twelve elements in ten groups. Five of the elements are aspherical and there are a total of nine aspherical surfaces inside the lens. The actual focal length of the lens is 9.1-91mm, and its maximum aperture range is f/2.8 at the wide end to f/5.9 at the telephoto end. When macro focusing, the lens can close-focus to 5cm at the wide angle.

The lens performs best in-between its two extremes. At both the wide and telephoto ends of the lens, corner sharpness drops off dramatically, particularly when shooting wide open. Stopping down can help some at the wide end, but at the telephoto end stopping down leads to diffraction-related softness. In the center of the frame, the lens is reasonably sharp across most focal lengths. However, at the telephoto end of the lens, particularly at 250mm, there is a bit of softness even in the center of the frame.

Panasonic ZS100: Lens Test at 250mm equivalent, f/6.3
250mm equivalent (91mm actual), f/6.3, 1/1000s, ISO 125 Click for full-size image.
Left edge	Center

Optical aberrations are mostly kept in-check with in-camera processing, but I still found some chromatic aberration at all focal lengths, particularly in the corners. It is clear that there have been some compromises made in order to get a 25-250mm-equivalent lens fit over a 1"-type sensor without making the lens itself too large.

Overall, I found that the built-in lens provides decent performance, but nothing spectacular and certainly not without its share of issues. If you're hoping to get great results all the way up to 250mm with the Panasonic ZS100, I expect that you might be disappointed.

Panasonic ZS100's 20.1MP 1"-type sensor delivers solid results

The Panasonic ZS100 packs a 1"-type CMOS sensor, which is relatively large for the camera's overall size, putting it up against the likes of the Sony RX100 IV and Canon G5X. In fact, all three of these cameras use a 20.1-megapixel 1"-type sensor.

Image quality overall is pretty impressive for the ZS100. Images can get a bit noisy at higher ISOs and the in-camera noise reduction is quite aggressive on JPEG files (more on that later), but images look really nice at lower ISOs. RAW files allow for a lot of adjustments to exposure as well, as you can see below.

On the left is an edited RAW file captured at ISO 125 with exposure increased by 1.85 EV during post-processing. On the right is a resized JPEG file straight from the camera. Click for full-size original image. You can also see the full-size edited RAW image here.

100% crop of the edited RAW file above. You can see that the exposure adjustment introduced some visible noise to the image, particularly in the shadow areas, but it isn't excessive. Click for original image.

Panasonic ZS100: Enjoyable user experience & good performance

With its compact form factor and good array of controls, using the Panasonic ZS100 is a mostly enjoyable experience. Despite having many controls, some of the buttons, such as those on the rear of the camera, are a bit too small and are quite recessed, making them difficult to press I found.

The camera's menu system is generally well-organized and works well with the touchscreen. Navigating the menus using just buttons can be fairly time-consuming, as there are a lot of options to cycle through, but it's certainly a decent menu system all things considered. The Panasonic ZS100 offers a lot of customization with four dedicated function buttons. In addition to these customizable buttons, the ZS100's touchscreen also has five customizable slots to accommodate your most-used settings.

250mm equivalent (91mm actual), f/8.0, 1/15s, ISO 125. On the left is a 100% crop of an image shot at 250mm equivalent with a shutter speed of 1/15s and image stabilization enabled. On the right is a 100% crop of an image with the same settings and image stabilization turned off. Click here for the full-res IS-On photo, or here for the IS-Off photo.

Speed and performance

The Panasonic ZS100 is a fast camera that offers good performance for its class. Considering its long, compact lens, the camera powers up quickly and autofocuses quickly. Its cycling times were very good too, although if you press the shutter too soon after capturing an image, the camera won't take the shot and you'll need to press the shutter again.

When recording best-quality JPEG files at continuous high drive mode, the ZS100 can capture over 80 frames at 9.9 frames per second and clear the buffer in 6 seconds. The same drive mode with RAW images captures much fewer frames, only 14, and then clears the buffer in 9 seconds. Shooting both RAW and JPEG files knocks a couple of frames off the total and brings the buffer clearing to 15 seconds while maintaining very similar shooting speeds.

In addition to these full-resolution options, you can also record 5-megapixel JPEG images at 50 fps for 60 frames in Super HS mode. By utilizing the Panasonic ZS100's 4K Photo mode, you can capture 8-megapixel "4K" images at up to 30fps. As is always the case, shooting speeds and buffer times depend on the memory card used, so your own results may vary. With that said, the ZS100 is a fast camera that offers really good performance. I wish that the RAW buffer was a bit larger, but its RAW capture speeds are still impressive.

Metering

The Panasonic ZS100 offers your standard assortment of metering modes: intelligent multi, center, and spot. They all work as expected and deliver consistently good results. Exposure compensation is available by pressing up on the directional pad on the rear of the camera and provides up to 5 EVs of exposure compensation.

As with exposure metering, white balance metering works well too. Images can sometimes be a bit too cool for my taste with automatic white balance, particularly in bright sunlight, but it provides good results in many situations. White balance is certainly an area where personal preference matters, so some photographers may like the automatic white balance option across all situations.

Shooting Modes

This compact camera works well in its fully-automatic setting, but it also provides an enthusiast photographer with plenty of modes and controls to dictate their shooting experience. On the camera's mode dial, you'll find the standard P, A, S, and M exposure modes in addition to intelligent automatic, movie, programmable, panorama, scene, and expressive modes. The scene and expressive modes work well if you're looking to add some flair to your images in-camera. The sweep panorama mode works well enough, but the resulting image isn't full-resolution. Horizontal panoramas are 1,920 pixels tall for Standard mode; 960px tall for Wide mode, while vertically recorded panoramas have a 2560px vertical resolution for Standard; 1280px for Wide. When shooting in manual mode, the control ring around the lens really comes in handy. By default, the control ring controls aperture while the command dial on the top deck of the camera controls shutter speed.

Panasonic ZS100's AF is vast and capable for most situations

Autofocus performance with the Panasonic ZS100 is quite good overall, with a variety of different AF area modes to suit your shooting situations. The fully-automatic 49-area autofocus mode works well, particularly when your subject contrasts its surroundings and fills a good portion of the frame. When your subject is on the smaller side, you're better off using 1-area autofocus. 1-area autofocus works really nicely with the ZS100's touchscreen display. Even when you're using the EVF, you can use a finger to move the autofocus point around the frame. This is by far the fastest and most consistent way to move the AF point around the frame. Further, by rotating the command dial on the top of the camera, you can change the size of the AF area. I did find that focusing on relatively small subjects posed a challenge to the ZS100 as it doesn't seem to have enough points to really zero in on fine details in the frame, such as a bird's eye.

The contrast-detect autofocus system with Depth From Defocus technology is quite fast, particularly in good light. However, even in dim light, the AF system performs pretty well. The Panasonic ZS100 features Starlight AF, which works as advertised, allowing you to autofocus on bright stars in the night sky.

When manual focus is desired, the Panasonic ZS100 offers up a few helpful manual focus features. After pressing left on the directional pad on the rear of the camera, you can select manual focus. You can then adjust the focus using the ring around the lens. When you rotate the ring, the camera magnifies in on a selected area of the frame. In addition to the magnify feature, there is also focus peaking, which is very helpful.

Acceptable in low light, but excessive sharpening at higher ISOs

With a 20.1-megapixel 1"-type sensor, you might expect decent high ISO performance from the Panasonic ZS100, and that's mostly the case. The native ISO range of the ZS100 is 125-12,800, although you can extend it to 80-25,600. JPEG files look okay up to ISO 3200, although you can see a fair bit of noise and fine details are a little soft. At ISO 800, I would consider a JPEG file to be of good quality. The in-camera noise reduction is decent; it doesn't rob an image of fine details. However, I found the in-camera sharpening applied to JPEG files to be excessive, which can make the noisy areas look quite rough.

Panasonic ZS100 Noise Comparison 100% Center Crops from JPEG images (Click images for full-size files).
ISO 125 Full Scene
ISO 125	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 800
ISO 1600	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 12800

Naturally, RAW files show a lot more noise, but they do give you control over how the noise is reduced in the image during post-processing. At ISO 800, shadow areas are quite noisy, and there's a decent amount of visible noise across the entire image. At ISO 3200, RAW files look very noisy. ISO 6400 and 12,800 are beyond salvaging, in my opinion, unless you wanted to use the file for something on the web.

The Panasonic ZS100 has a built-in flash that pops up via a mechanical switch on the rear of the camera. The range of the flash with auto ISO is 0.6-8.0 meters at 25mm and 0.7-3.8 meters at 250mm due to the change in maximum aperture. The flash works okay, and it'll have to do because there's no external flash connection or hot shoe.

Overall, I was decently impressed with the Panasonic ZS100's image quality at higher ISOs. The default noise reduction works well for JPEG files, but the default sharpening brings out the worst in the images. RAW images look decent at high ISOs, but they do go downhill quickly.

Panasonic ZS100 packs a ton of 4K modes for photos & video

Recent Panasonic cameras have been focusing heavily on 4K Photo features and 4K video capabilities and the ZS100 is no exception. The Panasonic ZS100 can record 4K video at up to 30fps and comes with a variety of interesting 4K Photo and video features, including capturing 4K Photos (8-megapixel images) at 30fps and 4K post-focus, which allows you to capture an array of images at different focal planes.

4K video performance is quite good overall. Continuous autofocus works well and you can tap on the display to change the focus point while the camera is recording. Changes in exposure are handled well too.

The ZS100 includes a very interesting feature called 4K Live Cropping. Here, you can actively change the zoom and crop area while recording 1080p video -- think of it like an in-camera "Ken Burns Effect." It works well and is something you would typically have to do on a computer during post-processing. When you want to use Live Cropping, you set the camera to record either 20 or 40 seconds of video (although you can stop recording before the limit is reached if you'd like) and then select a cropped frame size and location for starting and end points. During video recording the camera will then automatically adjust zoom (cropping) and re-framing automatically.

In addition to 4K video, you can also record 1080p video at up to 120fps. 1080p video obviously doesn't look nearly as sharp or as crisp as 4K video, but the ability to shoot at higher speeds can be useful in certain situations. In addition, 1080p video recording also allows you to utilize the ZS100's auto-level feature, which automatically levels the frame during recording (although this cannot be used while recording high-speed video).

4K Photo offers a variety of different shooting modes, including a handful of different burst modes and post-focus features. The foundation of 4K Photo is that you're capturing 8-megapixel still frames from 4K video recorded at 30fps. While 8 megapixels might not sound like a lot in this day and age, it's still plenty of resolution for many applications and is well-suited for photographing action.

Overall, the Panasonic ZS100 offers some really neat video modes and solid performance. The video menus can be a bit confusing at first and the video record button is small and very recessed, but the ability to silently move the AF area around the display while recording and the suite of interesting features make the ZS100 a great compact multimedia camera.

Panasonic ZS100's Wi-Fi features are robust, but no NFC

Panasonic's Image App is quite nice and rather feature-filled and supports both remote shutter release for photos as well as starting and stopping video recording. Connecting the ZS100 over Wi-Fi (it doesn't have NFC capabilities) is quite simple and quick. Once connected, the application on my iOS device offered me a lot of control over the camera, although I couldn't change the shooting mode remotely. Unlike some other wireless apps, however, the Panasonic app does respond to changes made on the camera itself, so you don't need to reset the connection when you want to change the shooting mode, you only need to change it on the camera itself.

The application gives you many options and settings to choose from, including AF mode, drive mode, picture style, and much more, including exposure adjusts like aperture and shutter speed when applicable. Tap-to-focus functionality is intuitive and responsive, and I never experienced any noticeable lag. Live view quality is quite good, as well. Overall, it's one of the more impressive, full-featured remote shooting apps that I've used.

Panasonic Image application screenshots

Panasonic ZS100 Field Test Summary

What I like:

• Compact body with a 10x zoom lens and built-in electronic viewfinder
• Good image quality from the 20.1-megapixel 1"-type CMOS sensor
• Touchscreen display works well
• Solid performance all-around
• Many great 4K video and photo features

What I dislike:

• Smooth and slippery finish of the camera
• While it's nice to have an EVF, it's very small
• Good lens range, but only fair optical performance, particularly at the telephoto end
• Display doesn't tilt

The Panasonic ZS100 is a decent long-zoom compact camera overall. When making a camera with a 1"-type sensor and a relatively long lens, there will be compromises made. Nonetheless, the ZS100 delivers fair performance for the money. When compared to its nearest competition, the Panasonic ZS100 offers an impressive set of features and delivers solid image and video quality.

Flash

Panasonic ZS100 Flash

Built-in Flash Test Results

Coverage, Exposure and Range
A small, weak flash with narrow coverage.

Coverage. Flash coverage was quite narrow at wide angle, leaving dim corners and edges in our flash coverage test image, though that's fairly typical of the type. We no longer test flash coverage at telephoto, as it is invariably better, making wide angle the worst case scenario.

Exposure. Our Indoor Portrait test scene came out well-exposed with +0.7 EV of flash exposure compensation, but the camera boosted ISO to 1000 and because not much light was emitted, the image is quite warm and orange from the ambient tungsten lighting.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
Telephoto
12.5 feet ISO 2500, f/5.9

Manufacturer Specified Flash Range Test. The Panasonic ZS100's flash range is rated at 8m or 26.2 feet at wide angle, and 3.8m or 12.5 feet at telephoto, with ISO sensitivity set to Auto. As you can see from the test shot at full telephoto above, the Panasonic ZS100 produced a well-exposed flash target at the rated 12.5 feet, though it boosted ISO to 2500 to achieve that result. We shoot this test shot using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.

Conclusion

The Panasonic ZS100 is the first ZS-series camera that uses a 1-inch sensor, which puts the ZS100 up against some very stiff competition in the premium compact camera market. Panasonic has produced a nice camera that stands up well against its peers and offers a distinct blend of camera size, sensor size and zoom range.

The Panasonic ZS100 handles well, although it's a bit slippery

Despite packing a 10x zoom lens, built-in viewfinder and 1"-type CMOS sensor, the ZS100 maintains a relatively compact form factor. A bit larger than its Sony RX100-series competition, the Panasonic ZS100 is not the absolute sleekest compact camera, but it's still fits quite easily into a pants or jacket pocket.

An aspect of the camera body that we did not care for is the smooth surface of the camera body, which we found to be a bit slippery. A little bit of grip material or coating around the handgrip area would go a long way. Buttons don't feel particularly good either, but the camera does offer a lot of controls and dials.

Panasonic ZS100 offers good user experience, strong performance

The ZS100 provides a good overall user experience. Of particular interest, despite some disappointing performance at the longer end, is the Leica-branded DC Vario-Elmarit 25-250mm equivalent f/2.8-5.9 lens. This 10x optical zoom lens provides a lot of versatility, dramatically more than you get from the 2.92x zoom ratio lens found in the Sony RX100 IV, for example. It actually offers more zoom than you would find in the larger Sony RX10 II as well.

An unfortunate side-effect of packing a 10x zoom into a compact lens barrel is that it isn't a fast lens at the telephoto end. Maximum aperture starts at f/2.8, which is nice, but quickly drops down to f/4.1 by 50mm equivalent focal length and to f/5.6 by 123mm. From 160 to 250mm, the maximum aperture is f/5.9, which is quite dim for all but the best light. Further, when shooting at 250mm, the lens is a bit soft across the entire frame.

A nice feature of the ZS100 is its included electronic viewfinder. Unfortunately, we weren't overly impressed with the viewfinder's small 0.2-inch size, but it's handy to have nonetheless. It is quite sharp, too, with 1,160K dots of resolution, and it provides 100% field of view coverage.

Instead of using the small EVF, you can use the camera's fixed 3-inch touchscreen display. The touchscreen proved to work very well out in the field, but full articulation or even a tilting display would have been nice.

Being a premium compact camera, the Panasonic ZS100 needs to be able to not only perform well for enthusiast photographers, but also for those who wish to use the camera in fully automatic modes. The camera's intelligent multiple, center-weighted and spot metering options all work well in a wide variety of conditions.

20.1-megapixel 1"-type sensor delivers good results

Similarly, the camera's 1"-type 20.1-megapixel CMOS sensor captures solid images that are slightly soft straight from the camera due to conservative in-camera sharpening and the somewhat soft lens. However, detail is still good for this class of camera.

For a travel zoom camera, the ZS100 offers impressive high ISO performance. Its relatively large 1"-type sensor (compared to the 1/2.3" sensor found in the ZS100's little sibling, the ZS60) helps it maintain acceptable image quality up through ISO 1600. At ISO 3200, the sensor is reaching its limit, and noise reduction removes a lot of fine detail in the image. ISO 6400, 12800 and 25600 all produce poor images overall. Nonetheless, considering its performance at ISO 1600, this is an impressive travel-friendly pocket camera.

ZS100's autofocus is fast and reliable

Autofocus performance is pretty good with the ZS100. We found that it was reliable and consistent, albeit not sophisticated or great at tracking moving subjects. We did find that single-shot autofocus performance was very fast, particularly for a camera which utilizes only contrast detect autofocus.

Its 49-point autofocus system works well with 1-area autofocus and the touchscreen. Moving the autofocus point around the display is simple and intuitive. Likewise, you can move the auto exposure area across the display as well.

Technical performance is very good for its class

The Panasonic ZS100 can record JPEGs at nearly 10 frames per second and can record RAW images at roughly 9.5fps. These impressive speeds are with autofocus locked, however. With full continuous autofocus enabled, the ZS100 slows down to 5fps. Continuous JPEG bursts clear in six seconds and continuous RAW bursts clear in nine seconds. It is worth noting that buffer clearing and overall performance can be affected by a number of variables, including the SD card being used. In addition to the full-resolution continuous shooting modes, the ZS100 also offers a Super High Speed (HS) mode that records 5-megapixel JPEG images at 50fps for 60 frames.

Single shot times are very quick and overall performance is very good for its class. We found that nearly every aspect of its technical performance, from cycle times to autofocus speeds were impressive. The only exception to this is its somewhat disappointing battery life of 300 shots when using the LCD and 260 shots when using the EVF. These are decent results, but you'll want to invest in a second battery for any long shooting excursions.

4K features aplenty with the Panasonic ZS100

4K video as well as 4K Photo features have been a big part of Panasonic's recent cameras and the ZS100 is no exception. 4K video can be recorded at up 30fps and 1080p video at up to 120fps, and we found that the 4K video performance was quite good. The video quality and autofocus speeds were impressive, but even more impressive are the sheer variety of 4K video and 4K photo modes that are available, especially considering the camera's price and class.

The ZS100 includes 4K Live Cropping, which allows you to change the zoom and crop area of a 4K frame and output a 1080p video. 4K photo features include recording 8-megapixel (4K) images at up to 30fps and 4K post-focus. 4K post-focus allows you to record a burst of images, all with different focus points, to essentially select the autofocus point after capture.

The ZS100 marks a good entry into the compact travel zoom market

The Panasonic ZS100 combines a 1"-type sensor and 10x optical zoom to create a very compelling compact travel zoom camera. You can find cameras that are more compact, cameras with more zoom, and cameras with more features, but you can't find any single camera in this class that checks all of the same boxes as the ZS100. Ultimately, the Panasonic ZS100 is a capable and versatile camera that has only a handful of shortcomings, and undoubtedly gets the nod for a Dave's Pick.

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