Panasonic Lumix DC-TS7 / FT7

The Lumix DC-TS7, also named DC-FT7, is a weather-sealed compact released in 2019. It weighs 319 g and is 37 mm deep, so it carries like a thick phone rather than a camera bag, and the sealing means rain and dust are less of a worry than with an unsealed body.

Everything is self-contained. The 20-megapixel sensor, the fixed lens, the built-in flash and an electronic viewfinder all live in one body, so there are no lenses to choose and nothing extra to pack. That simplicity suits travellers and families who do not want to carry a system camera.

Day-to-day ownership is undemanding. It records to standard SD cards and charges over USB, so keeping it ready between outings takes little planning.

The 20-megapixel CMOS sensor uses the small 1/2.3-inch format, and the Venus Engine handles image processing. That resolution leaves room for prints and reasonable cropping, and the small sensor is part of why the whole camera fits in a pocket. Sensitivity runs from ISO 80 to 3200.

Autofocus offers 49 points, and bursts reach up to 10 frames per second, enough to catch a sequence at a school race or a dog mid-leap. In-body stabilisation steadies the camera at slower shutter speeds, which helps in shade, though it cannot freeze a moving subject.

A 1.17-million-dot electronic viewfinder is built in, and it makes framing comfortable in bright sunshine when a rear screen alone is hard to see. It also gives you a stable eye-level shooting position, which helps with composition on moving subjects.

Video is well covered for a compact. The TS7 records MP4 movies with stereo sound in 4K at 30p or 24p, and in Full HD at up to 60p. The 4K footage gives you room to crop or reframe during editing.

For slow motion there is a High Speed Video mode. It captures HD at 120 frames per second and records the result as a 30p file, so playback runs at roughly a quarter of normal speed. The mode records no audio, and a single clip can last up to 7 minutes 29 seconds.

A built-in time-lapse function handles the interval shooting automatically, which is handy for compressing clouds, tides or a sunset into a short clip without extra gear.

At the back sits a 3-inch TFT LCD with a sharp 1.04-million-dot panel. It is fixed in place and has no touch control, so settings change through buttons and menus, and framing is always from directly behind the camera. The high resolution at least makes it easy to check focus and detail while shooting.

Light is built in but closed off. The internal flash provides fill light whenever you need it, and with no external flash support, any added light indoors comes from that small unit.

Both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are built in, giving the camera two wireless standards.

The body is weather-sealed, so rain and dust are less of a worry than with an unsealed camera, though sealing is not the same as waterproofing. The camera has no GPS, so it cannot add location data to photos on its own.

Storage is simple: one SD, SDHC or SDXC card slot. With no second slot there is no in-camera backup, so for a once-in-a-lifetime trip it pays to carry spare cards rather than trust a single one.

The DMW-BCM13PP battery is rated for roughly 300 shots per charge with the rear monitor, or about 250 if you shoot through the viewfinder. Those are CIPA test figures rather than a promise for a full day, but they cover a typical outing, and a spare battery handles longer ones.

Charging runs over USB, so topping the battery up between shoots is straightforward without needing a separate external charger.