Hold the phone, compact cameras make return call

Looking for a new travel camera? Forget smartphones, the compact has never been stronger.

A meerkat captured with the Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens paired with a Lumix GX8. Picture: James Tindale

Looking for a new travel camera? Forget smartphones, the compact has never been stronger. Panasonic’s latest cameras put smartphone shots to shame, while adding a few very desirable new features.

Armed with two of the latest in the Lumix line, the TZ110 compact and a Leica 100-400mm lens, I recently took a trip to Dubbo’s Western Plains Zoo. A sunrise feeding tour with some of the park’s most majestic creatures provided a perfect testing ground for the camera’s new zoom and image-capture features,

The $999 TZ110 compact packs in a one-inch sensor with 10x optical zoom capability. The slim design is pleasant to use, easily pocketable and packs in a sharp digital viewfinder.

The automatic mode is a particular joy to use. Frames are captured quickly, with well-exposed results. Holding a carrot in my left hand, camera in my right and with eyes glued firmly upwards, I helped feed a giraffe breakfast. Casually pointing the camera and pressing the shutter, I expected nothing, but came away with some spectacular pictures.

A meerkat captured with the Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens paired with a Lumix GX8. Picture: James Tindale

Manual operation is also possible, but the limited physical controls supplemented with touchscreen taps makes for a difficult experience. I missed opportunities while fiddling with the dials and touching the screen, but with more practice users might find new creative options.

The real surprise is the ­addition of Panasonic’s handy 4K photo capture from the high-end Lumix lines. With the press of a button, the TZ110’s 20.1mp sensor downsizes to a 4K image with burst capability.

When pressing the shutter button, the camera captures frames from the second before and seconds after. It’s practically a short video burst, the camera allows users to select and save individual frames, meaning that shot you just missed might be salvageable. Capturing a great shot while an elephant waved at a keeper for food was easy, even though I pressed the shutter a moment too soon.

Images are selectable on the camera, which spits out a new file for any frame selected. While not an intentional feature, once transferred over to a PC, files play as video, which can yield some great results, similar to Apple’s Live Photos.

Unfortunately, capturing 4K photos takes the camera out of ­action for a few seconds while it processes the image. That might not matter when taking a picture with your kids or friends, but shooting action or wildlife scenes requires a responsive camera.

A cheetah licks its lips, captured with the Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens paired with a Lumix GX8 at Dubbo Western Plains Zoo. Picture: James Tindale

The mode is also irritating to toggle on and off, locking up for five to 10 seconds whenever toggled. In practice, the mode is quite useful when you can predict movement, such as a staged photo with friends, or capturing a bird’s flight. Selecting the perfect smile or moment of take-off is incredibly simple and the 4K stills are ­impressive. 4K photos with unpredictable action are significantly less useful, with my flailing attempts of capturing an encroaching mob of birds ending in blurry shots and missed opportunities as the camera slowed down. The camera also packs in 4K video recording capability, a nice bonus given the relatively cheap price tag.

The TZ110 also features a dedicated post-focus option, similar to Lytro’s selectable focus light field cameras. In this mode, pressing the shutter button takes a ­moment to pull focus through the scene, allowing users to choose the ideal focus point after the shot.

While great in theory, post-focus in operation is fairly impractical. It slows capture speed to a crawl, meaning you’ll miss a lot of great shots.

A rhino family captured with the Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens paired with a Lumix GX8. Picture: James Tindale

Panasonic’s other exciting new product is the $2499 Leica 100-400mm telephoto zoom lens. Small, light, fast-focusing and with dual image stabilisation, this lens will draw the eyes of professional photographers looking for a nimble sports and wildlife shooting option.

On the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) sensor-equipped Lumix GH or GX series, the lens gives a full-frame equivalent zoom range of 200-800mm, or a magnification of between 4x and 16x our eye’s normal vision. Focus is fast and sharp, and the results are rich and colourful.

The build quality is excellent, with an easy zoom lock feature and accessible focus and image stabilisation controls. The only real downside is a stiff zoom ring, which would likely soften with extended use. Panasonic is clearly investing heavily in flexibility and future of the MFT Lumix line with this expensive and relatively niche lens.

It reflects a maturation and faith in the MFT format, allowing serious potential for pros looking for a flexible second shooter, and is encouraging for enthusiasts seeking a cheaper but capable alternative platform to the fullframe cameras from the likes of Nikon and Canon.