The camera itself is great. The zoom combined with the image processing in the camera produces great pictures. The device is reasonably small for a travel camera and amazingly small for this zoom capability. GPS functionality is also a big plus.
My experience with the WIFI connectivity is less positive. To have it is state of the art - specifically in competition with todays smartphone & tablets. However, the implementation has potential for improvement from the user experience point of view.
Connectivity with newer Android Versions
Connection was possible with an older Android Tab running Cyanogenmod and a Galaxy S3. Connection failed with Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 devices and a Galaxy Tab S. After some investigation, it appears that with Android 4.3 a new function has been introduced called "Smart Network Switch". Searching the web shows this functionality mentioned with Samsung Devices. I'm not sure whether this is a Samsung specific of a new general Android function.
The purpose of this function is to always make sure that the device has a proper internet connection. The device checks if the connection is ok and will switch to an alternative connection, if there is no (or poor) internet.
What is the relation to the TZ61?
The camera uses WIFI to communication with other services or devices. It can use local WIFI network or establish a direct WIFI link between two devices. The later is kind of useful, if you are on travel and the is no WLAN network. Here comes the pitfall: When the link is established via NFC or QR-Code the actual connection is done with WIFI direct. The way the smartphone application establishes the link implies that the normal WIFI connection from before is turned off. If that was the link to the internet before, the "Smart Network Switch" detects this and acts. Effect is that the connection to the camera is disconnected after a few moments. Confusingly enough the camera may show that the link was established correctly. However, no pictures have been transferred or anything else meaningful has happened on the link.
Solution #1: Using Infrastructure Network
If you are able to attach the camera to the same WLAN as you smart device, you should be able to get it working even with the "Smart Network Switch" on. When on travel this is not always an option. If the foreign WLAN has a login screen, you most likely won't get the camera into the network. If the foreign network is configured more or less secure, the different clients won't see each other - i.e. even attaching the camera to the network will not work. If the clients see each other, it may be a risk to bring your devices in as someone else may access your stuff as well.
A solution may be to have a portable access point which uses a LAN cable for the internet access. I'm using this on travel whenever possible. All devices can then automatically attach to the (well-known) own WLAN.
You could also consider using the Smart Device itself as a mobile hot spot. However, this is not going to work. In my opinion, this is related to the fact that the devices find each other automatically when being in the same network. This broadcast mechanism is not designed to work in the tethering mode.
Solution #2: Turn "Smart Network Switch" off
Turing that functionality off fixes the connection problem. However, it may have other side effects. The phone may stay on a really poor connection although there is a much better available. You will have to switch manually then (by turning off WLAN to enforce mobile, or to switch to another WLAN).
The Smart network switch function can be found unter "Settings -> Wi-Fi" on the Android Device.
Camera Functions
The TZ61 offers these main functions:
- Remote Control of the Camera
- Uploading Pictures after being taken
- Uploading Pictures while being taken
- Slideshow: Displaying pictures on TV etc.
- Updating GPS Assist Data
Depending on the function different targets are available. The remote control obviously only makes sense with a specific application on the smart device. The upload functions can be used with PCs or cloud service (LUMIX club).
For day to day use the upload functions have a certain relevance as they provide a backup and make the pictures available elsewhere - to be viewed, processed or shared.
Upload while picture is taken
It appears that before taking pictures, you have to explicitly establish the link between the devices. If the camera was turned off, the link is gone. I.e. if you make spontaneous pictures, this is not practical.
Upload after picture is taken
After selecting this function, the camera confirms that the link is established and shows the current settings for upload. You should not wait for anything to happen now, as nothing will happen (except the camera will automatically shut off after a while...). You need to confirm or change the settings. then another selection is shown. The user can choose between single and multiple upload. On the multiple upload, picture need to be selected one by one. There is no function to simply upload all new pictures.
Updating GPS Assist Data
The GPS Assist Data is a data used by the camera to reduce the time to obtain the GPS position. If such data is not present, the camera needs to download this data from the received satellite signal. As this is a very slow download, it takes a while until the position is determined. The assist data is valid for a month, so it is worth updating it before the next travel. This feature is fairly good implemented. The camera offers a number of different ways to update the position data. In a wireless LAN, it can do this directly. Also it is possible to use an USB connection to a PC. If all that is not possible, the camera puts a windows application, a Mac application and a HTML file onto the SD card. The applications will download the data file and save it to the card. The HTML file redirects to the Panasonic Website with GPS file download and instructions.
To verify the proper update of the assist data, the expiry date should be checked in the Menu GPS -> Assist Data ->Expiry Date. The displayed date range should start on the previous day. If the camera does not recognize the file on SD, you should check the date / time settings on the camera. On my camera, time & date were for some reason wrong. Without have investigated this, I think that setting the clock without setting "World Time" caused a shift of a number of hours. As a consequence the camera was not accepting the file as it was to be become valid only in the future.
Final Thoughts
From a technical perspective the connectivity and functions are nice and what you need. From a usability point of view, things could be much better. The interference with the "Smart Network Switch" functionality is a little bit unfortunate. Other apps using wifi-direct are able to maintain an existing WIFI link. Maybe this can be fixed in a future version of the Android smart device app.
Even once the link is configured, there are - in my view - too many settings / keys to be pressed on the camera - if you want to transfer pictures for example. One would expect that the camera returns to the last settings and for example transfers pictures automatically to the smartphone.
From that perspective the WIFI functions are behind my expectations and behind what is possible today. Still this camera is a recommendation for its core competencies - producing great pictures.