Panasonic DMC-ZS3 hands-on and review
By Tim Stevens 
posted June 15th 2009 11:01AM
posted June 15th 2009 11:01AM
Had we been able to secure one in time (we tried, we really did), the DMC-ZS3 would have tied Panasonic's other summer hit, the DMC-TS1, as the most expensive camera at $400. That's a lot of cheddar when most people get by with a $150ish compact and/or step up to something in a nice SLR. Despite that it doesn't exactly feel high-end. The camera is definitely hefty, but its plastic body doesn't really exude the feeling of solidity and durability that you might like from something this costly yet is almost guaranteed to get dropped at some point.
That's not to say that it feels flimsy, just not exactly $400 solid. That said, the mode dial on top with its knurled edge feels decidedly high-end, and of course there's the beefy brushed metal ring around the Leica lens -- this camera's main attraction. It's a 12x unit and is about the most usable we've seen in a compact, starting at a properly wide 25mm equivalent and going all the way up to 300mm. That's a huge range for a compact and, more impressively, the optical stabilization means both ends are quite usable.
The camera's menus are reasonably well grouped; not as user-friendly as those in the Samsung SL820, but quicker to wade through. Even speedier is the "Q.MENU" mode, which gives quick (with a capital 'Q') access to all the exposure settings you can tweak here, like white balance, ISO, exposure timing, and aspect ratio. A full manual this ain't, but you didn't really think that it would be, did you?
Also buried in the menus are some interesting additions beyond the typical point-and-shooter mold, most notable being a face recognition system that not only recognizes faces in general, but can identify specific faces. You can save someone's mug and assign a name to it, which the camera will display when that face is recognized. Then, in a group shot, the camera can be set to give focal priority to those people recognizes, and you can search photos by who is in them. It's a fun feature, but, honestly, is pretty useless. We'd have liked to see a timer mode that doesn't take a picture until the photographer is in the shot and, preferably, smiling.
Image and video quality
The DMC-ZS3's 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor isn't the highest resolution thing out there, but of course more important is image quality, and overall we're impressed with that produced here. Like all compacts it's at its best in bright light, taking clear and crisp images at both ends of that 25mm - 300mm range. Optical image stabilization is quite effective when taking stills, and after a few days of playing with this camera we'd forgotten entirely about concentrating, holding our breath, using a short timer, or any other tricks we might typically employ to get a clear shot on a powerful lens. Yes this is a cliche, this camera lives up to the point-and-shoot moniker.
Lower-light pics are somewhat less memorable, but still good. Maximum ISO here is 1600, but 400 has a good amount of noise if you look closely. Colors are still bright and accurate, though, and images with lengthier exposures are again kept sharp thanks to the optical stabilization.
Videos are captured at 720p, and a set of stereo mics on the top ensures you'll get good quality audio to match -- assuming you don't accidentally put your finger over one or both, which is easy to do. Video quality is quite good, on par with the best we've seen in a compact, getting us a little closer to the point where a dedicated camcorder becomes overkill for casual filming. With two flavors of video encoding you can choose to either fill your memory card quickly with Motion JPEG vids, or spend more time later converting AVCHD videos into something your video editing suite can handle (a quick trip through Handbrake usually does the trick). Going with the latter encoding gives you about one fourth the video size (31 minutes on a 2GB card vs. about 8) without any drop in visual quality, and regardless which mode you choose videos can be as long as you have the flash to hold 'em.
The camera does allow optical zooming while filming, and the motor on the lens makes very little noise. The stabilization can't cure all shake at full zoom, but given the lack of a big grip and the size of the body we found video to be quite stable at its full extent.
Wrap-up
The Panasonic DMS-ZS3 is a lot of camera in a compact but not exactly small package. It impressed in every situation we could throw at it, and that fantastic lens on the front makes it far more flexible than your average point-and-shoot. But, it's not for everyone, with that $400 price being the first and biggest disadvantage. For about $150 less you can get a quite comparable Panasonic DMC-TZ5 or take home the Samsung SL820 that recently won our shootout.
So then, this is one of those "if you have the means" situations. If you do, this camera is quite choice.
It takes nice looking wide angle pics.
it's too expensive
I've owned this camera (here in the UK it's sold as the Lumix DMC TZ7) for about 2 months now and have been most impressed with it's ease of use and the image quality under most conditions. It cost £274 ($446) so quite expensive. For some obscure reason we are also limited to 15 minutes record time for video. I've even used it to produce some HDR photos http://www.jabberlingo.com/gallery3 . The auto-bracket only goes from -1 to plus 1 so it means manually setting the exposure and taking 5 shots from -2 to +2 but can be done with a tripod.
The 15-minute limit is to keep it from being classified as a camcorder, which is taxed more.
when is this one available?
Been available for months.
Not exactly been available for months, "odd" resellers have had it, but mainstream (bestbuy, amazon, buy.com, etc.) have yet to get it in stock. Amazon says "1-2 months for delivery." I don't purchase from the other sites that sell it, like VideoDirect.com, B&H Photo, JR.com, Plemix, etc.
If you were in the UK though, you would have had it for a while now. Same with Canada. I think the resellers in the US that have it are importing from Canada.
Try www.6thave.com I have purchased from them just before a trip and they shipped it from NJ to DC in 2 Days!
Prior to that I called everyone from Best Buy to Amazon to even Panasonic ( they did not have one )
Plastic body? Did you guys even pick it up? It's got a metal body...hence the "hefty" feel. I have one and I also have the old TZ5. Both are fantastic cameras with probably the best lenses available in this price range. The image quality makes it worth the price.
Like someone else mentioned here, its odd this review says its a plastic body, when every other review says its a metal body. Do a search on google for zs3 and "metal body".
Yes, AVCHD is no problem now, compared to even just a few weeks ago. Most software publishers are issuing patches and updates to support it. And there is also some great freeware for AVCHD. Get TS Muxer. Great program to quickly "join" clips without having to recompress them (which takes a lot longer).
I've had the camera for a week. It is the perfect camera for travel. I missed tons of shots and no video because of the inconvenient bulk and weight of my dslr and hd video camera. Forget about indoor shots w/ natural light. The 3.3 min aperture means you have to use the flash which is very hit and miss. BTW indoor video looks great. This camera is all about convenience. The first time you whip it out of your pocket, snap a few photos, press the video record button to grab some video, you'll appreciate it's versatility. The ease of video recording will challenge you to rethink the way you capture events. The only people who will be disappointed with this camera, are those who travel around and take the majority of their pictures indoor using natural light. You will recognize them as they are often fumbling with the lens cover on the LX3. The manual says you can record up to 2 gigs of video regardless of which compression you choose, so it recommends avchd for longer duration video. Download the free basic K-lite codec pack, current ver 4.9.0, if you want to watch your avchd vids on wmp or picasa 3.
Does anyone who have this camera can confirm if the new firmware helped any, or made things worse? I've updated mine to v1.1.
I have the camera
The firmware did nothing other than making the auto focus a little smoother during video capture when you switch zoom levels
I've been sitting on my hands waiting for my wife to let me buy this camera. I read a P&S comparo here on engadget while I was shopping for an HD video camera (like a Vado HD, etc) and realized I could scrap my old Coolpix without having to buy a new point and shoot AND a video camera. I've been dying to buy this so I'm glad there is a huge positive response from owners out there. I've got a baby on the way in a couple months and I need something to capture all the action that is small enough I'll actually want to carry it around. So thanks to everyone for commenting and sharing their opinion. This camera sounds as good as my research has indicated.
p.s. How weird is it that I REALLY want the red one?
Dude, if you've got a baby on the way, you really going to need low light capability. (At least that's what I found most useful photographing my children.) You need a Canon Tli or Nikon 5000. For the first year they're just a lump. By the time they're a toddler, there will be a newer/cheaper version of this camera.
Got this camera a month ago. Downside for me? Only the same as other point & shoots: low light picture-taking. Otherwise it's terrific. Used it for hundreds of pics, 15-20 vids. I also picked up an extra battery and Panasonic 16gb SDHC card that allows me plenty of space to shoot and record at highest resolution. The videos I've taken came out much better than this sample. My favorite features are being able to zoom during video recording, dedicated video record button, awesome lens and long zoom, stereo recording and large display. Best P&S camera I've bought in 20 years.
Like someone else mentioned here, its odd this review says its a plastic body, when every other review says its a metal body. Do a search on google for zs3 and "metal body".
For mac people: I've had no problem importing both motion jpeg and AVCHD from this camera. The motion JPEG videos import into iPhoto along with the stills. The AVCHD videos don't import in iPhoto, but in iMovie you can import them by clicking on camera icon (as if you were going to import from a firewire'd camcorder).
Agree with all of ChrisW's points...
-ve's:
- 15min video limit (in the UK)
- the dial is *very* easy to knock out of position. This quirk very quickly becomes frustrating
- Easy to accidentally cover the microphone with your finger
- Mic very sensitive to pick up wind noise (even in 'wind reduce' mode)
- Expensive .. price will drop over the next few months, so if you don't need a camera immediately it's worth waiting...
- Hard to find a slim case to fit the camera
- "HD" video isn't that great. Doesn't compare with a dedicated HD camcorder (as you'd expect). The engadget sample video in the article highlights this I think.
- supplied wrist strap doesn't have a woggle(? not sure of the correct word) to allow you to tighten it to your wrist
- battery life doesn't seem as good as my IXUS, although I haven't thoroughly tested this yet
- quite a large camera. only just about pocketable.
- not enough manual controls to play with
+ve's
+ body looks amazing, especially in black
+ wide angle lens is superb
+ 12x zoom is excellent
+ able to record loud concerts. indie/rock concerts in the past have always been too loud for previous cameras I've used
+ 3" screen very good
+ a lot of my friends who have seen this camera are keen to buy one themselves
The Panasonic TZ7 (uk model) is probably the best compact camera money can currently buy.
I'd recommend it but worth bearing in mind the above -ve points
Engadget video doesn't even display SD quality.... look at youtube for better quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBotO4wKzxg
Here is another nice sample video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zhJIzCmuCQ
Note that some people have issues with YouTube's HD flash videos. Let the video load completely and then drag the slider back to the absolute beginning. That usually gets rid of the choppiness.
I got mine from 17photo.com. Just checked - they still have a few of the black in stock. Rest are gone.
Thanks for the interesting post. This is a solid camera. It has good features and decent look. Recently I have Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28. I am satisfied with its features. Image quality is also good. For more information refer http://www.etechreviews.net/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fz28-black-digital-camera-reviews/