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Review Summary
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
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Browse our FAQ
Super Zoom
Face Recognition (Still)
Optical Image Stabilizer (Still & Movie)
Intelligent ISO Control (Still & Movie)
Face Detection (Still)
Intelligent Scene Selector (Still - Portrait, Scenery, Night Portrait, Night Scenery, Macro; Movie
10.1 Megapixels
MEGA O.I.S. (Auto/Mode1/ Mode2)
12x
1/2.33-inch / 12.7 Total Megapixels / Primary Color Filter
1/2.33-inch
14.3x (4:3 / 7M), 17.1x (4:3 / 5M), 21.4x (under 3M)
4x
(Max. 48.0 x combined with Optical Zoom without Extra Optical Zoom)
(Max.85.5x combined with Extra Optical Zoom)
f=4.1-49.2mm (25-300mm in 35mm equiv.)
LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR
10 elements in 8 groups
(2 Aspherical Lenses / 3 Aspherical surfaces, 2 ED lens)
No
Normal: Wide 50cm/ Tele 200cm - infinity
Macro / Intelligent AUTO / Clipboard : Wide 3cm / Max 200cm / Tele 100cm - infinity
Face / AF Tracking / Multi (11pt) / 1pt HS / 1pt / Spot
Yes
Auto / 80 / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 (High Sensitivity Mode : Auto(1600 - 6400) )
Auto / Daylight / Cloudy / Shade / Halogen / White Set / White Balance Adjustment (+10steps, except for auto set)
Program AE
1/3 EV Step, +/- 2 EV
Yes (only in Intelligent AUTO mode)
+/- 1/3 EV ~ 1EV step, 3 frames
Multiple / Center-weighted / Spot
[Recording] / [Playback]
2sec, 10sec
1sec, 2sec, Zoom, Hold
Yes
No
No
Standard, Natural, Vivid, Black & White, Sepia, Cool, Warm
Fine/Standard
3648 x 2736 (10M) / 3072 x 2304 (7M EZ) / 2560 x 1920 (5M EZ) / 2048 x 1536 (3M EZ) / 1600 x 1200 (2M EZ) / 640 x 480 (0.3M EZ)
3776 x 2520 (9.5M) / 3168x2112 (6.5M EZ) / 2656x1768 (4.5M EZ) / 2112x1408 (3M EZ) / 2048 x 1360 (2.5M EZ)
3968 x 2232 (9M) / 3328x1872 (6M EZ) / 2784x1568 (4.5M EZ) / 2208x1248 (2.5M EZ) / 1920 x 1080 (2M EZ)
VGA: 640 x 480 pixels, 30fps (Motion JPEG)
QVGA: 320 x 240 pixels, 30 fps (Motion JPEG)
WVGA: 848 x 480 pixels, 30 fps (Motion JPEG)
Yes
No/Yes/No
5 seconds
Maximum of 10 Seconds
Yes
Yes (2 patterns)
Yes
No
Yes/Yes
Yes
Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off 0.6 - 5.3m (Wide/ISO Auto), 1.0 - 3.6m (Tele/ISO Auto)
No
No
English, Spanish
Built-in Memory
SD Memory Card
SDHC Memory Card
MultiMediaCard (Still image only)
Yes
Up to 300 pictures (CIPA Standard)
PHOTOfunSTUDIO v3.0
ArcSoft (MediaImpression / Panorama Maker)
USB Driver, QuickTime
No
Yes
No
Yes
F3.3 - 4.9 / Iris Diaphragm (F3.3 - 6.3 (W) / F4.9 - 6.3 (T))
Yes
No
Yes
Full-Resolution Image, 2.5 frames/sec Max. 5 images (Standard mode), Max 3 images (Fine Mode), High-speed Burst Mode: approx. 6 frames/sec (recorded in 3M for 4:3, 2.5M for 3:2, 2M for 16:9)
Yes
Yes
Yes
4:3 / 3:2 / 16:9
No
12,30-thumbnails / Max 16x
Yes / No
Yes / No
Yes
All Still Images / Favorites / Category
BGM Effect (Natural / Slow / Swing / Urban / OFF)
Yes
No
Single / Multi / All / All except Favorites
Yes / Yes
Single / Multi / All / Favorites / DPOF
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
2.35" x 4.07" x 1.29"
Approx. 0.45 lbs
Panasonic warranty
Panasonic's newest ultrazoom is pretty close to being a perfect pocket point and shoot. Yes, we said "perfect" and "point and shoot" in the same sentence, you heard that right. There's only a few modes on the camera, and none is a full (or even ...
Amazing Point and Shoot!
By AllThingsWatches
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, ...
View full Review
Terrific pocket camera
By RJR p.
I've used the camera and given as a gift. Pleased with both
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3K digital camera 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. It features the Dolby sound, the ZS3 records dynamic, true-to-life audio that brings out the power of the HD images. The Wind cut function minimizes the distracting sound you hear from wind blowing into the mic.
The YouTube Uploader software makes it easy to upload your video clips to YouTube. The ZS3 is equipped with an HDMI output terminal for direct transmission of digital picture and sound signals. Just connect the camera to an HDTV using a single HDMI mini cable (purchased separately) and it's easy to view beautiful HD photos and motion images. If you have a VIERA HDTV, you can control the camera's playback functions with VIERA's remote control unit.
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.
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.