Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3K 10.1 Megapixel Digital Camera with AVCHD Lite, iA Mode, 12x Optical Zoom, 4x Digital Zoom & 3.0" TFT LCD Display, Black

2010-02-23T19:00:00

Bought this for my wife as an all-around point & shoot. It's easy to use and takes decent pictures for its sensor size but we recently ran into a problem with its lens cover. The lens cover won't remain completely open when we power the camera on. This isn't because of dirst or dust getting into the mechanism but appears to be secondary to the way the lens cover retracting mechanism was designed. Two of the four leafs are on springs (and still work) while the other two leafs are supposed to catch on the first two with small tabs. Once these tabs gt dislodged the lens cover won't retract all the way and get into the field of view of the pictures we are taking. I've owned assorted P&S cameras from Canon and Nikon but this is the only one we've run into lens cover retraction problems with. Otherwise good camera but poor lens cover design. Check the internet for other owners having similar problems. 4/5 starts for this camera if the lens cover worked.

James O.

2010-02-03T19:00:00

I've used the camera and given as a gift. Pleased with both

RJR p.

2010-01-13T19:00:00

Excelent camera, Optical zoom is incredible good and fast, HD video is very good and the included software is friendly.

E L.

2010-01-09T19:00:00

This camera has it all, for a price. That price includes, if you bought this model after June 2009, not being able to use a reasonably priced spare battery from another company. Panasonic wants $70-$80 Canadian for their brand, which is outrageous when you are given no alternative! So add the spare battery to the price of the camera when making your decision! Of course if you're rich, who cares? I would recommend this camera only to those who do not mind being ripped off for a spare battery.

Joe n.

2010-01-09T19:00:00

Great little camera. Pretty close in image quality to my older, larger FZ18.

JR D.

2009-09-29T21:00:00

This is the almost perfect, easy to use P&S camera. Fits in the pocket, has a wide zoom range with very handy 25mm wide angle. Video mode is very good usable, although (of course) it doesn't replace a real camcorder.

BlueJay

2009-09-28T21:00:00

Great camera. Easy to use yet makes quality photos. Very flexable from Macro to landscape without having to change settings.

FRANK P.

2009-09-22T21:00:00

Great 12x ZOOM, BUT!! 12x at 10 MegaPixels, you can get 14.6x Optical Zoom when taking 7.0 MegaPixel photos.. insane! The Videos are in real HD, nothing compared to any other digital photo cameras i've ever seen, and also with stereo sound recording, an other big plus.

iechaurren

2009-09-21T21:00:00

This has to be the absolute best point and shoot I have purchased. I used to be a Nikon Fan and own 4 but after my latest purchase of an S550 I started looking elsewhere. The S550 was horrible. So many grainy shots and it was a hit or miss whether I would have good photos. I couldn't risk this as I was going to Paris and wanted some amazing shots. This Panasonic didn't dissapoint! Seriously I never looked to Panasonic but now I will after this purchase. Any environment, either low light, indoors, outdoors, sunny, etc. It doesn't matter. I have around 1000 pictures from Paris and everyone was perfect.

AllThingsWatches

2009-09-07T21:00:00

Bought it to take pictures of the kids. It was a good price and seemed to be relatively good quality. after 6 months, we kept getting an error screen- we sent it to get fixed- it worked for about 2 minutes then did the same thing. sent it up again and got a replacement. Still is very slow (lag) and doesn't always focus correctly. All in all, an inferior product!

Julie