---
product_id: 3220022
title: "Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Black)"
brand: "panasonic"
price: "$1411.56"
currency: USD
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 6
category: "Panasonic"
url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/3220022-panasonic-lumix-dmc-zs3-10-1-mp-digital-camera-12x
store_origin: US
region: United States of America
---

# 3-inch 460K-dot Wide Viewing LCD HD AVCHD Lite Video Recording 12x MEGA Optical Zoom Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Black)

**Brand:** panasonic
**Price:** $1411.56
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

## Summary

> 📸 Capture brilliance, zoom beyond limits, and never miss a moment!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Black) by panasonic
- **How much does it cost?** $1411.56 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.us](https://www.desertcart.us/products/3220022-panasonic-lumix-dmc-zs3-10-1-mp-digital-camera-12x)

## Best For

- panasonic enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted panasonic brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Key Features

- • **Compact Powerhouse:** Award-winning Leica lens and Venus Engine HD deliver professional-grade image quality in a pocket-friendly design.
- • **Zoom into Every Moment:** 12x MEGA optical zoom with 25mm ultra-wide lens captures distant action and expansive scenes with crystal clarity.
- • **Vivid Viewing Experience:** Large 3-inch 460,000-dot LCD with wide viewing angle ensures your shots look sharp and vibrant on the go.
- • **Smart Auto for Perfect Shots:** Intelligent Auto mode with Face Recognition prioritizes focus and exposure for flawless portraits every time.
- • **Cinematic HD Video, Simplified:** Record stunning HD videos in AVCHD Lite format with dedicated movie button and optical zoom during filming.

## Overview

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 is a compact 10.1 MP digital camera featuring a powerful 12x MEGA optical image-stabilized zoom with a 25mm ultra-wide Leica lens. It pioneers HD video recording in AVCHD Lite format, enabling longer, high-quality footage with stereo sound. Intelligent Auto mode with Face Recognition ensures perfect focus and exposure, while a bright 3-inch 460K-dot LCD offers clear image preview. Designed for professionals and enthusiasts seeking a versatile, pocketable camera that excels in both stills and video.

## Description

Product Description The new Lumix ZS3 features 10.1-megapixels, a 25mm ultra-wide-angle lens and 12x optical zoom, meaning it has added 2x optical zoom to the award-winning TZ-series camera, yet reduced its size. The ZS3 also features a Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens and High Definition (HD) video recording ability, known as AVCHD Lite.The ZS3 is the world’s first digital camera to feature HD video recording in AVCHD Lite. Compared with the conventional Motion JPEG format, AVCHD Lite allows longer recordings with breathtaking HD visual and audio quality. This combined with a well-considered control interface, which includes a dedicated movie recording button on the camera’s back panel, makes the ZS3 a hybrid model that performs admirably for both still and motion image capture. From the Manufacturer The new Lumix ZS3 features 10.1-megapixels, a 25mm ultra-wide-angle lens and 12x optical zoom, meaning it has added 2x optical zoom to the award-winning TZ-series camera, yet reduced its size. The ZS3 also features a Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens and High Definition (HD) video recording ability, known as AVCHD Lite. The ZS3 is the world’s first digital camera to feature HD video recording in "AVCHD Lite." Compared with the conventional Motion JPEG format, AVCHD Lite allows longer recordings with breathtaking HD visual and audio quality. This combined with a well-considered control interface, which includes a dedicated movie recording button on the camera’s back panel, makes the ZS3 a hybrid model that performs admirably for both still and motion image capture. The ZS3 also expands Panasonic’s popular Intelligent Auto (iA) mode with the addition of Face Recognition--a feature that "remembers" faces from previous shots. When a registered face appears in the frame, the camera will prioritize focus and exposure to capture it beautifully. With Face Recognition, when a familiar face is recorded several times, the camera will prompt the users to register the face. Once registered, if the face appears into the frame again, the camera will display the name specified for that person and prioritize focus and exposure so that the registered face is bright and sharply focused. New this year to the ZS-Series, iA mode is also available in Movie Mode. It automatically selects the most suitable Scene mode and helps to correct handshake, focus and brightness problems - making iA mode your one-stop solution to capture beautiful still and motion images. In Movie Mode, the ZS3, Optical Image Stabilization (O.I.S.) helps prevent handshake when using the high-powered zoom. Face Detection automatically detects a face in the frame and adjusts focus, exposure, contrast, and skin complexion so it turns out perfectly. Intelligent Exposure continually checks the ambient light level and adjusts the exposure setting as conditions change to prevent blown highlights and blocked shadows. And Intelligent Scene Selector automatically switches between Normal, Portrait, Macro, Scenery, and Low Light modes according to the situation to optimize visual quality. The imaging power of Lumix has further evolved with the Venus Engine HD, which boasts two CPUs to provide approx. 2.4x processing capability and support for AVCHD Lite and HDMI output. It integrates all the advanced functions and camera operations with high performance and low-power consumption. In image processing, luminance noise and chromatic noise are reduced separately before and after signal processing. This is further refined by separating noise two-dimensionally into high-frequency and low-frequency noise. The circuits then effectively reduce only the low-frequency noise to minimize the unwanted noise and help produce beautiful, sharp still and motion images. Playback with the ZS-series is also easy. Simply insert the camera’s SD memory card into the VIERA HDTV’s Image Viewer SD Card slot for a photo slideshow. Alternatively, connect the camera via an optional HDMI mini cable, the DMW-HDC2, to a VIERA Link-equipped Panasonic VIERA HDTV and use the television’s remote control to run mixed slideshows of photos and videos. The ZS3 features a 3-inch, high resolution 460,000-dot Intelligent LCD with a wide viewing angle, improving visibility during recording and playback. Other features of the Lumix ZS3 include: Increased Scene modes for both still and motion image shooting--optimized for a variety of situations. There are 26 scene modes for still image and 17 for motion image (Portrait, Soft Skin, Transform, Self portrait, Scenery, Low light, Food, Party, Candle light, Sunset, High sensitivity, Beach, Snow, Aerial, Pin hole, Film grain and Underwater) Two new My Scene settings let users assign their two most frequently used Scene modes to the setting, and with a simple switch, allow access to either scene instantly. New Panorama Assist scene mode allows users to shoot a number of consistent photos, either vertically or horizontally, by aligning them according to a guide that overlaps the screen. Then using those photos and the bundled PanoramaMaker software, users can create dramatic panoramic images. High-Speed Burst (Speed Priority) that fires off approx. 10 shots per second. Menus are clearer and easier to navigate with the Display Size option. Macro Zoom function lets users pull subjects even closer to capture dramatic close-up shots by using the 3x digital zoom in the wide-angle. Bundled Software: The latest version of PHOTOfunSTUDIO 3.0 HD Edition allows users to view, edit and archive captured content with greater ease and fun. Still and motion images can be transferred to the computer via a USB cable for viewing and archiving. Using PHOTOfunSTUDIO 3.0 HD Edition, users can edit and remove unwanted portions of video clips recorded in AVCHD Lite. Contents recorded in AVCHD Lite can be burned directly onto a DVD disc or the software can convert contents to MPEG2 format. The software also incorporates the Face Recognition function, which recognizes registered faces in photos stored on the computer, making organizing and archiving photos with a specific person much easier. Additionally, motion pictures can be uploaded directly to YouTube.

Review: 3rd time's a charm- a standing "O" for the ZS3! - I have owned two prior digital cameras- the first was a Canon that took good pictures, but was too bulky to pocket around and required AA batteries to power it. The second was a Sony CyberShot DSC-W150 that took crappy, blurry pictures in low light. Needless to say, I felt an upgrade was in order. So I'm going on an east coast trip next month. My buddy and I are avid baseball fans. One problem: as we do not always have great seats, taking close-up pictures of ballplayers is a real pain with 99% of the compact point and shoots out there. This is because the camera's size will only allow it 5X optical zoom. You can combine this with digital zooming, but I don't need to tell you how terrible and pixilated this looks. Thus my conundrum. So I really wanted a compact, pocketable camera with a long range optical lens, without having to lug around an expensive digital SLR. Enter the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3. When I read the specs on it, I was in awe. 10 megapixel, 12X OPTICAL zoom. Here's the sweetest part about the zoom- if you planning to use smaller prints (i.e. 4X6), you can quickly adjust the camera's Megapixel (MP) count from 10 to 7, 5, and 3 to yield maximum OPTICAL zooms of 14.3, 17.1, and 21.4 respectably, without much loss of detail on such prints. I wish Panasonic would have allowed the camera to adjust the MP count automatically as you zoom, but it's not too much trouble to change the MP settings manually from the quick menu. Another great feature: the camera's screen is beautiful at 460,000 pixels, twice the count as the rival Canon Powershot SX200 IS (more on that camera later). From the moment you view your first picture, you'll quickly notice how much sharper photos look on this camera. It's a nice convenience to view photos on the camera in a manner closer to the quality that will actually be seen when you're viewing them on the computer (and ultimately printing them). I also want to give Panasonic kudos for the build quality and compactness of this camera. The ZS3 is a replacement for the popular TZ5 model, which was 9MP and 10X Optical Zoom. So they increased the resolution, and added a wider range lens, and REDUCED the size by .4 cubic inches. Specifications aside, I was more than pleased that this camera will comfortably fit inside my jeans pocket. It's a bit bulkier than an ultracompact for sure, but not objectionably so. Note that the SX200 is a full 2.0 cubic inches thicker, another reason I passed on the Canon. Here's a few more reasons the Canon falls short: the Canon has a cheesy looking popup flash that sticks out at the top of the camera, whether you're using flash or not (bad design decision). It has less rated battery life than the Lumix. Also, when shooting video, the Canon does NOT allow you to use optical zooming. Photo quality on the Lumix is excellent, although I've only snapped samples around my place so far. However, I've taken quite a few pictures at low light, and at maximum zoom levels to try to get a bad shot. So far, there's none to be found. I'll put this through its paces more when I travel next month, but I'm extremely pleased so far. As for video shooting, I've sampled it a bit, and it seems pretty solid. The camera gives you the choice of shooting video in its touted AVCHD Lite format (ideal for watching it on your TV in HD with an optional mini to standard HDMI cable), or JPEG if you prefer to email video clips to friends. This year's model also added stereo sound on video playback versus last year's monaural effort. One thing I found a bit strange, was the incredibly slow zooming when shooting video. I guess Panasonic was trying to give the user a more controlled, deliberate zoom, but unlike the snappy photo zooming, it's a bit slow for my liking. Some other minor quibbles: The dial that controls the shooting mode is extremely loose. If you lightly rub it against anything (a camera bag, your pocket), there's a good chance it will shift. When you turn the camera on, it will digitally tell you what mode you're in, but it's still annoying when it happens by accident. Second, when making a quick zoom on an object, it will appear blurry on the camera's screen until the shutter button is pressed. There are modes to continually focus the object when zooming, but this drains the camera's battery life more rapidly. It would be nice if this feature was incorporated automatically without any such sacrifice. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the included PhotofunStudio software bundled with this camera, as there are other, more compelling programs to view, edit, and print photos (I like Canon's Zoombrowser program better). Finally, this is not the camera to buy if you're into manual controls. There's a ton of preset scenes that can be used (nighttime, portrait, baby, sunset, food, etc.), and you can adjust items like flash, white balance, and max ISO level, but this is meant to be a simple point and shoot for casual photographers. Note that the Lumix has an intelligent auto mode (IA) that will analyze the shooting conditions and pick the right scene, flash, and exposure without any adjustments by the user. This camera screams simplicity, but there's enough tweaking on the Normal and Scene modes to keep the vast majority of amateur photographers happy. Regardless of these nitpicks, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 is an awesome camera, unbeatable for those that want the best of both worlds- a great zoom lens and compact body. It's a bit pricey at $399, but you're getting quite a lot of camera for your hard earned dollars. I have no doubt that my third digital camera is a terrific buy and a long-term staple for my travels.
Review: Pretty decent ultra zoom pocket camera - I bought this camera for my recent two-weeks vacation trip. Previously I was using Canon A510 and I loved that camera, thinking, that I'd be Canon's fan for many future models. At the time I wanted to upgrade I made several-month-investigation looking forward to seeing Canon releasing a perfect camera for me. Perfect for my requirements would be small sized, a nice 10x+ zoom, around 10Mpx matrix, good picture quality and good video quality (preferably HD). Months were passing and nothing new apart of IS SX200 appeared on the market. The latter after summarizing all pros and cons lost the fight with Lumix ZS3. I've chosen ZS3 for its compact size, nice zoom, optical zoom capabilities while filming, wide angle and HD movies. I have to admit, that lumix did a pretty good job with my pictures I was taking for the last month. I regret though that it tends to change colors completely where my old Canon very adequately transferred real-world colors into the digital pictures. During the day I think ZS3 did very well easily leaving A510 behind because of the zoom capabilities and ultra-wide angle (25mm) view. It's amazing how many objects can now fit into the picture compared to my previous photos. During the night however or at the sunrise I'd say I liked the Canon better. The reason for that is the sky, although looking pretty warm, had totally different color at the picture compared to what I saw with my eyes. Beach during the night in 'starry night' mode (15/30/60 s exposure time) ended up in being GREEN !!! That is not acceptable for me. Other pictures in night light also had mangled colors, which could only be fixed with manual 'white balance' set (you can set it with ZS3). I was expecting from Intelligent Auto present at ZS3 something more accurate. I also cannot understand why iA mode can't take pictures in 16:9 format in higher resolution than 2.5MB !??? Shooting a fullmoon was also hard to do. Using all possible tricks I finally managed to take its picture after doing 30+ pictures earlier. With my previous Canon it only took few to make a nice sharp photo (with worse zoom though of course). One advantage of the new ZS3 is ability to do pretty sharp night photos without using flash - Optical Image Stabilization is doing a great job, allowing to catch more of the background behind the object sharply. Overall I would recommend this camera to people who want to do nice wide-angle pictures during the day and don't expect doing any artistic photography. Camera is small taking into consideration it's 12x zoom and has a nice large LCD screen with excellent resolution (460K pixels). When I look at movies on a regular TV (no-HD) motion picture looks much better on the small screen of the camera, than the big tube; On a HD-ready 16:9 screen - movies are excellent! What I'm missing in the camera are manual settings I had in my simple Canon. I don't think that will come as a firmware upgrade though, cause they want to you to buy even more expensive model to have that. Weird thing is that cheaper models tend to have manual settings available. As for battery - I thought my batteries would do a little better than what I have observed. I managed to do around 200 pictures mixed with video shooting + some reviewing. For that reason I have bought 2 additional batteries and degraded firmware to 1.1 to allow third-party manufacturer savings. At the end I wish desertcart hasn't changed their price a couple of days after I ordered my product, which would save me around 25$. Customer service didn't want to hear about that refund ://// To sum up here are Pros: - 12x optical zoom (also while filming) - 460K pixels LCD bright screen - stereo microphone - ultra wide angle (25mm) - pretty decent small size compared to functions - AVCHD (makes great quality movies with less storage needed) Cons: - No manual controls - Some colors tend to be changed during evening/sunrise - I think I had smoother pictures with Canon earlier - menu changes depending on the mode you're shooting in, which tends to be confusing (like economy options not available in iA)

## Features

- Capture images to SD/SDHC memory cards (not included)
- Intelligent Auto (iA) mode , Face Recognition feature
- 12x MEGA optical image-stablilized zoom , 25mm ultra-wide-angle lens
- 10.1-megapixel resolution captures enough detail for poster-size prints
- Capture HD video in AVCHD Lite format
- 12x MEGA optical image-stablilized zoom; 25mm ultra-wide-angle lens
- Capture HD video in "AVCHD Lite" format
- Intelligent Auto (iA) mode; Face Recognition feature

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| ASIN | B001QFZMCO |
| Are Batteries Included | No |
| Aspect Ratio | 3:2 |
| Auto Focus Technology | Contrast Detection, Live View, Single |
| Autofocus | Yes |
| Autofocus Points | 11 |
| Best Sellers Rank | #86,151 in Electronics ( See Top 100 in Electronics ) #736 in Digital Point & Shoot Cameras |
| Bit Depth | 12 Bit |
| Brand | Panasonic |
| Built-In Media | USB Cable |
| Camera Flash | Built-In |
| Camera Lens | 25 Mm |
| Color | Black |
| Compatible Devices | Computers, smartphones, tablets with SD/SDHC card reader, USB-enabled devices |
| Compatible Mountings | Micro Four Thirds |
| Connectivity Technology | HDMI, USB |
| Continuous Shooting | 2.3 |
| Customer Reviews | 3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars (752) |
| Digital Scene Transition | zoom |
| Digital Zoom | 4 |
| Digital-Still | Yes |
| Display Fixture Type | Fixed |
| Display Resolution Maximum | 460,000 |
| Display Type | Built-In |
| Dots Per Screen | 154922.45 |
| Effective Still Resolution | 10.1 MP |
| Expanded ISO Minimum | 80 |
| Exposure Control | Automatic |
| File Format | JPEG |
| Flash Memory Bus Interface Type | ["SDIO", "eMMC"] |
| Flash Memory Speed Class | 4 |
| Flash Memory Supported Size Maximum | 32 GB |
| Flash Memory Type | SD/MMC/SDHC card, Internal |
| Flash Modes | Automatic |
| Focus Features | TTL |
| Focus Mode | Single-Servo AF (AF-S) |
| Focus Type | Auto Focus |
| Form Factor | Compact |
| Global Trade Identification Number | 00037988988372 |
| HDMI Type | Built-in |
| Hardware Interface | HDMI, SDHC, USB |
| Has Color Screen | Yes |
| Has Self-Timer | Yes |
| ISO Range | Auto, Hi Auto (1600-6400), 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 |
| Image Capture Type | Stills & Video |
| Image stabilization | Optical |
| Item Weight | 0.5 Pounds |
| JPEG Quality Level | Normal |
| Lens Construction | MoreThanFiveElements |
| Lens Type | zoom |
| Light Sensitivity | ISO 80 - ISO 1600 |
| Manufacturer | Panasonic |
| Maximum Focal Length | 300 Millimeters |
| Maximum Shutter Speed | 1/2000 Seconds |
| Memory Storage Capacity | 45 MB |
| Metering Methods | Multi, Center-weighted, Spot |
| Minimum Focal Length | 25 Millimeters |
| Minimum Shutter Speed | 60 seconds |
| Model Name | Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 |
| Model Number | ZS3 Black |
| Model Series | ZS3 |
| Movie Mode | Yes |
| Night vision | No |
| Optical Zoom | 12 x |
| Photo Sensor Resolution | 19 MP |
| Photo Sensor Size | 1/2.3-inch |
| Real Angle Of View | 51.7 Degrees |
| Remote Included | No |
| Screen Size | 3 Inches |
| Self Timer | 10, 2, 5 |
| Sensor Type | CCD |
| Series Number | 3 |
| Shooting Modes | Scene |
| Skill Level | Professional |
| Special Feature | Image Stabilization |
| Supported Media Type | EnhancedContent |
| Total Still Resolution | 10.1 MP |
| Total USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
| Total USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
| Total USB Ports | 1 |
| Total Video Out Ports | 1 |
| UPC | 037988989010 037988988372 |
| Video Output | HDMI |
| Video Resolution | HD 720p |
| Viewfinder | Optical |
| White Balance Settings | Auto |
| Wireless Technology | Yes |
| Write Speed | 2.3 fps |
| Zoom | Optical, Digital |

## Product Details

- **Aspect Ratio:** 3:2
- **Brand:** Panasonic
- **Compatible Mountings:** Micro Four Thirds
- **Expanded ISO Minimum:** 80
- **Image Stabilization:** Optical
- **Maximum Focal Length:** 300 Millimeters
- **Metering Description:** Multi, Center-weighted, Spot
- **Optical Zoom:** 12 x
- **Photo Sensor Technology:** CCD
- **Supported File Format:** JPEG

## Images

![Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Black) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81nVQ4EmSAL.jpg)

## Questions & Answers

**Q: I need to shoot quickly several times at my baby niece as she moves all the time but it seems to take a long time to reset before each shot.**
A: If your SD card is not fast enough that could be cause. Remember that each shot needs enough time to be written to a file. I would suggest a Class 10 card but class 6 might be enough.  Check documentation for recommended card speed and if any mention of burst limitations. If you are using the steady shot function, that could well cost you some processing time.Also if using your flash that will slow you down especially if you are not close to subject.  Compare delay by shooting in daylight with NO flash.BTW Newer cameras can handle many more shots per second (referred to as Bursts). Hope that this helps.Michael

**Q: Does this model hace a size limit for the sdhc card? where can i find this out?**
A: No, not that I know of.  What ever size, 2gb, 16gb and I have a 32gb.  Have never had an issue with data.

**Q: What type of charger does this use?**
A: I have a Lumix Panasonic DE-A65 Battery Charger.

**Q: When recording fast drumming do you know if this camera records out of sync audio and video like my kodak z885**
A: I am not familiar with the Kodak z885 not the audio & video sync. Sorry.

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 3rd time's a charm- a standing "O" for the ZS3!
*by M***N on April 28, 2009*

I have owned two prior digital cameras- the first was a Canon that took good pictures, but was too bulky to pocket around and required AA batteries to power it. The second was a Sony CyberShot DSC-W150 that took crappy, blurry pictures in low light. Needless to say, I felt an upgrade was in order. So I'm going on an east coast trip next month. My buddy and I are avid baseball fans. One problem: as we do not always have great seats, taking close-up pictures of ballplayers is a real pain with 99% of the compact point and shoots out there. This is because the camera's size will only allow it 5X optical zoom. You can combine this with digital zooming, but I don't need to tell you how terrible and pixilated this looks. Thus my conundrum. So I really wanted a compact, pocketable camera with a long range optical lens, without having to lug around an expensive digital SLR. Enter the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3. When I read the specs on it, I was in awe. 10 megapixel, 12X OPTICAL zoom. Here's the sweetest part about the zoom- if you planning to use smaller prints (i.e. 4X6), you can quickly adjust the camera's Megapixel (MP) count from 10 to 7, 5, and 3 to yield maximum OPTICAL zooms of 14.3, 17.1, and 21.4 respectably, without much loss of detail on such prints. I wish Panasonic would have allowed the camera to adjust the MP count automatically as you zoom, but it's not too much trouble to change the MP settings manually from the quick menu. Another great feature: the camera's screen is beautiful at 460,000 pixels, twice the count as the rival Canon Powershot SX200 IS (more on that camera later). From the moment you view your first picture, you'll quickly notice how much sharper photos look on this camera. It's a nice convenience to view photos on the camera in a manner closer to the quality that will actually be seen when you're viewing them on the computer (and ultimately printing them). I also want to give Panasonic kudos for the build quality and compactness of this camera. The ZS3 is a replacement for the popular TZ5 model, which was 9MP and 10X Optical Zoom. So they increased the resolution, and added a wider range lens, and REDUCED the size by .4 cubic inches. Specifications aside, I was more than pleased that this camera will comfortably fit inside my jeans pocket. It's a bit bulkier than an ultracompact for sure, but not objectionably so. Note that the SX200 is a full 2.0 cubic inches thicker, another reason I passed on the Canon. Here's a few more reasons the Canon falls short: the Canon has a cheesy looking popup flash that sticks out at the top of the camera, whether you're using flash or not (bad design decision). It has less rated battery life than the Lumix. Also, when shooting video, the Canon does NOT allow you to use optical zooming. Photo quality on the Lumix is excellent, although I've only snapped samples around my place so far. However, I've taken quite a few pictures at low light, and at maximum zoom levels to try to get a bad shot. So far, there's none to be found. I'll put this through its paces more when I travel next month, but I'm extremely pleased so far. As for video shooting, I've sampled it a bit, and it seems pretty solid. The camera gives you the choice of shooting video in its touted AVCHD Lite format (ideal for watching it on your TV in HD with an optional mini to standard HDMI cable), or JPEG if you prefer to email video clips to friends. This year's model also added stereo sound on video playback versus last year's monaural effort. One thing I found a bit strange, was the incredibly slow zooming when shooting video. I guess Panasonic was trying to give the user a more controlled, deliberate zoom, but unlike the snappy photo zooming, it's a bit slow for my liking. Some other minor quibbles: The dial that controls the shooting mode is extremely loose. If you lightly rub it against anything (a camera bag, your pocket), there's a good chance it will shift. When you turn the camera on, it will digitally tell you what mode you're in, but it's still annoying when it happens by accident. Second, when making a quick zoom on an object, it will appear blurry on the camera's screen until the shutter button is pressed. There are modes to continually focus the object when zooming, but this drains the camera's battery life more rapidly. It would be nice if this feature was incorporated automatically without any such sacrifice. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the included PhotofunStudio software bundled with this camera, as there are other, more compelling programs to view, edit, and print photos (I like Canon's Zoombrowser program better). Finally, this is not the camera to buy if you're into manual controls. There's a ton of preset scenes that can be used (nighttime, portrait, baby, sunset, food, etc.), and you can adjust items like flash, white balance, and max ISO level, but this is meant to be a simple point and shoot for casual photographers. Note that the Lumix has an intelligent auto mode (IA) that will analyze the shooting conditions and pick the right scene, flash, and exposure without any adjustments by the user. This camera screams simplicity, but there's enough tweaking on the Normal and Scene modes to keep the vast majority of amateur photographers happy. Regardless of these nitpicks, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 is an awesome camera, unbeatable for those that want the best of both worlds- a great zoom lens and compact body. It's a bit pricey at $399, but you're getting quite a lot of camera for your hard earned dollars. I have no doubt that my third digital camera is a terrific buy and a long-term staple for my travels.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pretty decent ultra zoom pocket camera
*by T***T on November 11, 2009*

I bought this camera for my recent two-weeks vacation trip. Previously I was using Canon A510 and I loved that camera, thinking, that I'd be Canon's fan for many future models. At the time I wanted to upgrade I made several-month-investigation looking forward to seeing Canon releasing a perfect camera for me. Perfect for my requirements would be small sized, a nice 10x+ zoom, around 10Mpx matrix, good picture quality and good video quality (preferably HD). Months were passing and nothing new apart of IS SX200 appeared on the market. The latter after summarizing all pros and cons lost the fight with Lumix ZS3. I've chosen ZS3 for its compact size, nice zoom, optical zoom capabilities while filming, wide angle and HD movies. I have to admit, that lumix did a pretty good job with my pictures I was taking for the last month. I regret though that it tends to change colors completely where my old Canon very adequately transferred real-world colors into the digital pictures. During the day I think ZS3 did very well easily leaving A510 behind because of the zoom capabilities and ultra-wide angle (25mm) view. It's amazing how many objects can now fit into the picture compared to my previous photos. During the night however or at the sunrise I'd say I liked the Canon better. The reason for that is the sky, although looking pretty warm, had totally different color at the picture compared to what I saw with my eyes. Beach during the night in 'starry night' mode (15/30/60 s exposure time) ended up in being GREEN !!! That is not acceptable for me. Other pictures in night light also had mangled colors, which could only be fixed with manual 'white balance' set (you can set it with ZS3). I was expecting from Intelligent Auto present at ZS3 something more accurate. I also cannot understand why iA mode can't take pictures in 16:9 format in higher resolution than 2.5MB !??? Shooting a fullmoon was also hard to do. Using all possible tricks I finally managed to take its picture after doing 30+ pictures earlier. With my previous Canon it only took few to make a nice sharp photo (with worse zoom though of course). One advantage of the new ZS3 is ability to do pretty sharp night photos without using flash - Optical Image Stabilization is doing a great job, allowing to catch more of the background behind the object sharply. Overall I would recommend this camera to people who want to do nice wide-angle pictures during the day and don't expect doing any artistic photography. Camera is small taking into consideration it's 12x zoom and has a nice large LCD screen with excellent resolution (460K pixels). When I look at movies on a regular TV (no-HD) motion picture looks much better on the small screen of the camera, than the big tube; On a HD-ready 16:9 screen - movies are excellent! What I'm missing in the camera are manual settings I had in my simple Canon. I don't think that will come as a firmware upgrade though, cause they want to you to buy even more expensive model to have that. Weird thing is that cheaper models tend to have manual settings available. As for battery - I thought my batteries would do a little better than what I have observed. I managed to do around 200 pictures mixed with video shooting + some reviewing. For that reason I have bought 2 additional batteries and degraded firmware to 1.1 to allow third-party manufacturer savings. At the end I wish Amazon hasn't changed their price a couple of days after I ordered my product, which would save me around 25$. Customer service didn't want to hear about that refund ://// To sum up here are Pros: - 12x optical zoom (also while filming) - 460K pixels LCD bright screen - stereo microphone - ultra wide angle (25mm) - pretty decent small size compared to functions - AVCHD (makes great quality movies with less storage needed) Cons: - No manual controls - Some colors tend to be changed during evening/sunrise - I think I had smoother pictures with Canon earlier - menu changes depending on the mode you're shooting in, which tends to be confusing (like economy options not available in iA)

### ⭐⭐⭐ Okay but did not meet expectations
*by H***S on January 1, 2010*

I was disappointed by this camera. I read a gazillion reviews before purchasing and expected to be impressed. I was hoping that it would take beautiful pictures indoors and of my pets. It did not do either of these things. I had an issue with my previous camera with redeye indoors, and hoped with the technology in this camera that it would correct that. It did not, and I actually had more pictures with red eye than I did before! The pictures indoors were no better than my 3 year old cheapo Kodak EasyShare. The zoom was nice and pictures at a distance did come in clear but it did not zoom as far as I thought a 12x zoom would. There were several little things that bugged me about this camera, one being that I had to move a switch to go from picture mode to review mode. My biggest complaint is the time it took to take a picture. The delay caused me to miss shots. I kept the camera for a few days and played with the different settings, but still was not satisfied. I am sending this camera back. The button to immediately go to video mode was GREAT, and the videos I took were really good quality. If video quality is important than this may be a good choice for you, but since I already have a really nice camcorder it did not factor into my choice of buying this camera. I think this camera took high quality photos, but the advanced features and intelligent auto that I thought would help me to take great photos did not meet my expectations. IMHO I think a cheaper camera would be just as good. The feel of the camera was nice and sturdy as well, and the screen was beautiful.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Black)
- SanDisk 128GB Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I Memory Card - C10, U3, V30, 4K UHD, SD Card - SDSDXXD-128G-GN4IN
- SZHAIYIJIN SD Card Reader for iPhone, Memory Card Reader with USB Camera Adapter Plug and Play Trail Game Camera Viewer Supports SD and TF Card MicroSD Card Adapter for iPad No App Required

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