Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 14 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5.5Mb.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 produced images of good quality during the review period. The 1/2.33 inch, 14 megapixel MOS sensor used in the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 produces noise-free images at ISO 100-200, with limited noise and colour desaturation starting to appear at ISO 400. ISO 800 exhibits quite visible noise, smearing of fine detail and colour desaturation, and ISO 1600 is even noisier, although still usable for small prints.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 dealt very well with chromatic aberrations, with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. The pop-up flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and adequate exposure. The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 60 seconds allowing you to capture plenty of light. Anti-shake is a feature that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range.

Macro performance is very goodg, allowing you to focus as close as 3cms away from the subject. The images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting and ideally require further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting if you don't like the default results. The Intelligent Resolution feature either makes a standard image look sharper, albeit with some unwanted artefacts appearing, or it digitally increases the 16x optical zoom to 21x, again with a slight loss in quality.

Noise

There are 5 ISO settings available on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.

ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% Crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can change the in-camera sharpening level via the Picture Adjust menu option.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20's 16x zoom lens provides a versatile focal length of 24-384mm in 35mm terms, as demonstrated below.

24mm	384mm

File Quality

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

14M Fine (4.9Mb) (100% Crop)	14M Normal (2.8Mb) (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 handled chromatic aberrations excellently during the review, with very limited purple fringing present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.

Example 1 (100% Crop)	Example 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 3cms away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot	100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 are Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Forced Off - Wide Angle (25mm)	Forced On - Wide Angle (25mm)
Forced Off - Telephoto (300mm)	Forced On - Telephoto (300mm)

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On or the Auto/Red-eye Reduction settings caused any red-eye.

Forced On	Forced On (100% Crop)
Auto/Red-eye Reduction	Auto/Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20's maximum shutter speed is 60 seconds, which is great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like. The camera takes the same amount of time again to apply noise reduction, so for example at the 15 second setting the actual exposure takes 30 seconds.

Night Shot	Night Shot (100% Crop)

Anti Shake

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here are some 100% crops of the images to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length	Anti Shake Off (100% Crop)	Anti Shake On (100% Crop)
1/5 sec / 25mm
1/4 sec / 150mm

Intelligent Resolution

The Intelligent Resolution feature either makes a standard image look like a higher resolution one by processing the contour areas, texture areas and smooth areas individually, or it digitally boosts the zoom magnification from 16x to 21x.

Resolution - Off	Resolution - On
Zoom - Off	Zoom - On

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 camera, which were all taken using the 14 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera / Lens Extended

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Quick Menu

Rear of the Camera / Touchscreen

Rear of the Camera / Touchscreen

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

In the face of some tough competition, Panasonic have introduced a number of key features to their flagship travel-zoom camera to try and keep it ahead of the pack. The TZ20 notably offers a bigger 16x zoom, faster continuous shooting, full 1080i HD movies, a touchscreen LCD, 3D Photo Mode and faster auto-focus system, all at the same launch price as last year's TZ10 model. Only that rather high price tag and the good rather than excellent image quality prevent us from recommending the TZ20 even more highly.

In addition the TZ20 retains the creative A, S and M shooting modes, improved hand-holding Intelligent Auto mode, GPS tracking, effective anti-shake system, high-resolution screen and proven handling of its predecessor. All of this together with the new headline features adds up to a very full-featured camera that's also importantly intuitive to use for both beginners and more experienced photographers alike, a particularly difficult trick to pull off.

There is one key area where the Panasonic DMC-TZ20 sadly doesn't improve on its rivals or its predecessor, namely the poorer image quality once you venture above ISO 400. Noise is apparent at ISO 400 but becomes much more obvious at ISO 800 along with excessive smearing of finer details, with the fastest speed of ISO 1600 being something of a last resort. Although this is a similar performance to the year-old TZ10, we'd hoped for some improvements in this area.

Despite this and the £349 / £399 price, the DMC-TZ20 offers an even more compelling combination of size, features, image quality and handling than the TZ10. The ability to shoot good quality still images at up to 10fps and full HD video with the use of an ultra-wide and long telephoto zoom lens, all from a camera that you can easily fit in a pocket, goes a long way to justifying its cost. For a lot of people, the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 could be the only camera that you ever need.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	5
Ease-of-use	5
Image quality	4
Value for money	4

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Reviews of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 from around the web.

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