- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How they compare
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Compare with...
- Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX10V
- Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150
- Canon PowerShot SX50 HS
- Nikon Coolpix S9300
- Canon PowerShot SX260 HS
Rated 100% by by Photography Blog (Jul, 2012)The combination of the f/3.2 aperture, effective optical image stabilizer and maximum ISO speed of 12800 makes this camera well suited to hand-held low-light photography, not to mention the wealth of dedicated shooting modes.
Conclusion Which is better for you?
Features Key features of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V compared to the Panasonic Lumix ZS20
MP18
1/2.5"
Rated 100% by by Photography Blog (Jul, 2012)Add in the 3D Sweep Panoramas and 3D Still Images, amazing 10fps burst shooting mode, 0.13 second auto-focusing, closer macro mode, extensive range of in-camera Picture effects and the high-resolution 921K dot LCD screen, and it's still easy for us to recommend the Sony CyberShot DSC-HX20V above all of its travel-zoom rivals.
14 MP
1/2.5"
megapixels
| 0 MP | 18 MP   | 20 MP |
Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V by phoongdan (Mar, 2013)My predecessor was a 10.1 megapixel Sony Cybershot which I was pleased with at that price range, but this camera is a whole nuther level!
Lumix ZS20 by raindrop07006 (Jul, 2012)Megapixel format packs a whopping 5.4Mb pictures at the highest resolution of 4320x3240 pixels!
sensor size
Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V by Nom-de-Plume (Jul, 2012)With the 20x zoom I got a full frame stop motion picture of Clayton just as he released the ball.
Lumix ZS20 by stevefoobar--Steve (May, 2012)Furthermore, with single images files as large as almost 13 MB in size from the 14.1 megapixel sensor, you have more than enough pixels to do some serious Photoshop work even without having RAW files to work with.
wide angle lens
Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V by Photography Blog (Jul, 2012)The 25mm focal length provides an entirely new wide angle of view that can only increase your creativity.
aperture size
Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V by Photography Blog (Jul, 2012)The Manual shooting mode lets you set a shutter speed of up to 30 seconds for effective night-time shooting, although I missed the Aperture and Shutter Priority modes that several rivals offer, and only having two possible apertures in Manual mode does somewhat limit what you can achieve creatively.
Lumix ZS20 by Martin (May, 2012)The camera takes a burst of exposures, bracketing the aperture, and then automatically combines them to produce a single image with a well-lit foreground.
zoom range
| 0x | 20x | 20x |
Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V by DPReview (Jun, 2012)If you're looking for a GPS-equipped travel zoom camera, then the HX20V is well worth considering.
Lumix ZS20 by Mike-Brosnan (Nov, 2012)The camera is comfortable to hold, controls are reasonably intuitive, and it has good optical zoom and GPS.
body size
107 x 62 x 35 mm
105 x 59 x 28 mm
Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V by Kjeep (Mar, 2013)It takes clear, crisp pictures and is easy to carry along on motorcycle rides, etc..
Lumix ZS20 by Tony-T.-Kao--HolycowShe complained the picture qualities were not as sharp as her other older compact cameras.
Performance Real world tests of Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V vs Panasonic Lumix ZS20
battery life
320 photos
260 photos
Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V by Stephen-F.-Potts (Jan, 2013)Battery life was good and charging is very quick and easy.
Lumix ZS20 by v1per (Aug, 2012)I had used Casio, Olympus, Canon, and Nikon in the past, and the Panasonic Lumix ZS20 beat them all in picture quality (the most important factor in my opinion for a camera), ease of use, battery life, number of useful features, etc..
max continuous shooting
Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V by CedarburgSueThe burst mode is another unbelievable feature that captures ten shots in less than a second and each shot was as good as a normal single photo.
Lumix ZS20 by Martin (May, 2012)The camera also has an intelligent burst mode that takes just one shot of a static object but automatically takes a burst if the object is moving.
Differences What are the advantages of each
Advantages compared to the Panasonic Lumix ZS20
| Much higher resolution screen | 921 k dots | vs | 460 k dots |
|---|---|---|---|
| More than 2x higher resolution screen | |||
| Significantly higher light sensitivity | 12,800 ISO | vs | 6,400 ISO |
| 2x higher light sensitivity; Avoid blur in low light situations | |||
| Much higher resolution | 18 MP | vs | 14 MP |
| Around 30% higher resolution; Capture more detail, good for large prints | |||
| Faster lens | f/3.2 | vs | f/3.3 |
| Almost the same | |||
| Better macro lens | 10 mm | vs | 30 mm |
| 3x closer macro focus; Take great close-up photos | |||
| Significantly more highly reviewed by consumers | 86.57% | vs | 81.44% |
| Around 10% more highly reviewed by consumers | |||
| More photos per charge | 320 | vs | 260 |
| 60 more shots; Longer battery life | |||
| Longer long exposure | 30 s | vs | 15 s |
| 2x longer long exposure; Capture creative photos such as night sky movement | |||
Advantages compared to the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V
| Has a touch screen | Yes | vs | No |
|---|---|---|---|
| Somewhat common; Fewer buttons, interact directly with menus | |||
| Wider lens | 24 mm | vs | 25 mm |
| Almost the same | |||
| Significantly more contrast-detection focus points | 23 | vs | 9 |
| 14 more contrast detection focus points; Better autofocus in low light settings | |||
| Shoots high speed video | Yes | vs | No |
| Somewhat common; Create slow motion video | |||
| Faster max shutter speed | 1/2000 s | vs | 1/1600 s |
| 20% faster max shutter speed; capture fast action | |||
| Slightly lighter | 206 g | vs | 254 g |
| Around 20% lighter | |||
Reviews Word on the street
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Panasonic Lumix ZS20 | ||
 |   Rated by 101 users at amazon.com Rated 80% by by P.-Baek (Apr, 2012)  Rated 100% by by Nom-de-Plume (Jul, 2012) Rated 100% by by W.-Bison |  Rated by 235 users at amazon.com Rated 80% by by Andrew-Griffin (Jul, 2012) | |
|---|---|---|---|
travel
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 100% by by Photography Blog (Jul, 2012)Read our in-depth Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V review to find out if its the best travel camera that your money can buy... The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V is a feature-packed travel-zoom camera that sits at the top of the Cyber-shot range.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 80% by by Bobbo (Nov, 2012)For documenting everyday events, vacations, etc., I think the HX20V will do just fine.
Panasonic Lumix ZS20 | Rated 80% by by TrustedReviews (Sep, 2012)The Panasonic Lumix TZ30 succeeds the (still available) TZ20 as the company’s flagship travel compact, providing a number of useful upgrades over its predecessor.
photography
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 100% by by Photography Blog (Jul, 2012)The Sony CyberShot DSC-HX20V offers a range of 9 creative Picture Effects.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 74% by by DPReview (Jun, 2012)However, I figure that the average buyer of the HX20V will probably be downsizing their photos for web sharing or making 'normal sized' prints.
Panasonic Lumix ZS20 | Rated 60% by by Angelina (Jun, 2012)I tried out my new ZS20 at my grand niece's christening and took pictures of my family and wow, all the pictures came out beautiful and the videos were great, better than my ZS6.
zoom
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 80% by by J.-Gebauer (Aug, 2012)Image quality fall off is pretty typical of travel zoom P. &S and even travel zoom DSLR lenses but I was surprised at how far the image quality fell off with the HX20V.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 74% by by DPReview (Jun, 2012)The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V is a very good travel zoom camera that offers a great selection of auto modes, some very useful bells and whistles, limited manual controls, blazing performance, and 1080/60p video recording.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 100% by by Photography Blog (Jul, 2012)The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V is a new premium travel-zoom compact camera.
lens
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 74% by by DPReview (Jun, 2012)The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V is the midrange model in Sony's trio of GPS-equipped travel zoom cameras.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 100% by by Photography Blog (Jul, 2012)The Sony CyberShot DSC-HX20V's 18x zoom lens offers a very versatile focal range, as illustrated by these examples.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 100% by by Photography Blog (Jul, 2012)You won't want to go back to a "standard" 35mm zoom after using the 25mm lens on the DSC-HX20V, or even a 28mm one - 3mm at the wide-angle end really does make a big difference.
focus
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 80% by by J.-Gebauer (Aug, 2012)The HX20V has a very snappy autofocus also.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V | Rated 100% by by Photography Blog (Jul, 2012)Also located on the front of the HX20V is the centrally located lens and a porthole on the left for the self-timer/AF illuminator.
Panasonic Lumix ZS20 | Rated 80% by by TrustedReviews (Sep, 2012)The TZ30 also benefits from Panasonic’s ‘Light Speed’ autofocus module, which offers a claimed AF speed of 0.1sec in good light.
Competition What else you should consider
 | 1 | Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX10V 3-way tie: Most shots per battery charge |
 | 4 | Nikon Coolpix S9300 Quite fast max shutter speed |
 | 5 | Canon PowerShot SX260 HS Good benchmarked shot to shot times |
 | 6 | Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX30V 2-way tie: Fastest lens |
Popular Questions
May 29, 2012
Best for low light photography
Overall image quality is most important to me. The considerably greater number of focus points on the Panasonic ZS 20, the Leica lense, and faster shutter speed are all important to me; however,...
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January 17, 2013
Vacations, Backpacking
I am looking for a camera that has great image quality, is fast to take wildlife photos, and is reliable. I was leaning toward the sony, but you have me thinking.
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Answers November 28, 2012
Need advise - low light, concerts, general photography
I've been looking into cameras and now thinking of getting Panasonic Lumix TZ30 camera. Does anyone have it and what is the image quality in night and indoor photography. I'm going to a concert...
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Answers October 25, 2012
Landscapes and building photos
I want crystle clear landscape pics amd sharp images of persons
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Answers Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V
Thomas-Smith 
Beginner I
The Sony has one of the fastest Autofocus lenses of any Point and shoot camera out there. Picture quality in low light conditions is excellent and the anti shake system actually works better than... View Thomas-Smith's recommendation
- 0 comments
- June 27, 2012
- Reply to: Best for low light photography
Panasonic Lumix ZS20
Tim-Matthews 
Beginner II
Two reasons; the lens and the battery life. Slight trade off on fstop 3.3 to 6.4 but better than Sony View Tim-Matthews's recommendation
- 0 comments
- May 29, 2012
- Reply to: Best for low light photography
