Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Pros: - Pocketable - 30X Zoom Lens (24-720mm equivalent) - EVF - Adjustment ring around lens - Adjustment wheel around 4-way controller - GPS with logging and geotagging - Amazing menus Cons: - Internal battery charge via non-standard cable - 18 MP sensor - No Maps BODY: The body is completely covered in an elastomer (all the black areas on the silver version), while great in hand, this rubber coating impedes the insertion into small pockets. No professional or user review has ever mentioned the rubber coating, it was a complete surprise to me. The front raised grip and rear thumb rest are well placed and are all you need for a secure grip of such a light camera. LENS & SENSOR The lens and sensor have to be discussed together. The 30X zoom would not be possible without the tiny sensor, even then the maximum aperture f/3.5-f/6.3 is dim. The lens has 5 aspherical elements with 10 aspherical surfaces, only possible at this price by molding, not grinding, the elements. A decade ago a single aspherical element was a big deal, how far we've come. The tiny CMOS sensor has the light gathering pixels on one side and control transistors on the other, unlike a CCD sensor. Why 18MP, only because the stupid MP race has yet to end, more tiny pixels is not better, just adds digital noise. Don't expect miracles, this camera is more about world class memories than world class images. ADJUSTMENT RINGS: The two adjustment rings, one around the lens and another around the 4-way controller are amazingly handy and user configurable. Their function changes depending on the mode you set unless you "lock" them via the menu. I locked the lens ring to zoom only. When you zoom, it provides more steps and 35mm equivalent focal lengths on either display. The wheel around the 4-way falls easy to your thumb, I mainly use it to cruise the menus. 5-AXIS OIS Optical image stabilization is the way to go and the ZS40 incorporates Panasonic's latest and greatest evolution of OIS. Yes you really can take steady photos at 720mm focal length. EVF The electronic view finder is a key element of the ZS40. In bright light conditions it is viewable when the LCD might not. It has a adjustment to compensate for your individual vision. Another benefit is placing the camera to your head affords an addition steadying point for long zoom photos and video. To those of us with bifocals, one's arms may not be long enough to focus on the LCD, the EVF solves this. GPS The GPS has both geotagging and logging. Add to this a POI database of 5-million points. I tested the geotagging, logging and POI database on a recent trip to the Grand Canyon and was impressed with all three. I was able to import the photos into BaseCamp and see them in map context, no more "where did I take that photo?". The logger will record a point every 15-sec and I can easily convert the NEMA or KML file to GPX to view the track distance or see it on a topo map. The GPS uses external data (Assist Data) to speed GPS acquisition. The ZS40 instantly found my router and downloaded the data, very impressed. The data is updated weekly and you'll need to update at least monthly for fastest acquisition. The battery life was as good or better than any Garmin I've used (I own five), still you'll want to carry spare batteries. The batteries are tiny, light and inexpensive, get an external charger while you're at it. POCKETABLE: My test for pocketability is the chest pocket of my polo shirts, the ZS40 passes. I added a neck lanyard for the occasional out-of-pocket escape. This feature goes to the best camera is the one you have with you. For most that is the near ubiquitous smartphone. MENUS: The menus are very easy to read on the LCD and each has a text scroll to explain its function. There are so many menu options that Panasonic did an excellent job of attempting to simplify the complexity. VIDEO You can take AVCHD Lite (1280 x 720, 60p) video until the battery is dead. All the high end AVCHD formats are capped at 30-minutes. Most would find 30 min ample, but in case you want to set and forget, you can. I took a short video of a mountain stream with a series of falls and played it back on my HDMI monitor, just like being there, the sound and video were amazing. CONCLUSION: For me a near perfect combination of a pocketable high zoom camera with a very functional GPS. The EVF solves many viewing problems of modern digital cameras while adding an insignificant amount to weight or size. For many hikes this will be all I'll need, for longer hikes I'll add one of the Garmin's for the Topo Maps. This a complicated computer that takes photos, don't expect to learn it in a day. It'll grow on you as you learn its many features. I'm still learning. Update July 2015: So after one year plus what have I learned about the ZS40? No in camera settings for saturation or sharping, bummer. I now batch process all my JPEGs saving to a new file 18MP > 1MP, add saturation, and sharpen. I use the included USB cable to charge the battery because it automatically updates the GPS Access Data. The GPS locks MUCH faster if your record a log files all the time, the battery hit is minimal. As expected the lens is no paradigm of sharpness, one thing to design it on a computer, quite another to manufacture and assemble. While the EVF is small and dim, it's a must for long telephoto shots and a brimmed hat is needed for shading in bright sun. I use 24mm much more frequently than 720mm. For all its flaws, I'd buy another if it dies. Update Feb `16: Well the ZS40 died, took it to Hawaii for a month in late-2015. Somewhere between the summit of Mauna Loa at 13,000' and my sea level apartment it lost the ability to focus. At turn-on at 24mm it was in-focus, as soon as I zoomed it went OoF. The GPS also stopped working. It wasn't the elevation, I had it to 13K many times in Colo. My WAG is that it was the salt in the air from living 100-yards from the ocean. Because the ZS40 is the only 30X with EVF and GPS, I bought another, a refurb from an Amazon seller.