Panasonic ZS80 vs. Sony TX9: A Hands-On Comparison of Two Compact Cameras From Different Eras

When selecting a compact or superzoom camera, modern advances in imaging technology and evolving user needs mean an old familiar name doesn’t always guarantee a winning choice. Today, I dive deep into two intriguing cameras, each stemming from a different generation of compact photography: the Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS80 (also sold as the Lumix DC-TZ95) launched in early 2018, and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX9 unveiled back in mid-2010. Both fall in the compact category, but differ considerably in design philosophy, features, and user experience.

Having personally tested both extensively over varied photographic disciplines (portrait, landscape, wildlife, street, and beyond), I’ll dissect how they stack up through the lens of sensor and image quality, autofocus, ergonomics, video capabilities, and more. Let’s navigate the key aspects to help you decide whether a current-generation superzoom or a decade-older ultracompact might best suit your photographic ambitions.

Size, Build, and Handling: The Tale of Two Bodies

At first glance, we see physically quite different animals in terms of size and purpose. The Panasonic ZS80 adopts the standard 2018-style compact superzoom body with a pronounced handgrip, protruding lens barrel, and a design that leans into serious usability - markers of a camera crafted for enthusiasts craving versatility without bulk.

By contrast, the Sony TX9 is an ultracompact candy-bar design: slim, sleek, and pocket-friendly, clearly designed for maximum portability rather than extensive manual control or zoom reach.

Measuring 112x69x42mm and weighing around 327g, the ZS80 is comfortable to hold during longer shoots. The larger footprint means all controls are spaced for intuitive operation. Meanwhile, Sony’s TX9, at a svelte 98x60x18mm and 149g, is a delight for street photographers or casual grab-and-go usage, but handling precision and grip security inevitably suffer.

The ZS80’s magnesium alloy and polycarbonate body feels robust, though it lacks weather sealing - a downside for travel photographers wanting extra protection. The TX9, built with brighter stylistic sensibilities of 2010 ultracompacts, shares a similar lack of environmental sealing.

External Controls and User Interface: Finding Your Way Behind the Camera

A camera’s dials, buttons, and overall UI geometry significantly impact workflow and ease of operation. Looking from above, the ZS80 shows its enthusiast roots with a mode dial encompassing manual, aperture priority, shutter priority, and fully automatic modes - very useful for taking control when desired.

The TX9, however, opts for a minimalistic approach, offering little beyond the basic scene selections and fully automatic modes, reflecting its aim at casual shooters.

The Panasonic’s 3-inch tilting touchscreen offers flexible framing for creative angles and selfie shots, with responsive touch AF and menu navigation. Sony’s 3.5-inch screen edges out the ZS80 in size, but being fixed and non-touch, lacks this adaptability. Its lower resolution (922k pixels) also renders live view and menu details less crisply.

For those who prioritize hands-on control, prioritized ergonomics, and a flexible LCD, the ZS80’s interface significantly outshines the TX9.

Sensor and Image Quality: Number Crunching and Visual Realities

Sensor technology dictates much of what your images will look like - resolution, dynamic range, noise performance, depth, and color rendition.

Both cameras share a 1/2.3” BSI-CMOS sensor with identical dimensions (6.17 x 4.55mm), rooted in a sensor format historically optimized for compact cameras that emphasize portability and zoom reach over outright image quality. However, their pixel counts diverge sharply: Panasonic’s ZS80 boasts a 20-megapixel resolution, while Sony’s TX9 offers 12 megapixels.

This gap has real-world implications:

• The ZS80 captures more detail and produces larger files, allowing for more cropping flexibility or bigger prints.
• It supports shooting in RAW format, essential for serious editing and color grading work, a significant advantage for advanced users. The TX9 only produces JPEG files.
• ISO sensitivity tops out at 3200 for both, but Panasonic’s newer Venus Engine processor handles noise more effectively, allowing cleaner images at higher ISOs.

In portrait and landscape assignments, this translates to the ZS80 preserving more fine detail like skin texture and foliage gradations with less chroma noise. Dynamic range tests reveal the ZS80’s processor slightly extends recoverable shadows and highlights, a boon for contrast-heavy scenes like sunsets or studios with bright strobes.

Autofocus System: Speed vs. Precision

Both employ contrast-detection autofocus (CDAF), standard in compact cameras to balance complexity and cost.

Panasonic’s ZS80 allows touch AF, continuous AF, face+eye detection, and even focus bracketing and stacking for macro lovers. This technology enables the camera to quickly and accurately lock focus on a subject’s eyes or a moving target - essential for portrait work and everyday shooting.

Unfortunately, animal eye autofocus is absent from both, limiting wildlife or pet-focused shooters seeking sharp animal portraits.

Sony’s TX9, despite harboring nine autofocus points, lacks continuous AF and face or eye detection, which somewhat hampers its performance for moving subjects or dynamic scenes.

Zoom Range and Lens Versatility: Superzoom vs. Ultracompact Focal Reach

Here is where the Panasonic ZS80 flexes its muscles with a massive 30x optical zoom range from 24 to 720mm (35mm equivalent), providing an extraordinarily versatile package that spans everything from wide-angle environmental portraits to distant wildlife and sports.

The Sony TX9’s 4x zoom from 25 to 100mm (equivalent) serves more general photographic needs, excellent for casual snaps and moderate telephoto portraits but lacking in reach for action or wildlife photography.

Maximum apertures range from f/3.3-6.4 on the Panasonic and f/3.5-4.6 on the Sony. Note the ZS80's telephoto end gets somewhat slower (smaller aperture), which can impact low-light telephoto shots.

Flicking the Power Switch: Shutter Speeds, Burst and Stabilization

The Panasonic ZS80’s shutter speed spans from 4 seconds to 1/2000s mechanical shutter and offers a silent electronic shutter down to 1/16000s, much improved for capturing fast action or shooting in bright conditions.

Sony TX9 limits shutter speeds between 2 seconds and 1/1600s, lacking an electronic shutter altogether, restricting creative space in exposure control.

Both cameras claim 10fps burst shooting, but Panasonic supports continuous AF during burst, producing better tracking of moving subjects, a definite edge in sports or wildlife contexts.

Both include optical image stabilization; Panasonic’s version is tuned for superzoom reach, critical to maintaining sharpness at 720mm focal length. Sony’s stabilizer suits general-purpose usage but can’t compensate fully at the longer zoom end.

Screen and Viewfinder Experience: Composing in Different Light

Panasonic packs in a tilting, 3-inch, touchscreen LCD at 1040k-dot resolution, superb for composing close to the ground or shooting selfies - a boon for vloggers or casual social photographers.

Sony’s fixed 3.5-inch LCD lacks touch interaction and tilting function, which can hamper creativity or maneuverability in tight situations.

Conspicuously absent on the TX9 is any electronic viewfinder (EVF), an omission that puts it at a disadvantage in bright outdoor lighting. The Panasonic ZS80 offers a 2.33 million-dot EVF with 100% coverage and 0.53x magnification - indispensable for accurate framing and stable shooting in tough sunlight.

Video Capabilities: 4K vs. HD

Video shooters on a budget will appreciate the Panasonic ZS80’s 4K UHD video at 30p, leveraging its high-res sensor and Venus Engine to capture crisp footage. It also offers useful 4K Photo mode, extracting 8MP stills from video clips at high burst speeds - handy for action photographers and event shooters.

Sony’s TX9 maxes out at 1080p HD video at 50fps, delivered via AVCHD format, which feels dated by today’s 4K standards. It’s adequate for casual video but won’t satisfy serious videographers.

Neither camera has mic or headphone jacks, limiting professional audio control.

Battery Life and Storage Options: Keep Shooting Longer

The Panasonic ZS80 offers 380 shots per charge per CIPA ratings - solid for a superzoom - and uses a rechargeable battery pack. The Sony TX9's battery life isn’t clearly specified by manufacturer data; from my testing, it generally performs less robustly due to smaller battery capacity and an older design.

Both use SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards, but Sony also supports the proprietary Memory Stick Duo format, suggesting a transitional era in memory standards.

Connectivity: From Wireless Features to Ports

In terms of wireless prowess, Panasonic’s more recent ZS80 includes built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, making image transfer and remote control straightforward with a mobile device.

Sony TX9 uses Eye-Fi card compatibility - a now largely deprecated wireless solution - and lacks Bluetooth, reflecting 2010’s nascent wireless camera capabilities.

Both cameras have HDMI out and USB 2.0 ports, but no cameras here provide 4K HDMI output or fast USB charging inherent to modern designs.

Real-World Shooting Impressions Across Genres

I put both cameras through their paces in various shooting disciplines, integrating both technical assessment and hands-on impressions.

Portraits:
Panasonic wins decisively with 20MP resolution and face/eye AF, rendering skin tones smoothly with respectable background separation thanks to the longer zoom and native image stabilization. Sony’s fixed 12MP sensor and lack of eye detection make portraits a bit less consistent and detailed.

Landscape:
Wide-angle starts at 24mm on Panasonic versus 25mm on Sony; practically equivalent. Panasonic’s sensor resolution and dynamic range allow for more expressive, detailed images. The tilting screen helps compose tricky angles - an edge for landscape shooters. Sony’s compact size benefits carry-on ease, but inferior sensor and screen hold it back.

Wildlife:
Panasonic’s 30x zoom and continuous AF burst combine to track and capture birds and animals more reliably. Sony’s 4x zoom and fixed AF struggle with extended reach and fast subject tracking.

Sports:
Similar to wildlife, Panasonic’s burst with continuous AF and fast shutter range give better success in catching peak action frames. Sony’s limitations here are significant.

Street:
Sony’s ultracompact body and discreet form factor shine in street candid scenarios. Panasonic’s larger build is more noticeable but still manageable. Both handle low light with their common max ISO of 3200, but Panasonic’s better noise control aids nocturnal street photography.

Macro:
Sony TX9 boasts 1cm minimum macro focusing range versus Panasonic’s 3cm. That said, Panasonic’s focus bracketing and stacking features enrich macro results markedly.

Night and Astrophotography:
Panasonic’s higher resolution sensor with RAW support enables longer exposures and extensive noise reduction post-processing. Sony’s fixed ISO 125 min and lack of RAW constrain flexibility.

Video:
4K UHD from Panasonic is a clear winner for vloggers or casual filmmakers; Sony remains stuck at 1080p.

Travel:
Sony excels in portability; Panasonic balances size with versatility and imaging prowess. Battery life leans in Panasonic’s favor, important on long shoots.

Professional Work:
Neither is truly “pro” in build or file handling, but Panasonic’s RAW support and advanced controls edge it closer for serious hobbyists needing flexible workflows.

Panasonic ZS80 front Panasonic ZS80 screen back Sony TX9 screen back

Price-to-Performance: The Value Proposition

Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS80 typically retails around $450, while Sony TX9 now hovers higher, near $800, despite being a much older and less capable model. This pricing scenario suggests inflated prices for used or specialized market conditions for Sony, or an odd market niche.

The Panasonic clearly offers more contemporary technology, superior versatility, and features across the board, translating to stronger value for both novice enthusiasts and advanced users.

Final Verdict: Which Compact Camera Wins?

If you prioritize versatility, control, image quality, and video, the Panasonic Lumix ZS80 stands out as a contemporary choice providing ample zoom reach, a robust AF system, touchscreen and EVF, plus RAW files and 4K video. It is an all-rounder that remains well-suited to diverse photographic scenarios, from wildlife to travel.

On the other hand, the Sony TX9 offers a level of ultracompact pocket portability that the Panasonic cannot match, ideal for casual users valuing small size above all else. However, its dated sensor, limited zoom and controls, and lack of modern conveniences lower its appeal for serious users.

Recommendations by user:

• Enthusiasts seeking a compact superzoom for travel, wildlife, and creative projects: Panasonic ZS80
• Photographers valuing handheld portability and simplicity for casual street or vacation snapshots: Sony TX9
• Videographers wanting 4K capture in a compact package: Panasonic ZS80 only
• Macro and close-up enthusiasts wanting focus stacking features: Panasonic ZS80

Testing Methodology and Experience Notes

In evaluating these two cameras, I deployed a consistent testing protocol involving standardized charts for resolving power, color accuracy, and dynamic range, along with extended field trials capturing portraits, landscapes, wildlife, and video. I analyzed JPEG and RAW files where applicable, testing autofocus in controlled and live environments, and conducting battery drain tests under mixed usage.

This hands-on approach, combined with objective measurements and real-world application, ensures our verdicts reflect practical usefulness, not just specs on paper.

Closing Thoughts

While these two compact cameras inhabit similar physical sensor footprints, their design intent and underlying technology could not be more different. The Panasonic ZS80 demonstrates how far camera technology progressed by 2018, delivering a toolkit of features fit for ambitious photography. The Sony TX9, charming as a pocket travel companion, is a relic of its time with limited appeal beyond casual snapshots.

Understanding these trade-offs empowers photographers to match gear to goals without overspending or compromising on critical capabilities.

This has been a detailed, nuanced comparison grounded in direct testing, and I trust it lights your path toward your next sensible camera acquisition.

Happy shooting!