Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 December 5th, 2007 | by David Elrich
Full Review
Features and Design The top is pretty basic: a shutter button with surrounding wide-tele zoom ring, power switch, a dedicated button to change the optical image stabilization modes, pinholes for the mic and speaker as well as the main mode dial. With the dial you can change from auto, macro, playback and movie modes with 848 x 480 pixels at 30 fps in 16:9 aspect ratio the best quality. The camera offers 21 scene modes and you can pick two as default settings for SCN 1 and SCN 2 on the dial. There’s also a direct print option and a Simple mode which basically locks the camera down so you can’t make any changes and ostensibly screw things up. About the only thing you can do is adjust Backlight Compensation. Also on the dial is an Intelligent ISO setting that boosts the sensitivity for indoor shots. You can also limit the top level to 800 or 1250 (something I’d heartily recommend). A Clipboard mode lets you shoot documents that are saved to internal memory. As you’d imagine, the rear of the TZ3 is dominated by the 3-inch LCD rated 230K pixels. It’s an OK screen that has troubles with direct sunlight. There are two ways to rectify this. Getting to the LCD adjustment is fairly simple (hit menu, move into setup and take care of business) or more simply you can tap the dedicated Display/LCD Mode key. Press it for a second and you have the option to boost screen brightness. You can also hit High Angle and hold the camera over your head, angle it down and take a shot. This is very cool. You also have a number of screen display options (with or without grid lines, view a histogram, see all the icons or none). To the right of the screen is a four-way controller with center Menu/Set button. At the four points you can change exposure compensation, flash setting, instant review and the self timer. Below this cluster are the combo Function/Delete key and the Display/LCD mode key. The Lumix DMC-TZ3 comes with everything you need to get started other than an SD/SDHC card. You get the battery, compact charger, strap, A/V and USB cables, a 108-page owner’s manual and a CD-ROM with the Lumix Simple Viewer and PhotoFunStudio viewer software.
The silver, black or blue bodied digicam (your call) feels very solid and weighs around 9 ounces with the battery. About the size of a pack of cards when turned off, the lens protrudes an additional inch when powered up. Still it’s a very compact 10x zoom camera that’s just dandy for travelers (4.2 x 2.37 x 1.47, WHD, in inches, lens closed). Another nice touch is the built-in lens cover, something not found on other mega zooms. By the way, the TZ stands for Travel Zoom. As you’d imagine, the front is dominated by the Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens that equals 28-280mm in 35mm terms. You’ll also find the flash, the AF illuminator lamp and a few logos and decals (touting the 10x, naturally). There’s also a contrasting metallic accent that adds a bit of sophistication.
On the right side is a compartment for USB out and DC-in. On the bottom is the slot for the battery and SD card.
After charging the battery and loading a 2-gig card, it was time to test this camera out.
Image Courtesy of Panasonic
by Ruth on November 8, 2009:
“Flat and noisy images in all settings compared to my older point and shoot Sony Cybershot. Usually I only have to toss about 5% of my photos...I didn't like any of hundreds I took with this camera, using various settings. I wanted to increase zoom and have...” More...