Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 review

The move from a 20x zoom in the TZ40 to a 30x zoom here sounds like a big upgrade, but it’s only worthwhile if the lens can deliver sharp focus. We weren’t blown away by the crispness of details in telephoto shots, but the results were far from poor. Limitations appeared to be more down to noise from the 18-megapixel sensor, which meant that the camera struggled to distinguish between noise and fine details. However, the TZ60 had no problem resolving greater detail in distant subjects compared to the 18x zoom Canon SX600 HS. There was some evidence of chromatic aberrations on high-contrast lines, but it wasn’t particularly noticeable in most shots.

Sharpness in this photo at the full zoom extension is pretty good. More detail is lost due to noise reduction than from a lack of focus

The discoloured lines on the edges of the swans’ necks are chromatic aberrations, but they’re far from intrusive

The camera often picked surprisingly slow shutter speeds for telephoto shots, but we were impressed by how reliably its optical stabilisation performed. Automatic settings responded intelligently to moving subjects, raising the shutter speed as necessary to avoid motion blur. Priority and manual exposure modes are available too for those who want full control.

A 1/60s shutter speed is surprisingly slow considering the 720mm (equivalent) focal length, but the optical stabilisation has kept the image reasonably sharp. Noise isn’t too intrusive at ISO 800 (especially in the processed RAW image). Faster shutter and ISO speeds would have produced much more noise

The extra zoom is welcome, but for us, a more significant change is the introduction of RAW capture. Lightroom 5 doesn’t yet support the TZ60’s RAW files as we go to press, but we were able to process them in Photoshop CC (using Adobe Camera Raw 8.4 release candidate). The results were consistently better than the JPEGs, with less noise, smoother, crisper details and the ability to rein in chromatic aberrations. Processing RAW images takes a certain amount of effort, but we’d happily shoot JPEGs for casual snaps and switch to RAW when the situation demanded it.

Shooting RAW produces more natural skin textures with better handling of highlights

Noise is a problem in shadier parts of the image even at ISO 100, but RAW mode provides a practical workaround. The camera has done well to ignore the strong backlight and expose for the face

RAW mode has helped us get rid of these chromatic aberrations, and produce much cleaner textures in the dark feathers

JPEGs are looking quite messy for indoor shots at ISO 1600, but results from the RAW file are once again much better

As with the TZ40 before it, the TZ60 is greater than the sum of its parts. In many respects it’s good rather than excellent, but the fact that it’s never less than good makes it a dependable all-rounder. For us, pocket ultra-zoom cameras are all about versatility and dependable results, and that’s exactly what this one delivers. It’s not cheap, though, at almost twice the price of the Canon PowerShot SX280 HS. The Canon comes top for image quality and remains our top choice, but the TZ60 isn’t far behind.