Panasonic Lumix TZ99 Review | Photography Weblog

Ease of Use

The new TZ99 has primarily been launched to adjust to current EU regulation that stipulates that each one new digital units have to incorporate USB-C charging so as to assist lower down on the variety of completely different chargers/cables and due to this fact cut back wastage.

This is mostly factor for the TZ99, which now affords quicker charging instances than earlier fashions and the advantage of being appropriate with available cables that may be shared between units.

On the draw back, the identical EU regulation additionally mandates that chargers shouldn’t be included as customary with new cameras, so when you do need to cost the battery by way of the DMW-BTC12 battery charger, you’ll need to buy it individually.

On the entire, the current drive to make all units incorporate USB Type-C charging, the TZ99 included, can solely be factor environmentally, though having to cost the battery in-camera is clearly much less handy than utilizing a devoted charger.

In addition to USB-C charging, or fairly in subtraction, the opposite major change to this new model of Panasonic’s venerable travel-zoom is the elimination of the digital viewfinder that was on the earlier two fashions.

Whilst the EVF was tiny at simply 0.21-inches, dim and never that a lot enjoyable to make use of – we discovered ourselves probably not bothering with it, until notably shiny daylight made viewing topics by way of the bigger display screen in any other case difficult – it does make the TZ99 slightly trickier to make use of, particularly on the longer finish of the zoom vary the place holding the digicam as much as your eye successfully helps to stabilise it.

The lack of an EVF does arguably make extra sense for the TZ99’s major target market, although, specifically smart-phone customers who need a extra versatile focal vary and the flexibility to zoom in on faraway topics utilizing a tool that’s nonetheless pocketable.

The third change to this 2025 iteration of the TZ-series is the welcome extension of recording instances from 30 to 90 minutes for 4K video and as much as 100 minutes for 1080p high quality.

Otherwise, the TZ99 / ZS99 is an identical to its TZ95 / D predecessors, with the identical lens, picture sensor, processor, exterior design (aside from the EVF) and management structure.

So if you’ll find high quality used TZ95 or TZ95D with equipment, they are going to nonetheless provide precisely the identical picture high quality and person expertise as this new mannequin regardless of being as much as 6 years older, with the additional advantage of the EVF.

Having stated that, these earlier fashions had been very a lot in-demand second-hand, so you should still wrestle to discover a used one for lower than the total £469.99 / $699.99 asking worth of this new model.

With the lens attain beginning out at a wide-angle 24mm equal and stretching as much as 720mm on the telephoto finish, the Lumix TZ99 is actually appropriate for capturing a broad vary of photogenic topics, and specifically proves a good possibility for landscapes and cityscapes, in addition to avenue images and group portraits.

The digicam itself appears comparatively boxy and chunky when in comparison with the common cell phone it can inevitably be competing with in immediately’s market – in no small half attributable to that beneficiant 30x optical zoom, which retracts inside the physique when not in use.

The lens is encircled by a lens management ring, to which sure key settings might be pre-assigned or it extra merely offers one other technique of adjusting the zoom/your focal vary when within the clever iAuto setting.

Handily, to allow steadier capturing and the avoidance of blurred pictures, a good sized (for a digicam of this ilk) leather-effect rubberized handgrip is offered on the entrance, alongside an indented thumb relaxation on the again. This enabled us to carry the digicam fairly rock regular with simply the one hand.

Also compensating for digicam shake is Panasonic’s on-board Power OIS optical picture stabilizer. If we’ve a grumble, it’s that this isn’t maybe a digicam for capturing in very low mild, particularly if handheld, as we found on our travels, whereby the consequences of digicam shake are apparent regardless of the OIS.

The proven fact that the ISO vary tops out at a modest selectable ISO3200 at the very least implies that the worst results of picture noise are prevented – we’d advise capturing as much as ISO1600, nevertheless and leaving it at that, if you wish to keep away from a noticeable softening and degradation of the picture totally. Twenty megapixels is rather a lot to cram onto a 1/2.3-inch sensor – it’s in all probability essentially the most you’d need to – so inevitably one thing has to provide.

The different options to be discovered on the Panasonic Lumix TZ99’s faceplate are a slim window housing the flash that sits slightly below the Lumix brand. Unfortunately the flash is ready the place your forefinger can very simply obscure it when gripping the digicam with the best hand – in order that’s one thing you want to concentrate on, particularly when handing the digicam to another person to take your image, as nicely one would possibly when travelling. Nestled subsequent to the lens in the meantime, the place it’s out of the way in which of stray fingertips, is a well-recognized AF help /self timer lamp.

From the entrance of this Lumix then, the aforementioned zoom lens dominates proceedings, providing as much as that beneficiant 720mm equal attain on the telephoto finish. In operation it takes round 3-4 seconds for the lens to glide from most wideangle to excessive telephoto, accompanied by an unobtrusively low mechanical buzz.

Although image element inevitably softens at most zoom, the outcomes are nonetheless loads sharp sufficient for it to show a helpful asset.

It goes with out saying that the digicam is responsive sufficient to keep away from your consideration ever needing to wander from the topic itself, with an AF velocity given of 0.1 seconds, allied to a good most burst seize charge of 10fps in AF-S mode or 5fps in AF-C mode.

The prime plate is likewise acquainted and simple when it comes to structure and operation. The shutter launch button is raised and encircled by a lever for working the zoom, so you’ll be able to’t mistake what it’s, subsequent to that are two smaller nail-head sized buttons, flush to the bodywork. These are for turning the digicam on or off, or commencing video recording – stated operate denoted by the acquainted pink dot.

The different outstanding ‘button’ atop the Panasonic Lumix TZ95 is a capturing mode wheel, which affords simply the correct quantity of resistance and ‘give’ to keep away from nudging it by accident, but making it simple to show to a needed setting instantly.

Here we discover the acquainted likes of program, auto, shutter precedence and aperture precedence modes, together with an easy to make use of (and get pleasing outcomes from) panoramic setting. There’s additionally a customized mode, a devoted guide video mode, clever auto mode (iA mode) for pure point-and-shoot operation, the standard digital results mode (with eight choices selectable) plus scene / topic mode, the latter offering the standard pre-optimised settings to once more allow respectable outcomes from simply pointing the digicam and clicking. This mode wheel nestles subsequent to a barely raised part that homes twin microphones for recording sound.

Moving round to the Panasonic TZ95’s backplate, when it comes to composing and reviewing pictures there’s now simply the usual LCD display screen. The 1,040K-dot decision 3-inch LCD is of the flip up by 180° selection – in order that it may be used for selfies, or while you too need to slide your self into a bunch portrait – which makes itself often helpful. This is a journey digicam in spite of everything, and also you’ll undoubtedly need to report the truth that you had been there too.

The display screen is contact delicate, to a level, although as there are additionally plentiful bodily controls ranged alongside it that present a lot the identical features, we didn’t discover ourselves utilising its contact sensitivity that a lot. 

Photo fans may also love the truth that – in fact – Raw information might be captured on the TZ99 alongside, or in tandem with, JPEGs, and with none noticeable decelerate too when it comes to operational velocity in common single shot mode.

This being a Panasonic digicam, we get the inevitable 4K photograph mode to additional ease the potential for capturing the precise shot we would like by with the ability to seize an 8 megapixel nonetheless from a 30fps sequence. Otherwise the 20 megapixel most decision might be as excessive as you need from a bathroom customary 1/2.3-inch chip – and for essentially the most half, in obtainable mild, the photographs largely shine.

The different buttons on the Panasonic Lumix TZ99’s again plate type the standard mixture of operate particular controls, plus a central pad with a scroll wheel encircling it offered to supply speedier operation. We favored the truth that the show button to its decrease proper calls up the compositional assist of a spirit stage – very best for serving to to get horizons straight when capturing landscapes, even when shiny sunshine generally makes it difficult to see with certainty when the skinny horizontal offered positively illuminates in inexperienced.

Another very helpful button is offered backside left of the four-way management pad; this offers the very good shortcut of a fast menu once we’re in capturing mode (in any other case it doubles because the equally helpful delete button when in playback). Here we are able to shortly scroll by the varied important capturing choices and choose the actual one required with a finger faucet onscreen.

Choices right here embody image types – swap from customary or pure to vivid or monochrome, for instance – in addition to with the ability to choose the flash mode in use (with pink eye lowering choices offered alongside pressured flash and sluggish shutter sync), choose video high quality, or select picture side ratio (from the usual 4:3 to medium format apeing 1:1). 

Naturally, picture high quality can be chosen by way of this fast menu fairly than having to scroll by the TZ99’s major menu screens, with the flexibility to seize Fine (most) high quality JPEGS alongside uncompressed Raw information, as we did during our two-week digicam analysis interval. Auto Focus can be swapped from single shot to steady capturing, and the digicam biased in direction of both a formidable 49-area AF, topic monitoring or face and eye detection.

Ranged across the backplate’s 4 approach management pad itself are, from 12 o’clock on the dial and transferring clockwise, varied settings for adjusting publicity compensation (a beneficiant +/- 5EV), flash settings, self timer or drive mode, plus focus settings, together with auto focus, auto focus macro and guide focus, with focus peaking offered so you’ll be able to test the meant sharp portion of your picture is certainly sharp.

While at both facet of the TZ99 are situated lugs for attaching the offered wrist strap, we additionally get a built-in speaker on one flank for enjoying again audio, whereas the other facet offers mini HDMI and USB-C / CHARGE ports, protected by a plastic flap raised by way of fingernail. As beforehand talked about, there isn’t a devoted battery charger offered within the field with the digicam – fairly a USB-C lead and mains plug – which implies that the battery is charged in-camera fairly than exterior it, as tends to be increasingly the conference lately.

Battery life is a claimed 380 pictures per cost, which is truthful and lets you simply refill the SD media card in use, which additionally slots into the bottom of the TZ99, notably if capturing Raw and JPEGs in tandem.

Image Quality

All of the pattern pictures on this evaluation had been taken utilizing the 20.3 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which provides a mean picture dimension of round 7Mb.

Noise

There are 8 ISO settings obtainable on the Panasonic Lumix TZ99. Here are some 100% crops which present the noise ranges for every ISO setting for each JPEG and Raw codecs.