The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS20 ($179.99 direct) is one of the less expensive rugged cameras you can buy. The compact point-and-shoot can take photos underwater at depths of up to 16 feet—which is good for snorkeling, but probably not much else. You can drop it from up to 5 feet, and use it in temperatures as low as 14°F. Its lens is a bit soft, falling short on our sharpness test, and even though it did well in tests for image noise, detail suffers at ISO 800 and above. The TS20 doesn't manage to unseat the more expensive Olympus Tough TG-1 iHS ($399.99, 4.5 stars) as our Editors' Choice rugged compact, but does represent a pretty good value for anyone looking for durable camera that won't break the bank.

Design and Features

If you're shopping for a rugged camera it won't take long to notice that many of them look alike. The standard design, to which the TS20 complies, is to position the lens in the corner of the camera and to position most controls, including zoom, on the rear of the camera. The exception to this rule is the Pentax Optio WG-2 GPS ($399.95, 3.5 stars), which places the lens in the center of its body and surrounds it with LED lights for macro photography. The TS20's design trumps the Pentax in size and weight, at 2.3 by 4 by 0.8 inches (HWD) and 5 ounces; the Pentax is 2.4 by 4.8 by 1.2 inches and 6.2 ounces. The TS20 can be had in red, black, blue, or orange finishes.

The camera's 2.7-inch 230k-dot rear LCD is neither the largest nor the sharpest in its class, but it does match that of the same-price Olympus Tough TG-320 ($179.99, 3 stars). The display isn't terrible, and there are some controls that brighten it so you can more easily view it from an askew angle—but higher-resolution screens are better for confirming that an image is perfectly in focus. The Olympus Tough TG-820  has the sharpest screen we've seen on a rugged compact—it packs more than a million dots into its 3-inch LCD.

Physical controls are plentiful, but the functions of the four-way control pad are hard to read. The pad itself is frosted silver and the icons that let you know what each button does are only slightly brighter by virtue of the not carrying the frosted finish. These tough-to-identify buttons include some useful functions—Exposure Compensation, Flash control, Macro, and Self Timer. Other shooting controls are adjusted via an on-screen overlay menu—these include ISO, White Balance, Focus Area, and Drive Mode. More options can be adjusted by hitting the Menu button, which gives you full access to every available camera setting. There's also a Mode button that lets you toggle between the camera's shooting modes.

The TS20's 4x zoom lens covers a 25-100mm (35mm equivalent) focal range. When compared with most cameras in this price range, that's a modest ratio—the Canon PowerShot A4000 IS ($199.99, 3.5 stars) packs an 8x lens—but it's pretty standard for a rugged compact. Even the top-end cameras in this class, like the Nikon AW100 , are limited to a 5x zoom ratio.

The dustproof camera is rated for use in water as deep as 16 feet, can be dropped from heights of 5 feet, and can shoot in temperatures as low as 14°F. You'll need to be careful to make sure that the memory card door is properly closed and latched before submerging the camera—there's an on-screen warning to help, but it only appears when you first start the camera. There are cameras that can take more of a beating, but they come at a cost. The $300 Olympus Tough TG-820, for one, can go 33 feet underwater, survive drops from 6.6 feet, and can survive being crushed by up to 220 foot pounds of force.

Performance and Conclusions

The TS20 isn't the speediest rugged camera to come through the PCMag Lab, but it's not a dog either. It can start up and grab a shot in 2 seconds, shoots one frame per second in continuous drive mode, and records a short 0.1 second shutter lag. The Nikon Coolpix AW100 ($379.95, 4 stars) is a faster camera—it can start and shoot in 1.4 seconds, only makes you wait 0.8 second between photos, and matches the TS20's 0.1-second shutter lag.

I used Imatest to measure the sharpness of the TS20's lens. It scored 1,536 lines per picture height, which is a bit shy of the 1,800 lines required for a sharp photo. It's one of the weaker rugged compacts that we've tested—the Olympus Tough TG-320  manages 1,722 lines for the same price. If you're willing to shell out some more money, the very durable Olympus TG-820 resolves 2,019 lines.

I also tested the noise level in photos from the TS20 at each of its ISO settings. As you increase a camera's sensitivity to light, measured numerically as ISO, the amount of noise increases in kind. The TS20 uses a CCD sensor—a design that is generally more susceptible to noise than cameras based on CMOS technology. Surprisingly, it is able to keep noise below 1.5 percent through its top ISO setting of 1600. Unfortunately, close examination of the photos shows that it does so by applying some very heavy software noise reduction—this type of digital noise removal really hurts image detail if applied too liberally, as it is with this camera at ISO 1600. I'd try to keep the camera at ISO 400, bumping the setting to 800 when necessary, and avoiding ISO 1600 entirely. The camera does a better job with noise control than the Olympus Tough TG-820 ($299.99, 4 stars)—it was only able to keep noise under control through ISO 400.

The TS20 captures 720p video in MP4 format. The footage is sharp, albeit a little grainy, and the camera can zoom and focus while recording. You can hear the noise of the lens as it zooms in and out and adjusts focus on the soundtrack, so it's best to limit how much you fiddle with the camera while footage is rolling. The only port on the camera is a proprietary USB interface—you can use it to plug the camera into a computer using the included cable. There is a small amount of internal memory—enough to record about 10 photos—but you'll want to use an SD, SDHC, or SDXC card to record any significant amount of pictures.

If you're looking for a durable point-and-shoot camera and are working within a budget the Lumix DMC-TS20  is worth careful consideration. The camera isn't a top-end model like the more expensive Nikon AW100 or Olympus TG-820, so you'll have to be careful as to how deep underwater you take it and from what height you drop it. Its lens is a bit soft, but that will mainly come into play if you're looking to make larger prints. It does do well in lower light, although the top ISO setting should be avoided. The Lumix doesn't have a GPS like the Nikon or the Pentax Optio WG-2 GPS , so your location won't be added to photos automatically. If you're willing to live without these features, the TS-20 is a solid choice, especially given its reasonable sticker price.

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