Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS15 Digital Camera Review

Updated: April 7, 2012

While it doesn’t have the biggest zoom or the most Megapixels, the Lumix ZS15 still manages to be one of the best compact ultra zooms on the market.

4 stars
(4 out of 5)

The DMC-ZS15 offers a nice zoom lens in a compact body, along with robust performance, very good photo quality, tons of features, and Full HD video recording. And, with an average price in the $260 range, it’s also a pretty good bargain. For those who were considering the DMC-ZS20 but were turned off by its image quality, I think the ZS15 is well worth sacrificing the 20X zoom, GPS, and 1080/60p movies for. And, if you compare it to other compact ultra zooms out there, the ZS15 will come out on top (or darn close).

Read full review @ Digital Camera Resource Page

Pros

Very good photo quality
Packs a high quality 16X (24 – 384 mm) zoom lens into a small package
Power OIS image stabilization, with active mode for movies
3-inch LCD offers good outdoor/low light visibility
Good selection of manual controls
Intelligent Auto mode does it all for you, including scene selection, face detection, blur reduction, shadow brightening, and smart sharpening
Robust performance, especially focusing and shot-to-shot speeds
Tons of scene modes and special effects
Intelligent Resolution improves sharpness
New HDR feature noticeably improves contrast, doesn’t require a tripod
Fast burst mode (though see cons)
Records Full HD video at 1080/60i with use of optical zoom and continuous autofocus, choice of AVCHD or MPEG-4 codecs
Optional underwater case

Cons

Occasional highlight clipping
Redeye a problem — no removal tool in playback mode
Photos taken in artificial light tend to have a yellow/brown color cast
LCD seems a bit blurry (on my camera, at least)
No RAW, manual focus, or WB bracketing support — smallest available aperture is F6.3
Buffer fills quickly in burst mode
Monaural sound recording
Slow internal battery charging system
Flimsy door over memory card/battery compartment — can’t access memory card while camera is on a tripod
Full manual on CD-ROM