Even as the lesser of Panasonic's 2012 travel zooms, the Lumix ZS15 is no slouch. For a smooth $279, it packs a 16x zoom lens and a 12.1-megapixel MOS sensor—the same one that powers the "FZ150 superzoom":http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Panasonic-FZ150-Digital-Camera-Review.htm, the best fixed-lens camera we've ever tested (at time of writing, of course). If the design looks familiar, that's because it's a re-jiggered version of last year's "ZS10":http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Panasonic-DMC-ZS10-Digital-Camera-Review.htm: an almost identical body, a similar (if not the same) lens, and most of the same features. But with a proven sensor at its core, the ZS15 should prove to be a great camera, especially for the price. We spent a few minutes with a pre-production version of the ZS15 at CES 2012 last month—good thing we did, because it didn't make its expected appearance at CP+ this week. Read on for our first impressions.