Pocket camera lenses: range vs speed

1/50sec f/4.4 ISO 400, 64mm equivalent. Processed from raw

The other small pocket cameras currently on the market all use shorter zooms, with rather faster maximum apertures. In many ways this is the main factor to consider when choosing between the TZ100 and cameras like the Sony RX100 IV series or Canon G5 X.

Which is the better choice depends hugely on how you shoot. I tend to use telephotos quite a lot, so the TZ100 suits me well. I also found that the lens’s slow aperture wasn’t quite the handicap I expected in low light, given the sensor’s decent performance at high ISOs and the effective image stabilisation.

1/50sec f/5.9 ISO 12,800, 250mm equivalent. Processed from raw

The example at the top shows a bar interior shot at ISO 6400, while that above is a night-time shot taken at ISO 12800 towards the long end of the zoom. Image quality of the former is marginal, and a camera with a faster lens would have been preferable here. However, for the second, I’d have needed to crop heavily to get the same composition, revealing more noise and negating any advantage of the faster lens.