helps you find the perfect gadget. ver. 1.8.7

"The ZS3 is designed to be relatively simple and easy to use, and lacks features such as manual exposure or focusing. However it still has a fairly wide range of user options…I'm not usually a big fan of 'idiot modes', preferring more manual control, but I have to admit the Panasonic...does produce excellent results in nearly all situations."

The ZS3 is targeted to appeal to tech-savvy shooters and relative newbies alike."

Panasonic’s Intelligent Auto is one of the best on the market, having an uncanny ability to figure out what you’re trying to take.

"The Lumix DMC-ZS3 is a point-and-shoot camera with just one manual control, and that's for white balance. The camera has a ton of scene modes, covering every situation you could possibly encounter."

"Overall, the photo quality is quite good for its class. While not quite as sharp as that of the Canon PowerShot SX200 IS, the lens is sharper than the TZ5's with less distortion and practically no fringing. It renders excellent color, saturated and accurate, and generally exposes well..."

"Image quality too is outstanding. Colours are rich and vibrant, exposure is nearly always perfect, and the lens is, as we've come to expect from the Leica brand name, superb."

"If you're able to put this, as well as few image quality and usability niggles, behind you, though, the ZS3 looks like another clear advancement in Panasonic's compact ultrazoom line."

"The Panasonic Lumix ZS3 produced images of very good quality during the review period."

"You might think such a range in such a small body would result in serious optical compromises, but our results from the ZS3 really were very good."

"Image quality was very good in most respects. The DMC-ZS3 takes well-exposed photos, without a lot of highlight clipping that's common on compact cameras (you'll still encounter it, though). While accurate, sometimes I felt that the ZS3's colors could be a bit more vivid. Photos are sharp as a tack -- no complaints there."

"The image quality of our outdoor images is outstanding. Our sample pictures show excellent exposures and bright, vivid colors that really make your images pop."

"The Intelligent ISO mode is the third way in which the ZS3 attempts to avoid subject blur in low-light conditions. The camera automatically sets the appropriate shutter speed AND ISO speed for the subject that you are taking pictures of.... It's a clever idea that works well in practice..."

"While it takes a reasonable 0.5 second to focus and shoot in good light, its 1.1 seconds to do so in dimmer, lower contrast lighting is on the high side--too high."

"Focusing is quick in good light and the camera achieves focus most of the time indoors or in low-light situations, helped by the focus-assist lamp."

"The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 60 seconds allowing you to capture plenty of light. Anti-shake is a feature that sets this camera apart from its competitors and one that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range."

"The ZS3 performs well through ISO 400 in good light, and ISO 200 in low light."

"Our indoor image samples show the same great exposure and color, as well as a crisp image from edge to edge."

"The HD movie mode is superb, arguably the best I've seen on a compact camera so far. Sound and picture quality rival the performance of a dedicated camcorder, and the progressive zoom action means you can do some nice slow zoom effects. Unfortunately clips are limited to 15 minutes, but this is not a major handicap."

"In use the ZS3 delivers a good video recording experience, but it’s not without its issues…. [It's] no substitute for a dedicated HD camcorder, but a good quality movie mode none-the-less, especially if you can work around the panning and optical zooming issues.

"The ZS3 shoots 1,280x720 30fps (720p) HD video, which gets saved in the AVCHD Lite format. This might be a bit of a problem on the software end.... The ZS3 can zoom--quietly, too--while shooting video, but the autofocus doesn't adjust while zooming and takes a second to lock again.... It's got a dedicated movie-record button, which comes in handy."

"Video performance is quite possibly the best you'll find on a still camera, though casual shooters may be frustrated by a lack of post-processing options for the camera's highest-quality 720p video files.... Even better, the camera provides a top-mounted stereo mic."

"The Panasonic Lumix ZS3 is definitely not a replacement for a dedicated HD video camcorder, but it undoubtedly provides some of the best HD movies that we've seen from a compact camera, making it perfect for more casual users."

"Panasonic also opted to allow for zooming while capturing video – though it's worth noting that, presumably in the interest of controlling motor noise, the zoom moves very slowly while you're filming."

"The ZS3 is the world's first compact camera to record HD video via the AVCHD compression. This allows you to capture more HD video because the compression uses less memory than the standard motion JPEG without losing the image quality from the video."

"The build quality, like previous Lumix compacts, is excellent. The metal body feels confidently solid with no creaks or poor joins."

"The ZS3 is a well-built camera with a high quality metal body…. [It's] well-made overall, although there are a couple of external controls that don't instill much confidence."

"The ZS series has always been sold as travel cameras, and the ZS3 is designed to survive a bit of rough treatment. The overall build quality is extremely good…"

"Panasonic is known for rugged construction and bold, industrial-esque design in their flagship Lumix models, and in this sense, the ZS3 breaks no new ground."

"The ZS3 is well built, made almost entirely of metal. The only thing that feels a bit flimsy to me is the door over the memory card / battery compartment."

"Battery life with the ZS3's proprietary lithium-ion pack proved to be quite excellent in the field: a little more than two hours on the charger and the battery was ready to go, and surprised us by consistently living up to the nearly 300-shot advertised performance assuming we used the video function sparingly."

"The only slight area of concern is the battery, which is a smaller 895mAh li-ion unit, but this is still larger than most compact camera batteries, and Panasonic claims 300 shots on a full charge, a figure which I have no reason to doubt."

"After using the same rechargeable Lithium Ion pack for a couple of generations, the Lumix ZS3 is now powered by a new battery, the DMW-BCG10E, which with a 895mAh rating, is slightly less powerful than the 1000mAh of its predecessor. That said, both cameras share the same 300-shot lifespan under CIPA conditions."

"Despite Panasonic's switch to a less powerful battery, the ZS3 not only has the same battery life numbers as its predecessor -- it's also the best in its class."