Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 (silver)
Manufacturer: Panasonic Part number: DMC-ZS3S
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- Bottom Line:
- As long as you don't want much in the way of manual features, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 is a very nice camera that can handle a variety of shooting situations.
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CNET editors' review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 (silver) price range: $274.95 - $349.97
- Reviewed by: Lori Grunin
- Reviewed on: 04/16/2009
- Released on: 04/20/2009
The good: Long and wide-angle zoom lens in a compact body; 720p movies; lens can zoom during movie capture.
The bad: Very few manual controls.
The bottom line: As long as you don't want much in the way of manual features, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 is a very nice camera that can handle a variety of shooting situations.
Like its predecessor, the Lumix DMC-TZ5, Panasonic's Lumix DMC-ZS3 offers an interesting combination of features, including a 12x zoom lens and 720p AVCHD video capture, in an attractive, compact body. And with better photo quality, slightly faster performance, and a wider angle lens, the ZS3 does improve upon the older model. It also holds pretty well compared with competitors like the Canon PowerShot SX200 IS.
Available in blue, silver, black, and red, the ZS3 (aka the TZ7 elsewhere) has a similar little brother, the ZS1, which differs in some obvious and not-so-obvious ways for their approximately $100 price differential. Though they both shoot 10-megapixel photos, the ZS3 actually uses a 12-megapixel sensor in order to maintain the same angle of view 16:9 and 4:3 aspect modes. The ZS3 also offers a 720p HD movie mode with stereo and a mini HDMI output versus the ZS1's monaural VGA, and has a larger 3-inch LCD.
At 7.7 ounces with dimensions of 2.4 inches by 4.1 inches by 1.3 inches, the ZS3 counts as compact, and fits quite comfortably in a jacket pocket. For the most part, it uses the same design as the TZ5--both attractive and functional--and it's smaller and lighter. Panasonic swapped the traditional locations of the shutter and the mode dial, placing the former to the left of the latter. After a while, it starts to feel more natural, however. A dial lets you switch among camera and movie modes, as well as two slots for program exposure (scene) modes--these have the same choices, but allow the camera to remember two of your last selections--Intelligent Auto and an odd Clipboard mode that captures low-resolution photos to internal memory for fast display. Panasonic fixed the placement of the microphone; though there's still a warning in the manual to watch you don't put your fingers over it, it's farther in toward the center and didn't pose any problems.
The four navigation buttons toggle among the exposure compensation, flash, macro, and self-timer options. Depending upon your current zoom, it automatically chooses standard or telemacro. The ZS3 adds a macro zoom mode, which is basically digital zoom; I suggest you avoid it. Even though the photos look fine when small, I kept forgetting I'd left it on that mode rather than the standard AF Macro.
The Q(uick) menu button brings up a subset of options that are also available in the full menus: LCD brightness, picture size, aspect ratio, intelligent exposure, ISO sensitivity, white balance, AF mode--spot, face detect, AF tracking, 11-area, 1-area high speed, and 1-area--and burst shooting. The full menu adds more shooting settings--picture quality, Intelligent ISO, metering, continuous and Quick AF, intelligent exposure, color effects, digital zoom, minimum shutter speed, audio recording, AF assist, optical image stabilization mode, and clock set--as well as setup screens.
Panasonic adds face recognition to selected models in the Lumix line for 2009; in this case, the ZS3 but not the ZS1. At this point, I think the implementation is still more novel than useful. You can register up to six faces in the camera memory with names and birthdays, priority (for AF and exposure), and a custom focus icon. During playback, the person's name appears. However, you can't use this information to search during playback, and it doesn't seem to appear anywhere in the EXIF data for the photo. As with the TZ5, I still like the minimum shutter speed setting; you can set it as slow as 1 second or as fast as 1/200, and though it doesn't prevent the camera from shooting when exposure drops below the threshold, it does blink a warning message. Intelligent ISO lets you set a maximum for the auto of ISO 400, ISO 800, or ISO 1,600.
The various AF area-mode selections are pretty practical as well, though more for limiting the range of subjects the AF system chooses to focus on than for speed. For instance, the 11-area AF will frequently choose incorrect subjects, where the 1-area AF, which limits the focus area to the middle of the frame, will probably choose correctly more often (since most people simply point at their subject, which puts it in the middle of the frame). The ZS3 has a variety of continuous-shooting modes: standard burst (three best quality shots); a slower infinite burst (highest quality until the card is full), which most closely resembles a typical continuous-shooting mode; and a high-speed burst scene mode, with combinations of various reduced resolutions and ISO sensitivity setting constraints.
Movie-specific options include size and quality, a choice of area or face detect for AF, continuous AF, color, and wind filter. The ZS3 shoots 1,280x720 30fps (720p) HD video, which gets saved in the AVCHD Lite format. This might be a bit of a problem on the software end; many players (software and standalone) need to see the entire AVCHD path on the media, but if you use a photo downloader it might either ignore the movies entirely or simply copy them over without the directory structure. The ZS3 can zoom--quietly, too--while shooting video, but the autofocus doesn't adjust while zooming and takes a second to lock again once you've stopped. But it's got a dedicated movie-record button, which comes in handy.
While the 12x lens covers a nice focal range, 25-300mm-equivalent, it's fairly slow: maximum aperture is f3.3-4.9, depending upon the zoom. The 3-inch LCD looks nice, but tends to get reflective in direct sunlight making it difficult to frame scenes, especially if you're trying to view off-angle.
The ZS3 delivers decent performance, a bit better than the TZ5 and about average for its category. It powers on and shoots in about 2.3 seconds. While it takes a reasonable 0.5 second to focus and shoot in good light, its 1.1 seconds to do so in dimmer, lower contrast lighting is on the high side--too high. Shot-to-shot takes a hair more than 2 seconds, and increases moderately to 2.4 seconds with flash enabled. Our tests with the standard three-shot burst mode yielded a range from 1.9 to 2.3 frames per second.
Overall, the photo quality is quite good for its class. While not quite as sharp as that of the Canon PowerShot SX200 IS, the lens is sharper than the TZ5's with less distortion and practically no fringing. It renders excellent color, saturated and accurate, and generally exposes well, though it tends to clip highlights and haze over a bit in bright scenes. Typical of a point and shoot, the ZS3's noise profile fares well up to ISO 200; at ISO 400 noise-suppression artifacts like blurring start to appear, though the quality isn't bad. Despite the camera's ability to go up as high as ISO 6,400 (in the scene modes), I certainly wouldn't use it beyond ISO 1,600 and even then only in an emergency.
It would be nice if the camera had some more--OK, any--manual features, like the SX200 IS, but if you're looking for a real point and shoot with the flexibility to cover a large variety of shooting situations, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 offers a very compelling alternative.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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Time to first shot | |
Typical shot-to-shot time | |
Shutter lag (dim) | |
Shutter lag (typical) |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
User reviews
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Great all in one
by oljoshe8743 on May 22, 2009
Pros: very easy to work
picture quality is great
video quality is also greatCons: a little hard to hold focus when fully zoomed
Summary: Tested camera against my Canon 20D SLR
Tested camcorder against my Sony HD Camcorder
You would have to be a professional to figure which was better on both counts.
For ...Summary: Tested camera against my Canon 20D SLR
Tested camcorder against my Sony HD Camcorder
You would have to be a professional to figure which was better on both counts.
For a point and shoot, it cannot possibly get any better.
The software was also very simple, burning a hd dvd no problem (you need a dvd player that will play "avchd", my 2 year old blu ray does so I'm sure most any will) or you can burn your video in sd format for any player (I have not checked this quality.)
I have a couple of thousand dollars worth of cameras I will be gladly setting on my shelf and replacing with this one in my pocket.
I ordered this Camera for my father, when I got it I could not help testing it.
I am looking for one now for myself. I showed the pics and video to my brother he said order him one. I hope they pay me back.9 out of 10 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Best camera I ever head, finally a proper hybrid
by peterlam268 on June 16, 2009
Pros: - Great attention to details
- Lecia Lense
- Great Movie (no limit to length)
- 12x zoom
- really compact
- great photo qualityCons: - no manual control
- bad AVHD format - cannot be easily playback in either mac or Windows
- no support for Mac
- Dial is extremely annoying if not in position (it won't allow to shoot or view the photos if you dial are not click to the right mode)Summary: Excellent Camera!! A real hybrid... no longer need to sacrifice in video quality. I pick this over LX-3 because i usually don't use the manual controls no matter how ...
Summary: Excellent Camera!! A real hybrid... no longer need to sacrifice in video quality. I pick this over LX-3 because i usually don't use the manual controls no matter how much i love to.
5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great camera for when I don't need the power of my SLR.
by 3xranger on September 1, 2009
Pros: Clear, well exposed pictures of people and landscapes. Camera does a great job of detecting scenes and taking very high quality pictures. I would highly recommend to anyone who doesn't want to lug around a big camera (I have a D200).
Cons: Not much manual controls are available. But like I mentioned above, this is for those occasions when you don't need or want the big gun.
Summary: This is a great camera for traveling light and still getting high quality pictures--all automatically. I consider myself an amateur photographer and love to take photos where I'm in ...
Summary: This is a great camera for traveling light and still getting high quality pictures--all automatically. I consider myself an amateur photographer and love to take photos where I'm in control of all setting--I have a Nikon D200. But there are times when I just want to do things other than photography. When I do stuff with the kids, I find this camera to be the perfect companion. Just point and shoot. The camera even recognizes my kids faces when taking group shots, and it makes sure that my kids are correctly exposed and focused. It detects the scene where you may have a very light background with a person in the foreground and compensates to expose the person correctly. The other beauty is the wide angle and telephoto--and it's not digital telephoto, it's the real deal.
4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Best Digital camera we have owned!!
by whaase on August 26, 2009
Pros: 12X zoom, and CLEAR!! Zoom while shooting video, nice video quality, Excellent still pictures!!
Cons: I have NO cons
Summary: We used this camera on our 1st BIG summer vacation to Jackson Hole, Wy and Yellowstone National Park. What better place to test a camera's quality then there! Anti-shake ...
Summary: We used this camera on our 1st BIG summer vacation to Jackson Hole, Wy and Yellowstone National Park. What better place to test a camera's quality then there! Anti-shake worked super while on horseback and a river float trip, again, no better situation to test this feature! We had 2 digitals filming at the same time, the other without anti-shake and very obvious it did not have this feature! Stills? We did not have 1 still that was blurry!! Not one! MANY with the other! The zoom while video taping was exceptional! The videos we took of Bison, Elk and the Tetons were very nice!! I made a 50 video movie with Adobe Premiere Elements, the big issue here is the absolute HOG of a computer you need to make a movie!! It to FOREVER to make the movie because my BRAND NEW HOG HP laptop was not THE top laptop on the mountain which you WILL need!! 6 to 8 gigs of RAM, I have an AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile ZM-86 chip set, not fast enough! Make sure if you want to make movies, long ones with lots of transitions and other effects, that you also have a fast, current system and program that can handle the AVCHD format or you won't be happy!!
great camera, and all we'll use from here out!2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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great camera
by wes on July 1, 2009
Pros: stereo in movie mode, zoom in movie mode, 25mm wide angle, intelagent sensor very easy to use. small compared to my SLR nickon. very good pic qulity, great movie quality.
Cons: dial get moved easy.
Summary: i spent many weeks reviewing cameras and came up with this one on top. I am very happy with it. I dont miss the manuel controls as I can use ...
Summary: i spent many weeks reviewing cameras and came up with this one on top. I am very happy with it. I dont miss the manuel controls as I can use mu nickon SLR any
time for that sooting but I have owned 10 digatal cameras and like this one the most
i would highly recomend this camera to any one.2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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THE POINT AND SHOOT FOR THIS YEAR
Pros: Almost everything
Cons: No LED video light, little manual exposure control
Summary: This is the point and shoot to get if you want the highest zoom, great io features, in BOTH still and moving pictures! Wide angle lens and video compression that ...
Summary: This is the point and shoot to get if you want the highest zoom, great io features, in BOTH still and moving pictures! Wide angle lens and video compression that will allow you to record video until the memory is full!! It will change settings to allow for the best video, changing for low light, indoors, outdoors . .manually or automatically!! A true HD camcorder and digicam in one. I thought the Samsung hz15w / wb550 was going to be the one for me this year, but they have restricted recording times. This Panasonic rules.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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My "go to" camera. Great movies and pictures.
by twcmiaan on November 3, 2009
Pros: Video with zoom, good quality pictures, very wide angle and 12x zoom.
Cons: Still can't find a spare battery - no one has it in stock. This is ridiculous. Time delay in pressing shutter and picture being taken is often way too long.
Summary: Despite my issues in the "cons" section above, this is still the best camera I have owned. It is easy to use, takes great quality movies, the 12X zoom is ...
Summary: Despite my issues in the "cons" section above, this is still the best camera I have owned. It is easy to use, takes great quality movies, the 12X zoom is nice to have and the wide angle is very nice for indoor shots. I don't even bother using my semi-pro Canon anymore as this camera takes pictures just as good and can fit in my pocket.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Just love it
by tlinda on October 12, 2009
Pros: Mega zoom + wide angle. Easy to use
Cons: I miss a viewer
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Love the pics when the camera actually works properly.
by jodimart on September 12, 2009
Pros: Easy point and shoot. IA mode is great for most along with the many scene options. Like the auto bracketing feature since this doesn't have a backlight option. Pictures are beautiful when the camera works.
Cons: For some reason I can take many pictures and they seem fine on the camera. Then I turn it off and on again and it says it can only show some pictures as thumbnails or the pictures are just GRAY!! they are gone!! If try to upload it says file corrupt.
Summary: Well, if you aren't picky about having ALL of the pictures you take, I guess this camera is ok. I am really bummed since I tried calling Panasonic about ...
Summary: Well, if you aren't picky about having ALL of the pictures you take, I guess this camera is ok. I am really bummed since I tried calling Panasonic about this problem and they said I must have forgotten to format the card and that they had never heard of this problem. Funny cause it happened to someone else who has this camera as well. Maybe we are the only 2??? It works great for a while and then all of a sudden just chunks of pictures can't be read and can't be uploaded and it says the files are corrupted. Again, Panasonic had no clue what to do with this. I was really enjoying playing around with this camera too. But I will have to return it and find another option because I can't have pictures just disappear on me or show up corrupted. Maybe someone has a suggestion about this, but I would be wary buying this camera.
2 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Best camera ever
by vjd27 on December 10, 2009
Pros: I have owned many cameras but this is the best I have bought. HD video is simply breathtaking, even in low light conditions. You can even zoom while taking video. Photos are absolutely stunning.
Cons: There is nothing that I did not like
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Panasonic
- Part number: DMC-ZS3S
- Description: The ZS3 records HD motion images at a smooth 60 frames per second with 1280 x 720-pixel resolution. It uses the AVCHD (MPEG-4/H.264) format, via AVCHD lite, which stores less data than other formats and thus lets you shoot more minutes of HD motion images before running out of memory. Just set the camera to iA mode, aim and shoot. The camera does all the rest. It automatically determines the most suitable scene mode and helps correct blurring, focus, and brightness problems. With iA mode, it's easy to get beautiful, clear results. In the ZS3, iA mode cannot be used when shooting motion images. The ZS3 packs a LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens with 12x optical zoom into a compact body. This versatile photographic tool lets you shoot everything from sweeping vistas at the 25mm wide-angle setting to dynamic 300mm telephoto shots. And the lens system's exquisite rendering ability lets you capture even the subtle nuances of the sights and scenes in your travels.
General
- Product Type Digital camera - Compact
- Width 4.1 in
- Depth 1.3 in
- Height 2.4 in
- Weight 7.2 oz
- Enclosure Color Silver
Main Features
- Resolution 10.1 megapixels
- Color Support Color
- Total Pixels 12,700,000 pixels
- Effective Sensor Resolution 10,100,000 pixels
- Light Sensitivity ISO 80, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1600, ISO 3200, ISO auto, ISO auto (1600-6400)
- Digital Zoom 4 x
- Shooting Modes Frame movie mode
- Shooting Programs Pet, Food, Snow, Baby1, Baby2, Beach, Candle, Sunset, Scenery, Pin hole, Fireworks, Low light, Soft skin, Transform, Film grain, Starry sky, Underwater, Night scene, Sports mode, Aerial photo, Beach & surf, Party/indoor, Portrait mode, Self-portrait, Hi-speed burst, Night portrait, High sensitivity
- Special Effects Cool, Warm, Sepia, Vivid, Natural, Black & White
- Image Stabilizer Optical (MEGA O.I.S.)
- Max Shutter Speed 1/2000 sec
- Min Shutter Speed 60 sec
- Exposure Metering Spot, Multi-segment, Center-weighted
- Exposure Modes Program, Automatic
- Exposure Compensation ±2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps
- Auto Exposure Bracketing 3 steps in 1/3, 2/3 or 1 EV steps
- Face Detection Yes
- White Balance Custom, Presets, Automatic
- White Balance Presets Shade, Cloudy, Halogen, Daylight
- Digital Video Format QuickTime, AVCHD Lite
- Still Image Format JPEG
- TV Tuner None
- Video Capture QuickTime - 640 x 480, QuickTime - 320 x 240, QuickTime - 848 x 480, AVCHD Lite - 1280 x 720
Memory / Storage
- Supported Flash Memory MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card
- Integrated Memory 45 MB
- Floppy Drive None
- Image Storage JPEG 3648 x 2736, JPEG 3072 x 2304, JPEG 2560 x 1920, JPEG 2048 x 1536, JPEG 1600 x 1200, JPEG 640 x 480, JPEG 3776 x 2520, JPEG 3168 x 2112, JPEG 2656 x 1768, JPEG 2112 x 1408, JPEG 2048 x 1360, JPEG 3968 x 2232, JPEG 3328 x 1872, JPEG 2784 x 1568, JPEG 2208 x 1248, JPEG 1920 x 1080
Camera Flash
- Camera Flash Built-in flash
- Flash Modes Auto mode, Fill-in mode, Slow synchro, Flash OFF mode, Red-eye reduction
- Red Eye Reduction Yes
- Effective Flash Range 2 ft - 17.4 ft
- Features AF illuminator
Lens System
- Type Zoom lens - 4.1 mm - 49.2 mm - F/3.3-4.9
- Focal Length 4.1 mm - 49.2 mm
- Focal Length Equivalent to 35mm Camera 25 - 300 mm
- Focus Adjustment Automatic
- Min Focus Range 19.7 in
- Macro Focus Range 3cm
- Lens Aperture F/3.3-4.9
- Optical Zoom 12 x
- Zoom Adjustment Motorized drive
- Lens Construction 8 group(s) / 10 element(s)
- Lens Manufacturer Leica
- Features ED glass, Aspherical lens, Built-in lens shield
Additional Features
- Self Timer Yes
- Self Timer Delay 2 sec, 10 sec
- Additional Features DPOF support, Direct print, Audio dubbing, Face detection, Audio recording, Date/time stamp, Built-in speaker, Cropping an image, Histogram display, Resizing an image, Exif Print support, PictBridge support, Built-in help guide, YouTube capture mode, In-camera red-eye fix, USB 2.0 compatibility, Backlight compensation, Digital image rotation, RGB primary color filter, Intelligent Scene Selector, Camera orientation detection
Viewfinder
- Viewfinder Type None
Display
- Type LCD display - TFT active matrix - 3 in - Color
- Display Form Factor Built-in
- Display Format 460,000 pixels
Digital Player (Recorder)
- Type None
Microphone
- Type Microphone - Built-in
- Microphone Operation Mode Stereo
- Microphone Features Wind noise reduction
Connections
- Connector Type 1 x USB, 1 x Composite video/audio output, 1 x HDMI output, 1 x DC power input
- Expansion Slot(s) 1 x SD Memory Card
Software
- Software Drivers & Utilities, ArcSoft Panorama Maker, ArcSoft MediaImpression, Panasonic PHOTOfunSTUDIO 3.0
System Requirements for PC Connection
- Peripheral Devices USB port, CD-ROM drive
Miscellaneous
- Included Accessories Hand strap, Battery case
- Cables Included USB cable, A/V cable
Power
- Power Device Battery charger - External
Battery
- Supported Battery 1 x Li-ion rechargeable battery - 940 mAh ( Included )
Product series
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 (blue)
Manufacturer: Panasonic
Specs: 10.1 megapixels, 12 x, 3 in LCD display
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 (black)
Manufacturer: Panasonic
Specs: 10.1 megapixels, 12 x, 3 in LCD display
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 (silver)
Manufacturer: Panasonic
Specs: 10.1 megapixels, 12 x, 3 in LCD display
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Manufacturer: Panasonic
Specs: 10.1 megapixels, 12 x, 3 in LCD display
Accessories
Manufacturer info
- Panasonic
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Panasonic products on Shopper.com
-
- Website: http://www.panasonic.com/
- Address:
One Panasonic Way, Secaucus, NJ 07094 - Phone: 800/662-3537
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