Panasonic Lumix TZ60 problems

Globetrotter2

I suppose it was too good to be true.

In 2015 I bought a Panasonic Lumix TZ60 camera. All of the tech and camera magazines I had read gave it good reviews and so it turned out. I travel all over the world and for the first 2 years it behaved impeccably.

I had bought a couple of batteries as it is surprising how much they drain when you zoom in and out and use the video facility. I always kept the camera in a pouch and made sure the pouch was clean and free from debris. I never encountered any issues however until 6 months ago when the outer rubberised front surface began to delaminate. This didn't affect the image quality but I started to find small particles of the rubber compound in my pouch.

On my latest tour of Asia and New Zealand however things started to get worse. Because the video button is close to the grip area and on-off button I was inadvertently recording video with my finger. Very annoying.

Then, when I returned home and viewed images and video on my desktop/TV, I noticed that dust/dirt particles had managed to get inside the lens. This ruined every video.
I could post edit the images in Photoshop but not the video.
Getting the internal lens cleaned is cost prohibited.

So, very disappointed in this latest development.

I compared my images to that of one's taken on my phone. To be honest, there is not much difference these days between phone images and camera images and any zoom features, which was what I was after in my camera, are now being implemented within the phone.
This is the way forward and I foresee that cameras like mine will eventually be superseded by phones with better lenses and internal zooming.

I shall not be buying another camera, Panasonic or other manufacturer.

Johnmcl7

Ok who wants to take this one, @shotokan101?

AMc

I've had several compact cameras and the extendable zoom has been the death of almost all of them - because it's fixed in place then dirt gets inside eventually and - in my cases - interfered with the zoom gears, stuck the aperture blades or both.
As they're super small and fiddly the cost of the effort in taking them apart and replacing the components outweighs the value of the camera itself.

Everything you carry around gets fluff in it, I've had cause to take apart my iPhones and iPods and there's always more there than you might expect.

To get a big zoom in a small package you have to use a small sensor and so in most cases the image quality isn't going to be much better than a (heavily processed) cameraphone picture with a very similar sensor.  Start adding in effects and multiple lenses and the phone is ahe

The compact camera market has been shrinking for years and as you point out anyone who's into photography either usesan interchangeable lens camera (mirrorless or DSLR) or a high end phone and puts up with the lack of a physical zoom.

The point isn't really that compact cameras are that bad, it's the phone cameras have become so good that they've overtaken them and killed the market.

Globetrotter2

If you look at the Huawei P30 smartphone the technology is in the periscope-like optical zoom.
I suspect cameras will go the same way if they don't want to remain on the shelves.
My current smartphone, besides having both forward and rear facing cameras, also has a fill-in flash feature, very handy in situations where you are taking a portrait where the sun is in front of you.
As I said, no more cameras for me until the big name manufacturers get their act together.

AMc

You’ll be waiting a very long time. The compact camera market is dead, bar the action cam sector and a few very high end models.