In terms of brand-new releases aimed squarely at photographers, pocket-sized point-and-shoot digital cameras are thin on the ground these days. However, there are a handful of models just a few years old that we still feel are worth seeking out. A case in point is the Panasonic Lumix ZS80 (which is sold as the Lumix TZ95 in Europe and Australasia). This is a ‘travel zoom’ compact released in 2019 as an update to 2017’s Lumix TZ90/ZS70.
Both these well-constructed cameras offer pretty much the same core specifications. At the heart of each is a very useful 30x optical zoom – which provides one good reason to use this option instead of a smartphone – coupled with a small 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor. This chip is crammed full to burst with 20.3 million effective pixels.
