Review on Panasonic Lumix TS20 16.1 MP TOUGH Waterproof 📷 Digital Camera (Black) – 4x Optical Zoom | Old Model by James Roper

Situation: Caribbean cruise, boat trips, I don't want to take my 500- Dollar DSLR or pay $1,000 for a waterproof DSLR case. And yes, I bought an open box to lower the price further, so I may have to take my review with a grain of salt, although my experience aligns with a smaller percentage of people with bad experiences. Research: From reputable sites that review cameras. , no clear winners at $300 and under water, dust, drops etc etc, rugged cameras. There are sacrifices involved in developing a waterproof electronic camera. Your mileage will vary based on expectations. If you are an amateur photographer, prepare to be disappointed. If you enjoy capturing memories, you may be very pleased with the results. I tend towards good photo results. Out of the water the camera performed as expected and was pleased with the results. Underwater, ma'am... But it wasn't just the camera's fault (see tips). Tips: 1) Keep the camera packed (insulated) in a very cold cabin. A lens that has been cooled for hours and placed in a warm, humid tropical environment will fog up (just like sunglasses). This is a documented troubleshooting issue in the manual. However, the solution is not a quick fix. It took nearly three hours for the fog to clear the chamber, rendering it useless for the planned activity I was planning. 2) Expect 25% to 40% of your underwater footage to be bad and not the camera's fault. You'll snorkel, get pushed by the current, bump into people (most likely your spouse) and try to get this beautiful fish to stop moving and say "cheese" at the camera. You will miss the fish! Take three additional shots for each scene you want to capture (the law of probability means you can get one good shot out of the four shots you do). Even trying to preview the image to see if you've snapped the shot while jiggling up and down in bright sunlight won't happen either. You won't know if you took a good photo until you get back on the bus. Get ready for disappointment, then you will be happy with what happened. 3) Buy a floating bracelet. Trying to get in and out of the water from a boat with a camera on your wrist is agony. This camera is lightweight, with a floating wrist strap you can throw it in the water, climb in, and then swim to the camera. Performance: Here is a recap of this camera three days after the cruise (total ownership was three weeks), the camera failed. I'm getting a "System Error (Zoom)" message, which is more common if you do a little research online. Tried all troubleshooting suggestions in the guide. Another solution... a visit to the factory where repairs cost almost the price of the camera. If I had bought a new vise in an open box (which I wasn't sure if the warranty was still valid) I would have sent it there. But there are some horror stories from companies saying that the warranty won't be extended (dude, they advertise the camera as waterproof) until the postage for the repair is paid (why should I pay if your camera isn't up to par) . Expectations). Some further research shows that sand/salt can clog, rendering the camera inoperable (happens more often than not), requiring troubleshooting, ie. H. Soaking in fresh water to correct the situation. Another annoyance: Panasonic recommends soaking the camera in fresh water after returning from sand/salt water to ensure the sand/salt doesn't get into the battery and SD card slot (which is probably why companies void guarantees because they can supercharge your claims). chamber was not submerged in fresh water prior to opening, resulting in sand/salt entering the chamber). Battery life was good, I had no trouble maintaining a charge the entire time I used it during an event. Recommendation: If the camera hadn't failed after returning home from the cruise I would have given it 3-4 stars. The camera is fine out of the water, and underwater shots have exposure issues (if you can get a good shot). I'm not sure there's a great solution for taking great pictures underwater (other than a $1,000 case for my DSLR), but we had a few fond memories of this camera before it broke.