Panasonic just announced some new consumer digicams. We will cover briefly the two models:
Panasonic Lumix ZS3
We got the chance to work for one afternoon using a ZS3 pre-production model. Here are some of the highlights:
- 10.1 effective MP
- 12x Leica zoom (equivalent to 25-300mm, a clearly amazing range)
- Lens image stabilization via the Panasonic Mega O.I.S
- 720P HD recording using AVCHD Lite
- iA: Intelligent Auto image processing
- Advanced face recognition
- No RAW file recording
- Planned to be shipped in April
Note: We don't show 100% pixel crops because the camera was a pre-production version.
Lens and image stabilization
We were very surprised how well the images turned out using this 12x zoom:
Miami Beach at max zoom (300mm 35mm equivalent)
What the image does not show is how far away this skyline was from the beach. It was handheld and all colors are a shot. We just used a bit of our EasyD Plus tool to add extra detail.
iA: Intelligent Auto
Using auto modes is normally a big no-no in our work. Why? Because most auto tools don't work. The iA in the ZS3 seems to work very well though. Here is a different shot:
Life Guard Station at Miami Beach
Shooting in bright sun beach and surf is often of the time leading to clipped highlights. The zs3 created an excellent exposure as shown below (with histogram in Lightroom):
This exposure handling is very good in iA modus.
Here is a crop from a different image:
Again this was an extremely difficult shot. It cam out a bit underexposed which is much better than any sort of clipping. Some basic corrections made it work.
Advanced face recognition
With the zs3 you can register faces (five I think) and this will give focus priority to those faces if they are recognized by the camera.
HD recording
This is clearly a hybrid photo and video consumer camera. The brief video clips we took looked very nice. The video part benefits from the following factors:
- Extreme zoom (25-300mm 35mm equivalent)
- Lens image stabilization using the Panasonic Mega O.I.S
- iA processing like for still images
Conclusion
The TZ3 is an impressive little camera. We are not even sure that we miss RAW that much. Simple use and RAW often don't go well together. For occasional videos I actually would prefer the TZ3 to a dedicated video camera. We plan to check this camera more closely once it is released.
Panasonic Lumix TS1
The Lumix TS1 is the first 'tough' digicam made by Panasonic. It is shockproof and waterproof. Like the zs3 it is a hybrid camera that can produce stills and 720P HD AVCHD Lite videos.
- 10.1 effective MP
- 4.6x Leica zoom (equivalent to 28-128mm)
- Lens image stabilization via the Panasonic Mega O.I.S
- 720P HD recording using AVCHD Lite
- iA: Intelligent Auto image processing
- No RAW file recording
- Planned to be shipped in April
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