Pros & Cons
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- Stylish and pocketable
- Comfortable controls
- 30x zoom lens for wide angles and wildlife
- Tasteful in-camera art filters
- Snappy focus with 4.7fps continuous drive
- Built-in xenon flash
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- Smartphones are better in low light and for bokeh
- Not weather-sealed
- Convoluted to pair with phone
Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS99 Specs
| 35mm Equivalent (Telephoto) | 720mm |
| 35mm Equivalent (Wide) | 24 |
| Battery Type | Panasonic DMW-BLG10 |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth |
| Connectivity | micro HDMI |
| Connectivity | USB-C |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi |
| Dimensions | 2.7 by 4.4 by 1.7 inches |
| Display Resolution | 1.8 |
| Display Size | 3.0 inches |
| HDMI Output | Yes |
| Maximum ISO | 3200 |
| Memory Card Format | SDXC (UHS-I) |
| Memory Card Slots | 1 |
| Minimum ISO | 80 |
| Optical Zoom | 30 x |
| Sensor Resolution | 20 |
| Sensor Size | Type 1/2.3 |
| Sensor Type | BSI CMOS |
| Stabilization | Optical |
| Touch Screen | |
| Type | Compact |
| Video Resolution | 4K |
| Weight | 11 |
The Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS99 ($699.99) is a rare, modern-day example of a camera type that dominated the compact space a decade ago, the pocket superzoom. The space died out as most people moved to phones for everyday photography, but it is enjoying a resurgence thanks to fresh interest from Gen Z. The ZS99 is small enough to slide into a pocket, but comes with a 30x zoom lens, is quick to respond, has a good batch of creative looks, and includes a proper xenon flash too. It all makes for a pocket camera that's enjoyable to use and delivers good-looking pictures. If you're in the market for a compact superzoom, it's your only real choice. The only other model in production is the Canon PowerShot SX740 HS ($529.99), and it's out of stock so frequently that it may as well be discontinued. Thankfully, the ZS99 is as good a pocket superzoom as I've ever used, so it earns our Editors' Choice award.
Design: Big Zoom Power, Small Image Sensor
The ZS99 is a pocket superzoom, a class of camera that matches an exceptionally long lens (in this case a 24-720mm equivalent) with a small image sensor, in this case a 20MP Type 1/2.3 (also called 1/2.3-inch) BSI CMOS chip. This was the de facto standard sensor size during the high point of the digital compact era, though it is typically only used in superzoom cameras today. It's the same size chip you find in bridge-style cameras like the Canon PowerShot SX70 HS and Nikon Coolpix P1100 ($1,099.95).
(Credit: Jim Fisher)Unlike those larger, longer zooming bridge cameras, the ZS99 is perfectly pocketable. When powered down, it measures 2.7 by 4.4 by 1.7 inches (HWD) and weighs just 11 ounces. Panasonic sells the camera in black (which I received for review) or silver colorways and calls it the TZ99 in regions outside the US.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)Its lens covers all kinds of scenes, from wide angle to wildlife, but the small sensor size and lens' narrow F3.3-6.4 aperture deliver the best results during daylight hours or in well-lit interiors. You may be happy to make the trade, especially if you have a good smartphone camera in your pocket. Recent flagship phones use larger image sensors, brighter prime lenses, and computational multi-sampling to take snapshots at a dim restaurant, party, or bar, at least with their main lens. Some smartphones also have a telephoto lens, but most are around a 120mm focal length, a good fit for portraiture and landscape images, but short for trips to the zoo or a hike at your local birding trail. So you'd use your smartphone for low-light snaps, and the ZS99 for daylight adventures.
Zoom power differentiates the ZS99 from phones, but it isn't the only reason to consider a dedicated camera. Ergonomics matter, and the ZS99's tactile controls provide a different experience than a smartphone. The Lumix also has a xenon flash, which fires for a short, bright burst for a different aesthetic versus the LED flashes found on smartphones and some other recent compacts like the trendy Fujifilm X Half.
It's up to you if you're willing to trade away the picture quality that comes with a larger image sensor in favor of the ZS99's zoom lens. Photographers who prefer to use a compact camera over a phone and prefer higher image quality over zoom power have other options to consider, too. Some like the Canon PowerShot V1, Sony ZV-1, and ZV-1 Mark II have features that are slanted toward vloggers, but are capable stills cameras that don't cost much more than the ZS99. On the premium end, the Ricoh GR III and IIIx, Leica D-Lux 8, and Fujifilm X100VI deliver picture quality that's as good as an interchangeable lens camera, but cost an arm and a leg. None of these serve the same purpose as the ZS99, however.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)The Sony RX100 VII is a more apt comparison among expensive cameras. It debuted at $1,299.99, but Sony has increased the price a few times over its time in the market, most recently in response to a spate of government tariffs, and it's now at $1,699.99. It strives to justify its price with a Type 1 image sensor, which works better in dim light and captures more dynamic range than the Type 1/2.3 in the ZS99, while maintaining a pocket form factor, and including a decently long 24-200mm F2.8-4.5 zoom lens, electronic viewfinder, and xenon flash.
Controls: Good Enough to Satisfy Shutterbugs
The ZS99 has a robust set of physical control surfaces, enough that I had an easy time changing manual settings when I wanted to. Plus, it includes the standard Program and full Automatic capture modes so non-experts can get good snapshots too. The ZS99 is comfortable to hold and operate, with a small handgrip on the front and an indented thumb rest on the rear. While it is a small camera, its buttons don't feel too cramped together.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)The camera includes its zoom rocker, shutter release, Record button, Mode dial, and On/Off button on the top plate, and puts an Fn1/4K Photo, Fn2/Framing Assist, and EV, Macro, Flash, and Self-Timer buttons on the rear, along with the usual set of Menu, Display, Delete, and Play buttons. There are two control dials, one on the rear that sets aperture or shutter speed (depending on the capture mode), and a dial around the lens for direct EV compensation. The rings and Fn buttons are configurable via the menu, so you may remap them if you'd like.
The buttons work in conjunction with a touch screen interface. The ZS99 lets you tap on any part of the screen to set the focus point, and has on-screen icons that provide quick access to its art filters, plus an Fn icon that lets you get directly to Wi-Fi, metering settings, and the Snap Movie feature, a special video effect mode that will record a short clip that either starts focused and blurs away, or fades to black.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)Snap Movie is one of the ZS99's many esoteric capture modes; it's handy for recording clips to close out a video project—fades and blurs are used narratively to end a scene. The camera also has Panasonic's 4K Photo mode, a burst setting that snaps 8MP photos at 30fps, with options for Post Focus (which shifts the focus point slightly between images, and is handy if you want to stack macro photos together in Photoshop to get more depth of field) and a buffering mode that keeps photos in memory as you focus, so you can catch a little bit of the action that happened before you fully pressed the shutter to start taking pictures.
The Mode dial has the standard array of slots, including Program and Intelligent Automatic (iA) for beginners, and Aperture, Shutter, and Manual exposure for experts. It has two Custom (C1, C2) slots that let you save favorite settings, along with Scene (SCN) options that tune settings and image processing for sundry situations, and a set of art filters including a few flavors of black-and-white, toy camera and miniature effects, and others that give pictures a filtered finish.
Display: Touch Screen Flips Up for Selfies
The ZS99 doesn't have a viewfinder, so you'll have to rely on its rear screen for picture-taking. It's a pretty good display, a 3-inch touch LCD with an excellent 1.8-million-dot resolution, a backlight you can pump bright on sunny days, and good viewing angles. The screen has a hinge at its top so it's easy to flip up and use for low-angle and waist-level capture. The screen flips up over the top to face forward for selfies.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)Some superzoom cameras included electronic viewfinders (EVFs); Panasonic used to put a small one in the ZS series, including in the previous version of this camera, the ZS80, a 2019 release. I never got the chance to try the ZS80, but aside from the EVF, it is essentially the same camera as the ZS99. Panasonic dropped the feature from this version, something I'd consider a bummer, but not a deal-breaker. I think that most photography enthusiasts who would demand an eye-level viewfinder will also want a pocket compact with picture quality that's more competitive with an interchangeable lens camera.
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Power and Connectivity: Long-Lasting Battery
Despite being a small camera, the ZS99 uses a decently large battery, the Panasonic DMW-BLG10, which is CIPA-rated for around 380 pictures per charge. I find that estimate, along with most CIPA battery ratings, conservative. I took around 330 images with the ZS99 and saw very little drop in battery life. If you mix in more video capture, or spend a lot of time reviewing images, editing Raw pictures in-camera, or using Wi-Fi, you'll see the battery drop more quickly.
The battery charges in-camera via a USB-C connector, which is located right next to the micro HDMI video output port. The UHS-I SDXC memory card slot is located in the battery compartment.
The ZS99 includes Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to connect to smartphones and tablets running the Panasonic Image App, a free download for Android and iOS. I paired the camera with my iPhone 13 and found the experience to be slightly annoying. The first step is to connect via Bluetooth, which is easy, but after that, you need to connect to the camera's Wi-Fi with a password. The app adds a profile so you won't have to type it in, but it doesn't take you to the right screen in the phone settings page to enable it. I failed to properly complete all these steps in time during my first attempt, so I had to reset the camera's network settings (via its menu) and try again to get it to work.
The second time was the charm, but the pairing process is convoluted when compared with other recent cameras, most of which connect with Bluetooth with no extra steps required. Of course, that's in part because the ZS99 is using Panasonic's legacy smartphone app instead of the Lumix Lab app it uses for more recent interchangeable lens cameras like the full-frame S1R II. Once paired, the app works as expected; it lets you transfer media from the memory card over to your phone, works as a wireless remote control, sets the camera's clock automatically, and can geotag images based on your phone's GPS if you want.
Autofocus: Fast and Accurate, But Not Intelligent
The Lumix ZS99 focuses quickly, even at maximum zoom. Its focus system is pretty basic and includes face detection for people, but that's it. I didn't mind, however, as it's so easy to tap on the rear screen to tell the camera where you want it to find focus. The ZS99 supports a 49-zone wide area (which looks for focus everywhere) as well as narrower areas of interest, but always lets you tap to override and focus where you want.
In addition to focusing quickly, the ZS99 is capable of continuous drive, also called burst, capture. It snaps photos at 10fps with fixed (AF-S) focus and 4.7fps with focus at every frame (AF-C). I'm happy that the buffer is ample too; you can rattle off JPGs for as long as you'd like (within reason) and get around 30 Raw pictures at 10fps before the buffer fills up. A full burst takes a while to write to memory, but you can continue to use the camera to take pictures during the interval.
Imaging and Video: Zoom Lens and Filters Take Center Stage
The Lumix ZS99's small size and 30x zoom lens come with a compromise: picture quality. Don't get me wrong, in sunlight or bright interiors, the camera delivers excellent images given its Type 1/2.3 sensor. No, they won't hold up to pixel peeping scrutiny like you'd expect from a big APS-C or full-frame camera, but they look great on social media and screens.
I used the ZS99 for pictures in various lighting conditions and found that it delivers excellent results from ISO 80-400, and is quite good at ISO 800. Pictures look a little soft starting at ISO 1600 (by default, the highest Auto ISO setting), but venture on blurry at the top ISO 3200 setting. If you use Raw capture, you can eke a little more detail out, and may even appreciate the texture that the digital grain adds to a photo.
Smartphones and Type 1 compact cameras like the Sony ZV-1 Mark II do a better job in dim light. That's because phones stack multiple short exposures together in dim light, and big sensor compacts have chips with a larger surface area, and they typically use brighter lenses. Phones and large sensor cameras are also better tools to get pictures with a softened, defocused background—the ZS99 gets some blur when focusing very close for macros or zoomed all the way in, but for the most part catches photos with deep focus.
The 30x zoom lens proves to be a good performer. It captures a crisp, detailed image at wider angles, though it softens at maximum zoom. Still, I appreciate its versatility. I used it to snap some photos of a red-shouldered hawk that landed in a tree in my backyard and stayed around for a portrait session. The pictures are clearer than anything I'd get with a smartphone from a camera I can drop in my pocket.
The camera supports JPG capture for easy sharing and Raw for photogs who want to control color using software like Adobe Lightroom Classic. The ZS99 includes in-camera Raw processing, too, so you can adjust exposure or pick a different color profile for an image. I'm disappointed that it doesn't let you apply any of the art filter effects, especially since the camera's best black-and-white looks (Monochrome and Dynamic Monochrome) are part of the filter set.
And I think the filters are one of the camera's better features. While I appreciate the flexibility of Raw capture, one of the appeals of a pocket camera is convenience. That means getting a finished, shareable image without having to spend time editing. In addition to the two Monochrome profiles, I liked the look of the Cross Process, Retro, and Old Days. I had a good time using the Sunshine filter to add some tastefully fake flare to portraits of my cat snapped on a gray, overcast day. Many of the filters are available for video, though the Sunshine flare effect is omitted.
The ZS99 records movies at up to 4K30 quality with 8-bit color sampling. You have your choice of color profiles or filter effects, but there's no flat or Log profile like you get with a small video camera such as the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 or GoPro Hero13 Black. I think the camera is a good option for grabbing clips to share on social media or watch at home, though it has its limitations. It doesn't record in HDR like most smartphones, and shows visible rolling shutter (the Jell-O effect) when panning or recording objects moving laterally across the frame.
Pros are going to be let down, and in many instances, non-experts will get better-looking footage from a smartphone. Again, I'll point to the long lens as an upside, as it brings distant subjects into close view, something you can't manage with an action cam or phone. I'm pretty happy with the stabilization, too. I tried some video at maximum zoom from a seated position, and it looked like I was recording from a boat, with smooth, gradual movement, not a jittery shake like an unstabilized system, an impressive result given the extremely narrow angle of view. At wider angles footage is quite steady.