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  • Introduction

  • Design & Appearance

  • Tour

  • Menu

  • Ease of Use

  • Size & Handling

  • Modes Overview

  • Auto Mode

  • Movie Mode

  • Drive/Burst Mode

  • Custom Image Presets

  • Playback Mode

  • Picture Quality & Size Options

  • Focus

  • Exposure & Metering

  • ISO

  • White Balance

  • Image Stabilization

  • Picture Effects

  • Lens & Sensor

  • LCD

  • Flash

  • Jacks, Ports & Plugs

  • Battery

  • Memory

  • Conclusion

  • Sample Photos

  • Specs

  • Introduction
  • Design & Appearance
  • Tour
  • Menu
  • Ease of Use
  • Size & Handling
  • Modes Overview
  • Auto Mode
  • Movie Mode
  • Drive/Burst Mode
  • Custom Image Presets
  • Playback Mode
  • Picture Quality & Size Options
  • Focus
  • Exposure & Metering
  • ISO
  • White Balance
  • Image Stabilization
  • Picture Effects
  • Lens & Sensor
  • LCD
  • Flash
  • Jacks, Ports & Plugs
  • Battery
  • Memory
  • Conclusion
  • Sample Photos
  • Specs

Introduction

If the design looks familiar, that's because it's a re-jiggered version of last year's ZS10 an almost identical body, a similar (if not the same) lens, and most of the same features. But with a proven sensor at its core, the ZS15 should prove to be a great camera, especially for the price.

We spent a few minutes with a pre-production version of the ZS15 at CES 2012 last month—good thing we did, because it didn't make its expected appearance at CP+ this week. Read on for our first impressions.

Design & Appearance

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The ZS15 is blocky and bulky by point-and-shoot standards, and even a bit bigger than most compact long-zooms, but still small enough to easily fit into a jacket pocket or purse.

This design was already dated when it was used on last year's ZS10, and it looks even more last-gen this time around. It's a case of function over form, which is fine.

Tour

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The menu system is typical of a Panasonic compact—easy to use, but it could be more efficient. Read our notes on the ZS20 (the big brother to the ZS15) for more on the menu sytem.

Ease of Use

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Since it's basically a point-and-shoot on steroids, the ZS15 is built for automatic operation, so it's easy enough for most casual photographers to pick up, switch to iAuto, and start firing away with no fuss. It also offers a great deal of manual control for users who know a few things about manual control, or at want to learn as they go.

Most of what we said about the ZS20 (the big brother to the ZS15) applies here, except that the ZS15 does not have a touchscreen.

Size & Handling

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The ZS15 is housed in the same chassis as last year's ZS10, so the comments we made last year apply to this new model. It's too big for a pants pocket, but it'll fit jackets and purses just fine. The tapered grip and textured thumb rest don't really add much to the handling, which can be slippery—this is best held with both hands.

Modes Overview

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A mix of automatic, manual, and preset scene modes are available—the very same set as what we found on the Panasonic ZS20, the ZS15's big brother.

Auto Mode

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Intelligent Auto mode is a set-and-forget affair. It allows users to adjust resolution and photo quality settings, but leaves everything else up to the ZS15's metering system.

Movie Mode

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Movie mode maxes out at a respectable 1080/60i in AVCHD format—Full HD, in other words. Other formats include 1080/30p, 720/60p, and VGA video to name a few.

We're surprised to see that the ZS15 doesn't offer 1080/60p (AVCHD 2.0) video. It's built around the same sensor as the FZ150, which did offer 1080/60p, so technically, the ZS15 should have no problem shooting it. It's possible that the marketing squad wanted to create some extra distance between the ZS15 and the ZS20, but it's anybody's guess.

Drive/Burst Mode

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The ZS15 can fire off 10 images per second at full resolution, though only for 4 consecutive images. Other burst settings include 5fps with autofocus and 2fps, which supports an impressive 100-shot limit. At reduced resolutions, bursts can reach 60fps.

Custom Image Presets

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The ZS15 supports two user-customizable presets, each with a notch on the mode dial.

Playback Mode

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Playback mode is the same as you'd find on any recent Panasonic compact. See our notes on the ZS20 for more.

Picture Quality & Size Options

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The ZS15 has a maximum resolution of about 12 megapixels in a 4:3 aspect ratio. It also shoots in 16:9, 3:2, and 1:1 ratios, each at a few different resolutions, as low as 0.2 megapixels. Fine and Standard quality options are available. RAW capture is not available.

Focus

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The ZS15 is an autofocus-only camera. AF areas include tracking, face detection, 23-point, 1-point, spot, and center modes. Normal, macro, and tele-macro focus ranges are supported as well. Manual focus is not available.

Exposure & Metering

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The aperture range is a mediocre 3.3-5.9 to 6.3, a fairly common range for a compact zoom like this. The user-selectable shutter speed ranges from 1/4000 to 15 seconds (and up to 60 seconds in the Starry Sky scene mode). Exposure compensation can be adjusted to +/- 2 EV in steps of 1/3. Metering modes include Intelligent Multiple, center-weighted, and spot.

ISO

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Full-resolution ISO sensitivities stretch from 100 to 3200, and up to 6400 at a reduced resolution. Auto ISO and "intelligent" ISO modes are also available.

White Balance

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Auto, daylight, cloudy, shade, and incandescent presets are available, alongside a custom white balance option. Adjustments can be made manually to each preset.

Image Stabilization

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The ZS15 has POWER O.I.S. optical stabilization with active mode.

Picture Effects

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A large handful of picture effects are available, including Expressive, Retro, High Key, Low Key, Sepia, Dynamic Monochrome, High Dynamic, Toy Effect, Miniature, and Soft Focus. These need to be selected before the shot is taken; they can't be applied after shooting.

Color modes include Standard, Black & White, Sepia, and Vivid. Natural mode was not listed in the spec sheet, but just about every Panasonic camera, whether it's a compact or a system model, has a Natural mode, so we're guessing that this is a typo. A "bonus" setting—Happy—is available in iAuto.

Lens & Sensor

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The ZS15 is built around a 12.1-megapixel MOS sensor, the same chip used in the excellent FZ150 superzoom. On that camera, noise performance was excellent for a point-and-shoot, so we expect good things from the ZS15 as well.

The 16x, 24-384mm equivalent lens appears to be a holdover from last year's ZS10. That camera's resolution scores weren't great, so hopefully Panasonic made a few changes.

LCD

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The LCD is a 3-inch, 460,000-pixel screen, which is about average for the travel zoom class. It does not offer touchscreen capabilities.

Flash

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A thin flash is built into the front panel of the ZS15. The spec sheet indicates that it's effective out to about 20 feet, which is respectable for such a small bulb. The placement could be better, though—wandering fingers are sure to block it from time to time.

Jacks, Ports & Plugs

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Like most noteworthy cameras these days, the ZS15 has one USB port and one mini-HDMI port, both concealed beneath a plastic door on the right side of the camera.

Battery

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The rechargeable lithium-ion battery is CIPA-rated for about 260 shots per charge. That's slightly above-average for the class.

Memory

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No surprise here, the ZS15 captures to SD/SDHC/SDXC media cards.

Conclusion

As the lesser of Panasonic's two new travel zooms, the ZS15 won't grab as much attention as its older sibling, the ZS20. The design is nothing special, the zoom range is short by this year's standards (20x is the new normal), and it doesn't have any extras like on-board GPS or WiFi, or even a touchscreen.

But beyond the features that marketing departments want us to think that we need, the ZS15 actually has just about everything that we look for in a travel zoom. We already know that its sensor is excellent—it earned great scores when we saw it in the FZ150 superzoom—so image quality should be great in a variety of shooting situations, so long as nobody mucked with the processor too much. A 16x zoom range is still a huge amount of magnification for such a small camera. And it still offers proper PASM modes for the hands-on shooters.

At $279, the ZS15 could prove to be one of the year's best deals on a travel zoom. We're hoping to get it into our labs sometime soon so we can find out if it holds up to our expectations.

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Sample Photos

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Specs

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Meet the tester

Liam F McCabe

Liam F McCabe

Managing Editor, News & Features

@liamfmccabe

Liam manages features and news coverage for Reviewed.com. Formerly the editor of the DigitalAdvisor network, he's covered cameras, TVs, personal electronics, and (recently) appliances. He's a native Bostonian and has played in metal bands you've never heard of.

See all of Liam F McCabe's reviews

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