has the camera software been improved a lot since the z2

[chocolateyum]

I have a z2 and am thinking about getting the z5 compact. Problem is, the z2 does an absolutely horrible job adjusting to bright backgrounds a lot of the time. It seems to white out photos so you can't see colors real well when the background is somewhat bright, not even majorly bright, just somewhat like on a sunny day.

Does the z5 still have this problem?

Also, I know it's not advertised as waterproof anymore but can I still take it into the pool if I just take photos maybe just 1 ft below the surface for very short time periods?