Panasonic Lumix ZS50 Camera, Black

I've been looking for a good quality point-and-shoot light-weight camera that fits in my pocket, has a long zoom, has a good viewfinder, one that travels easily, and not too costly. Turns out there aren't many choices that fit all these criteria. I enjoy photography, am a highly experienced photographer although not a pro, and have a really good camera with interchangeable lenses, etc. which I use when I want to get top quality pics and need to have a lot of control over focus, depth of field, mounted flash, etc. However, when traveling by air, hauling all that equipment around, taking up space in carry-on luggage, etc. tends to make me leave the really good camera at home. With pocket cameras I've used, I really miss having a viewfinder. I find them awkward to hold steady, and difficult to see on the backside LCD panel exactly what I'm getting in bright light or when I need to follow and catch fast moving objects (e.g., flying birds), particularly when the zoom is extended. I've been frustrated when I can't get the pics I want with those pocket cameras. So I went out on a limb, spent a little more than I had intended, and got the new Panasonic Lumix ZS50, which I preordered. I seldom buy new models of anything when they first come out, so for me this was a bit of a gamble. However, I have been pleasantly surprised so far with this little camera. It has an amazing feature set for something that really does fit in my pocket, has a good viewfinder and plenty of zoom. I have not given it a true test yet, taking thousands of pics under a wide range of lighting and distance conditions, so I will have to report back later. What I like so far: - camera takes good pictures in the auto mode under most conditions - viewfinder works well in bright light conditions, and switches on automatically when you hold it up to your eye - zoom and focusing are relatively quick and quiet - the steady shot feature works well, especially in shooting video - flexibility and control in non-auto modes (e.g., program mode when I want more control over depth of field, etc.) - several different focusing and exposure methods - ability to save images in RAW format as well as JPEG - the right hand grip feels fairly secure for such a small camera What I don't like so far: - viewfinder is off-center when holding the camera, compared with what I'm used to with larger cameras, so I can't grip it as securely with my left hand (because my nose is in the way) BUT I love having that viewfinder anyway! - lots of MODES in the menu system for settings (I eventually found that I needed to switch to program mode in order to find settings I was looking for, e.g., to save pics in RAW format, change focusing methods). Can be confusing at times, a bit of a learning curve. - the LCD display sometimes suddenly turns off and then back on, which had me baffled initially when playing back pics. Turns out I had moved a finger too close the the viewfinder, which fooled the camera into auto-switching to the viewfinder. - when taking flash pictures, it's too easy to partially block the flash somewhat on the right side, which casts a shadow--just something I'll need to get used to by gripping a little differently on the right side (I've had this problem with other pocket cameras that don't have pop-up flashes). Works fine when I move my fingers down on the right-side grip a little. - when doing the wi-fi setup, I could not enter user names or passwords that had spaces in them--I am stumped on this, and cannot understand why Panasonic would not allow selection of the 'space' character!!! - wi-fi will not transfer pics in RAW format, so have to use cable or take out memory card and plug into my computer--again, why? Granted 15 Mb per pic will take a lot longer to transfer than smaller JPEGs. - cannot charge battery outside of camera and must use Panasonic's cable - not sure yet whether 12 megapixel sensor will be enough resolution for severely cropped pics, printed at 8x10 in. or larger All in all, this is hands-down the best pocket camera I've owned and used. Why not 5 stars? I'll need to really give it the "road" test by taking thousands of pics under a wide range of conditions. Haven't had time to do this yet, and plan to edit this review later when I have. Added Comments: April 26, 2015 I've changed my rating to 5 stars now, after taking several hundred pictures under varying conditions. Here are my further observations: - Indoor pictures with flash turn out fairly well. There are still sharp background shadows from objects illuminated by the flash, but that is to be expected with a direct flash (compared to one with indirect lighting, e.g., by bouncing light off the ceiling). - outdoor pictures are quite good on the whole. The 30x zoom certainly provides some additional flexibility, and I have not had issues with camera shake when the zoom is extended. - the one very challenging condition I was somewhat disappointed with was photographing fast flying pelicans at a distance on a very windy, overcast day. Many of the photos of the birds were taken at distances of several hundred yards up to half a mile, using the zoom extended out to 30x. I WAS able to track the birds relatively easily using the viewfinder. When later viewing the images with significant cropping on a flat screen HDTV, clarity of the images left something to be desired--a bit fuzzy on the edges of the birds against the cloudy sky. This is a very challenging set of circumstances--even with a good DSLR camera with a long telephoto lens, it would be challenging to get high quality pics. All in all, the Panasonic ZS50 did a remarkable job, considering the distance involved, with background of a cloudy sky, the speed of the flying flock of birds, and the fast panning required. The severely cropped images of the high flying birds still allowed my wife to identify them as white pelicans by comparing with pictures in her bird book. - I took some pics of blossoms and flowers with the camera just a few inches away, using the close-up focus setting on a sunny and very windy day. These came out exceptionally well. I was very pleased with the results. The pictures were quite stunning on a flat screen TV. All in all, I am quite impressed with this pocket camera, and enjoy taking pictures with it, since it is so light, has a decent viewfinder, and takes good photos. I use the Program mode mostly, rather than the Auto mode. Of course, I can get great pics with my really good camera, but I've invested roughly 4x as much for the body, lenses and external flash unit. On the other hand, this Panasonic ZS50 fits in my pocket, is easy to use, and costs a lot less.

For some perspective: I shoot photos professionally, with micro four thirds cameras and pretty high quality lenses. I have a lot of experience shooting in low-light settings. I planned to attend a concert at which no "professional" cameras were allowed. I have smuggled my good camera into similar venues - it's not fun, but i get good shots, and I see nothing ethically wrong with this given that photos are allowed (cell phones all over the place); one venue once thanked me on Facebook for sharing my photos, and I pointed out that they were only possible because I had ignored their ban on "detachable lens cameras." However, my upcoming concert was a bucket-list concert for me; I did not want to risk ejection, and I wanted to be sure to get photos. Various online reviews of point-and-shoot (i.e., non-professional) cameras good for low-light setting (even with stage lighting, concerts are typically not well lighted) suggested that this camera was a good one. Its zoom range is impressive, it has a viewfinder that provides a good image, and it can be used in various modes, including fully manual, which is important to me. I bought it. The low-light performance was disappointing to me. Maximum ISO is 6400. This setting produced very noisy images, with some yellow discoloration in shadows. My MFT cameras can get much higher quality images at an ISO of 10,000, and can shoot even higher if I am willing to accept a lot of noise. I prefer to shoot raw, and eliminate noise in post-processing. With my ISO 6400 shots from the concert the jpeg produced by the camera had better noise reduction than I could achieve by processing the raw file -- the camera's algorithm did a good job of noise reduction. However, this algorithm eliminated detail--it's not unusual to sacrifice detail to reduce noise, but this was a big loss of detail. I present several images, all labeled. All were uploaded as 800x640 jpegs. The jpeg straight from the camera does not look bad, until you examine an enlargement -- the loss of detail is apparent. The raw straight out of the camera (of course processed somewhat as all raw images must be in order to be seen; I use Raw Therapee) shows that more detail was captured, but you can also see the noise. i present two additional images - a raw processed to reduce noise to a tolerable(?) level and yet still retain detail, and the same image converted to black/white, which many people view as more appealing when there is noise. The yellow discoloration is apparent in all of the color images; I find it quite unpleasant. You be the judge. In fairness to the camera, i did not expect its images to match the quality of those produced by my MFT. The Lumix's cost is about 1/8 the cost of the camera and lens combination that i would have selected to shoot this concert. For a point-and-shoot it created passable images in this challenging setting, and in normal daylight settings its images are quite nice. Its zoom worked very well, with the image stabilization doing what it needed to do (this image was shot at ISO 6400, 1/160 sec, f/5.6, with the lens zoomed to 47.5 mm - approximately a 267mm 35mm-equivalent with the ZS50's 5.62 crop factor). As some others have noted, the viewfinder is at the upper left corner of the camera (seen from the rear) which seems like it's the wrong place - I expect it to be centered over the lens - but you'll get used to it. In summary, it's a nice camera - I like the viewfinder, the zoom range, and the image stabilization. Compared to a much more expensive camera its low-light setting was not great, but it did its job.

La cámara es práctica y pequeña, manejable y con múltiples funciones. la función de wifi es un poco complicada de comprender pero es muy útil el contar con ella

3 meses después de que lo compré presenta una falla. La cámara es prácticamente nueva con uso súper cuidado... el único centro de servicio Panasonic me dice que no la puede arreglar porque no la compré en un establecimiento en México... NO la recomiendo.

Has no one else had problems with all their photos turning out with an odd blue tinge to them? Below to the left is a picture taken with this camera's 'intelligent auto' setting, while the picture on the right was made using my old point and shoot, without any color corrections made by the camera. The colors on the right are much truer to life. I'd have been really upset to have bought this camera for a special trip, only to find out that all my pictures wound up ruined by the overzealous 'auto-correct' program. I think the problem only happens in scenes with lots of orange in front of a blue sky. But why get a camera that only works 3 out of 4 seasons. Surely there's others on the market that work 365 days a year.

a very good camera.what i like is i can easily transfer the pictures on my phone and post it on social media.

. Le flash est très mal placé! Lorsque vous tenez l'appareil dans votre main droite, votre index recouvre le flash. Mal pensé pour une compagnie qui fait normalement d'excellents produits . The flash is placed directly in the front of your finger when taking a picture