Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Black)

I spent many days researching compact digitals online before choosing the TL320 and the Panasonic DMC-ZS3. I am not a pro photog but am very particular about my photos. I have used a Casio Exilm EX-P700 for many years and it is, or was an excellent camera that always got it right, until recently it will only focus indoors about 30% of the time. My hope was to find something as good. The TL320 is built exceptionally well, menu system is a breeze, the Amoled screen is unbelievable, strong flash. The smart mode produces perfectly exposed and saturated, very sharp photos as long as it has good light. Anything outside well into dusk has been excellent. Bring it in the house with artificial light and the ISO jumps to 400 producing, in my opinion useless pictures. However switching it to Program mode and setting ISO to 200, contrast 0 ,sharpness 2,and saturation 2 almost always is just superb. ISO on auto almost never jumps above 200 unless real dark in P mode. I have tried every combination of all settings and this is what works best. Flash intensity and EV can be altered to taste and are very responsive, but it seems best as default in all but mentioned. Upping the contrast to 1 will really define things but you need good light or details in the darker areas are less evident. All in all , I just Love this camera and have yet to see any printed (4x6) pictures from any camera rival it. Got the Panasonic at the same time to see what I liked best. The Panny was the only camera that I found to ever get 5 stars in a pro review, and the customer reviews mostly glowed with praise. Panasonic build quality is way below the TL. Feels cheap, very few controls, screen is ok, but not close to the TL. Flash is completely useless. Anything in limited light at all is just junk. No controls to make it work. I put it on a tripod in my living room at night with 2 table lamps in the room and stood the length of my coffee table from the camera and I could hardly tell it was me! Did the same with the TL and I could count the hairs in my mustache. Outside in good light it does a good job, but identical pictures from both camera's enlarged on my pc showed the TL to have better detail. In summary, I don't know how the DMC-ZS3 gets such great reviews and the TL320 worse and much fewer. Also the battery life is pathetic. The TL is possibly 3 times better. Maybe people aren't taking Samsung seriously and just not buying, and the pro reviewers seem somewhat biased. Long and short of it, the Panny went back and the TL stayed. Would I recommend this camera? ABSOLUTELY!!

This offering by Panasonic is a good value and a very good camera. The strength is obviously the 12x zoom lens. What can you say - it zooms.....

The video capability is what led me to purchase the DMC-ZS3. It has image stabalizer which is a must. The recording options are JPEG-movie (.MOV) and AVCHD Lite (which I have not yet found use for).

I had bought the Flip HD prior to this purchase. I returned it due to lack of image stabalization and lack of any adjustment features. I did like its video recording format of MP4 though. This allows playing and editing with Microsoft programs Movie Editor and Win Media Player. You're pretty much stuck with QuickTime for this Panasonic camera unless you are willing to part with more bucks $$ to buy video software.

The weight and size are on the large size, not too condusive to sliding into your jeans pocket. But as a 'all in one' camera to take on vacation, it is a good choice. Especially if you intend to be on an overlook and want to zoom down into the subject city or shoreline.

One disappoint so far is the price of an extra battery. Guess the after-market has not yet caught up with battery model.

Long story short: the DMC-ZS3 is a grainy, noisy, blurry camera.

Grainy: even in sunlight and the lowest ISO settings, zooming in to full image shows noticeable graininess in all areas of the picture. Completely unacceptable for a 10MP camera. Going toward ISO 400 and it just gets worse and worse.

Noisy: Try setting your ISO at 400 or higher, and its noise-city, baby.

Blurry: Seems the optical image stabilization on this pocket rocket is sub par. Indoors shooting at a party, exposures were typically between 1/4 and 1/15 of a second. All resulted in pretty blurry shots. Very dissappointing. My old SD870IS would have run circles around the ZS3.

The lens: fantastic. Interface? Extraordinary. Features? Ease of use? Exemplary. Video mode? Awesome. But you can't build a great camera when the foundation of it is not solidly built. You can't build a tall gleaming beautiful skyscraper on a marsh; it just won't stand up on its own.

I had to give this product a one star rating because it doesn't do the ONE BASIC thing a camera should do well: take sharp pictures. If you crop your photos 50%, you will see grain and noise everywhere even in bright sunlight. I am really saddened to put this review up here on Amazon, as I was really thrilled about this camera's performance and gleaming reviews all over the board (one of the best point and shoots of 2009?!?!) but I wanted to warn people about the reality of the situation: the picture quality is just sub-par. For examples of the graininess of photos, google "ZS3 grainy" and take a look at what people are saying.

Keep in mind, I am a stickler for details and quality. However if all you do is put pictures up on facebook, this camera will work wonders for you.

{ Before anyone discounts this review, let me say: My experience is photo enthusiast. A bit more than a casual picture taker, I have a lot of experience with the technical side of cameras and electronics in general. I own a digital SLR (Nikon) and have owned a Cannon Powershot SD870IS in the past along with several Pentax point-and-shoots. The SD870IS, which is about 3 years old now, blows the ZS3 out of the water with picture quality and performance. }

Its a brilliant camera primarily because of the fact that its excellent value for money !
There is no other camera (within this price range) giving you such amazing features and pictures. I previously owned a panasonic lumix 6.1 MP wide angle camera and was really satisfied with it. The reasons for switching to this one was to upgrade to 10.1 MP as well as to get extended zoom (previous one had only 3x) and last but not the least was to be able to record high quality video recording. The ZS3 delivers all of the promised features and i am really satisfied with its results specially the 12x zoom and the high quality video recording. No other compact camera delivers so much within its price !


P.S: Make sure you get this with atleast 12 or 16gb memory card to be able to enjoy hours of great quality video recording and countless still pictures

All the different point and shoot models on the market gave us analysis paralysis. However, after much research, we're thrilled we chose to go with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZX3. The picture quality is sharp and clear (much better than the Sony we had, which, by the way, malfunctioned during our honeymoon); the 12X zoom is a plus; there are plenty of picture settings/options (some are a little hokey); and it's well constructed. The only downside is that it's bulkier than our previous cameras.