Thanks useful information: 
The Panasonic TZ90 is an upgrade to the TZ30 that I bought back in 2013 to take to Canada and Alaska. The main changes are the number of megapixels (20 vs 14) and that it can shoot RAW (a real bonus in my opinion). The sensor size is virtually unchanged meaning that the pixels are smaller on the TZ90, which is not necessarily a good thing. It also has a much greater zoom at 720mm compared to 480mm, which I found was more than adequate.
How did it go? It was certainly small and fit easily into my pocket. It was easy to use and the photos looked great on the camera but when I got back and looked at the images they were a bit disappointing with artefacts clearly visible at 100%. Also, having come from a DSLR to a travel zoom, I found having controls accessed via a screen rather than by dials difficult to get used to. Plus, you can't fit a polarising filter to it, which I think is a must for landscape photos. I had plenty of shots with blown out skies. Having access to RAW might alleviate some of these issues.
If I had my time over again, I would just take my DSLR with a kit lens, a wide angle lens and maybe a zoom up to 200mm. Sure, you look like a tourist carrying around such an obvious camera but where I went the tourists probably outnumbered the locals so I would have fit right in.
It depends why you are travelling and what you want the camera to do. If you are sightseeing and just want some nice shots to remind you of where you went the travel zoom will be fine. If the aim of your trip is to take high quality photographs you might want to take a DSLR. As an example, a night time cityscape would not turn out as well using the TZ90 as it would with a DSLR.
I rarely use the TZ30 now. I will take it if I need to take photos for work because it is simple and takes very clear photos in the daylight.
Here is an example with typically blown out skies:
Reply With Quote
