The inconclusive experiment which formed the narrative for the previous post did eventually lead to a definite conclusion. That’s definite as in a ‘sort of, for now, all things considered…’ version of definite.
And, to be more accurate, two conclusions…
The first is that I’ve decided to go with the (Panasonic) TZ60, at least for the time being; more about that below. The second being that – beyond the occasional snap, or the odd group shot for those of a sociable disposition – I’m finding that walking and photography don’t really mix.
Photography can be a pretty selfish pastime, and asking a companion to hang around on a cold, wet day while you switch lenses, compose, select settings, focus, can feel more than a bit self-indulgent. Introduce a tripod into the mix and you could easily precipitate a divorce.
Anyway, to the TZ60…
It is undeniably a more ‘pocketable’ camera – not least because of the fully retractable lens – and that was always a primary consideration. It also has a viewfinder – a small one, admittedly, but useful nonetheless on those sunny days when the LCD can be difficult to read. The overall results in the comparison didn’t overwhelmingly favour either camera, which is borne out by the dead-heat in the trial.
It’s unlikely I’ll be using the camera at anywhere near its full (30x) zoom: the field of view narrows appreciably as the focal length is increased and I find obtaining sufficient steadiness for focussing simply too difficult. A fortuitously situated fencepost or wall will sometimes help with that, but I’m certainly not going to defeat the object of portability and weight saving by carrying a tripod. That decision was also made easier by the fact that I now rarely photograph much wildlife.
The plan is to shoot in both JPEG and RAW: the JPEGs hopefully to give a reasonable outcome for reference; the RAW files to allow the option of some post-processing. That should give me an incentive to persist with exploring the many functions mysteries of Adobe Lightroom.
Just a few more steps? 
I don’t think you will be disappointed with your choice. It’s a very good walking camera. I do agree with you that “photography” and walking don’t go together. The image quality is really good in jpeg so unless you are going to print off your images or you want to modify them I wouldn’t bother with Raw, but that’s just my opinion. The good thing about the 60 is it has a view finder whereas some of the other Tz series didn’t.
One point I would make is that if you are keep on taking landscape panoramic shots then take a couple of spare batteries with you as I found panoramas drain the battery quite quickly. Have fun with it.
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Hello Alan, hope all is well with yourself. I’m trying to learn a bit about editing – I’m using Lightroom, but I think the learning curve for me would be steep whatever the software (and maybe that’s an age thing!). Truth is though that I can spend an age making adjustments, often losing track of what’s worked and what hasn’t, and still end up with an image that struggles to match the Jpeg produced by the camera.
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