Panasonic Lumix TZ80 (ZS60) Pointer to the next little big thing ?

Some will tell you the TZ80 is no use indoors. But with careful management in Capture Phase of use and some post processing in Photoshop, decent results can be achieved.

What will be the most important advance in camera technology over the next few years ?

100 Megapixels on full frame ILCs ?

50 frames per second with image preview on each frame ?

ISO 500, 000 ?

I suppose we will have those capabilities thrust upon us in some expensive product which the camera makers would like us to buy as it makes them a substantial profit per unit.

This location has very high subject brightness range and mixed light sources, both challenges for any camera. But the TZ80 manages decently well. Details in the skylight have blown out but otherwise highlight and shadow detail are quite good.

But consider the most popular cameras of all time.

The Kodak Box Brownie appeared in the early years of the 20^th Century.

The smartphone arrived a hundred years later in the early years of the 21^st Century.

What do these devices have in common ?

Each brought to ordinary people the ability to make and share photographs.

The TZ80 does auto panoramas rather well as you can see here. Highlight and shadow detail is quite good as is detail and overall rendition of a scene which I chose because I knew it would present any camera with a challenge. The guy walking seems to have lost a foot. Oh well.....

I think the next big thing for cameras is the compact, carry-in-your-pocket-or-belt-pouch superzoom camera which is inexpensive, easy to use and can photograph just about anything, anywhere, anytime.

Hand held close-ups ? No problem for the TZ80, even with direct sun shining on some parts of the flowers but not others.

As the grandchildren might say, five minutes after setting out on a voyage….”are we there yet” ?

Not quite, but I believe some cameras are headed in that direction.

Consider the Panasonic TZ80 (ZS60) which I have been using quite a lot recently.

This is a budget travel zoom compact which attracts very little attention on review sites or user forums.

The TZ80 manages well close in at the long end of the zoom.

Somewhat to my surprise I have discovered this thing can make pictures which print rather well up to an actual picture size of about 400 x 550 mm, or even larger if one is a bit less fussy about absolute sharpness.

The current model of the TZ80 can only produce prints like this if handled by an enthusiast/expert user and only after careful work in Photoshop.

But the potential is there for evolutionary development which would allow less photographically sophisticated users to make excellent photos in almost any circumstance.

If sensor performance improved about 1- 2 EV and lens sharpness was upgraded to match and the hardware and software were also upgraded to support the improved image quality, you could have a compact camera which would make most other types and models of any description irrelevant for most amateur users, most of the time.

TZ80, tripod. Photographed across a surf beach. The club building in the foreground is 1.3 kilometers from the camera. You can see the effects of atmospheric distortion. Of course you can find a camera/lens combination which will render this distant scene more clearly. But, I suspect, not one you can carry in a pocket.