Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ3 Digital Camera - Similar to Canon S1 IS but Better?
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Author's Rating:
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Pros: Powerful 12x optical zoom, excellent Leica optics, optical image stabilization, flexibility, AF assist
Cons: No manual focus
The Bottom Line:
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ3 is an excellent flexible camera with high-powered zoom and, great optics and optical image stabilization that really works....
Author's Review
Does size matter? Depends on what size you are talking about. After you buy a digital camera, people ask you the most important question: "How many megapixels?" Unfortunately, the resolution (the number of megapixels) is pretty meaningless, if you disregard the optical quality of the camera and its electronics. Never mind the fact that for 4x6 prints 3.1 Megapixels is more than enough and is sufficient for 8x10 enlargements.
Would I choose this
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ3 with 3.1 Megapixels over many digital cameras with 5-7 Megapixels? Absolutely.
Pictures
To see what the camera looks like, copy and paste the following address (URL) into your browser's address area:
http://www.review-shop.com/Panasonic_FZ3/Panasonic_FZ3_Samples_1.html
Lens
The reason is the monster optics this particular camera has. Not only it has 12x optical zoom (36-432 mm in 35-mm equivalent), but its lens (by legendary
Leica Camera AG) has fast f/2.8 maximum aperture
throughout its impressive zoom range and the camera features
optical image stabilization (OIS) that really works well.
The picture quality (provided the resolution is sufficient for your purpose) depends mostly on the optics and the camera’s image processing (image sensor and software). I will choose a camera with better optics, CCD and electronics over a camera with higher resolution but lesser optics, CCD or electronics. This is especially true if you intend to use high zoom levels (e.g. for sporting events or wildlife shooting).
In the aforementioned cases, you can zoom in optically instead of having to rely on the digital zoom of lesser cameras or cropping. Majority of compact digital cameras use only about 3x-3.3x optical zoom and then switch to digital zoom, removing any advantage of their higher-resolution CCDs.
To give you an example, the
Olympus D-580 has 3x optical and 4x digital zoom and 4-Megapipxel resolution. If you use it to get 12x combined zoom, the real resolution drops to
just 0.25MP. When using digital zoom, the resolution drops proportionatly square of the digital zoom factor. This means that resolution drops 16 times if using 4x digital zoom (linear resolution drops 4 times both horizontally and vertically).
This means that for situations that require good zooming power, the 3.1-Megapixel camera with 12x optical zoom is much better than the 4MP camera with 3x optical zoom.
In fact, even at zoom levels around 5x-6x, the FZ3 will be better. Let alone the fact that the optical image stabilization lets you shoot with up to three stops slower shutter speed with no blur. You will be able to shoot at shutter speeds, which would have consistently produced blurry images without OIS.
As I mentioned, the lens features excellent f/2.8 maximum aperture throughout the zoom range and can be stopped down to f/8 minimum aperture (also throughout its zoom range). The lens is multicoated to reduce flare and internal reflections and features 13 elements in 8 groups, including 3 aspherical lenses and 4 aspherical surfaces.
Such a powerful lens comes at a slight expense – it is large and makes the camera larger than other compacts. But keep in mind that you would have to get several SLR lenses (that would cost you a fortune) to approach this kind of flexibility and maximum aperture. Not only it would be expensive to buy these lenses and will they be heavy to carry, you would have to change them, which is inconvenient. I am not suggesting that this camera is better than a digital SLR system – SLR has its advantages. But the lens on the FZ3 is extremely flexible, sharp and fast. Combine it with optical image stabilization and you get a great, flexible camera.
The use of such a powerful zoom necessitates the use of the electronic viewfinder (EVF) instead of the optical one. The EVF on this model is fluid (more so than the LCD), has diopter adjustment and is much better visible in the sunlight than the LCD is.
OIS
A couple of sensors detect camera motions and move a lens element inside the camera to compensate for this unintended motion. Having such a powerful zoom, the optical image stabilization comes in handy and lets you shoot with up to 3 stops slower shutter speed than you would be able to use otherwise.
The optical image stabilization, combined with the f/2.8 maximum aperture throughout the zoom range lets you shoot handheld in situations that would otherwise have required a tripod, be it in low light or at high telephoto.
The uses of such a monstrous zoom are quite a few, including shooting wildlife and sporting event, where you cannot get close to the action. The camera also offers up to 4x digital zoom (at lower resolutions), which gives you up to 46x overall zoom. I would never use it.
Body
The camera feels solid and well-built, but not too heavy. The size of the camera body itself is larger that that of the majority point-and-shoot digital cameras and the lens is substantially larger than most, both in diameter and the protrusion when off (and especially when the camera is on). Even in the powered off state, the lens barrel is relatively long. The camera is definitely not the kind you can put in the shirt pocket; expect to have to buy the case for it.
Due to the lens’s large opening, you have to use the supplied lens cap, which is attached to the camera eyelet with a string. The top deck houses an old-fashioned round exposure mode switch, which feels sturdy and precise.
The handgrip is convenient to hold and the shutter release button have just the right feel to them. The back of the camera has the 1.5-inch LCD screen with 114K pixels, which does not swivel, the menu control buttons, the sliding power switch, several other buttons and an electronic viewfinder (EVF) with diopter adjustment.
Flash
The flash extends if you push the mechanical “Flash” button; otherwise the flash is invisible. After the flash is extended, you can select the flash mode using “right arrow” menu control button. I find the fact that the flash has to be activated manually a good thing, since some other cameras make the flash pop up whenever they please, sometimes ruining the shot. The popup flash in this camera is necessary because the lens barrel is long and the flash on the body of the camera would be blocked by it.
Storage
The camera uses Secure Digital or MultiMedia cards and comes with an 8-Mb SD card. MultiMedia cards are slower (have slower data transfer rates) and I do not recommend them. You can buy a
512-Mb SD card for about $40-60 and store hundreds of photos on it.
The still images can be stored at 2016x1512, 1920x1080, 1600x1200, 1280x960 and 640x480 resolution in JPEG format with Fine or Standard quality or in TIFF format. The camera can also record video at 320x240 resolution and 30 or 10 frames per second (Motion JPEG, QuickTime MOV format).
Sensitivity
The camera has Auto mode as well as ISO 80, 100, 200 and 400 presets. The ISO 400 setting (as well as Auto in dimly lit environments in some camera modes) is quite noisy, but with optical image stabilization you can use lower ISO and slower shutter speeds. Note: in “easy” mode, you cannot adjust the ISO as well as some other parameters.
Some Specs
The camera has shutter speed of 8-1/2,000 sec (some values are accessible in aperture and shutter priority modes only). The camera has automatic white balance as well as presets for Cloudy, Daylight, Halogen, Flash and Custom (using white or gray card). The custom white balance using a white card is very useful, especially in incandescent light.
You can also adjust the white balance manually between -1500K and 1500K in 150K steps, unless the white balance is set to auto. To adjust the white balance in this manner, press the “arrow up” menu control button.
The camera also has exposure compensation and auto exposure bracketing (also accessible by pressing the “arrow up” button).
Supplied
The camera comes with a cool lens hood you can attach (a very useful gadget for reducing flare), lens cap with a string (making it more difficult to loose), an 8-Mb SD card (you can buy a
512-Mb SD card online for $40-60), a CD-ROM with software, a USB cable, a battery and a charger/power adaptor, AC and DC cables, A/V cable, camera strap, manuals, etc.
The lens hood as well as other accessories is attached by unscrewing the ring around the lens and attaching a supplied “lens hood adaptor” – a plastic ring, to which you can attach the lens hood and filters.
Usage
The camera is very easy to use. The power switch on the rear of the camera is a simple sliding type with a LED that stays lit when the camera is on. The round exposure mode switch on the top deck has an “Easy” position (looks like a red heart icon), which makes operation almost fully automatic. Just point and shoot.
The other modes include portrait, scenery, night scenery, snow, party, night portrait, sports, macro, panning mode, etc. Also there are Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual modes.
The camera’s menus are in color and are very easy to use. The LCD, although on the small side, is well-visible and sturdy. But in the sunlight, you may want to switch to the EVF.
The camera’s shutter lag is short, when prefocused by either pressing the shutter release button halfway or using the “Focus” button. The focusing itself is by TTL contrast detection, which does not work well in the dim environment. In the dark, the AF assist light helps the camera focus on the objects close to it. If the objects are too far to be reached by an AF assist light, the focusing is slower. The camera’s optical image stabilization helps a lot when the slower shutter speeds are used.
The camera has exposure compensation, exposure bracketing, continuous AF (when needed) and self timer. The aperture and shutter priority modes are selected by the main mode switch, but the modes like portrait, scenery, party, etc. are selected from the menu.
When white balance is set to any mode other than Auto, pressing the "arrow up" button also brings the option to change white balance from the current value towards red or blue. Moving towards red works well when shooting the foliage in fall, a bit of blue bias can come in handy in the snowy conditions.
Battery
The camera uses a proprietary Li-Ion rechargeable battery, which is charged outside the camera. It is slightly inconvenient that you have to remove the battery every time you want to charge it, but it makes it easier to charge a spare battery wile keeping the original in the camera and replace them when needed.
The battery fully charges in 90 minutes and lets you take about 200-250 pictures on one charge. As with other Li-Ion batteries, it is recommended not to discharge the battery completely and recharge it once in a while. “Aftermarket” batteries (other than Panasonic) are available if you need spares and cost much less.
Computer Connectivity
You can get a card reader and remove the card from the camera to be read using the reader, or you can use the USB cable supplied with the camera to connect it to your computer. The computer connectivity is easy and fast.
For Windows 2000 or later, there is no need to install the USB driver. But if you have an older version of Windows (e.g. Windows 98), you might have to install it from the supplied CD.
The camera appears as a removable drive when powered on and you can simply copy or drag-and-drop files from it. The software that comes on the CD includes an SD Viewer - a utility that lets you see not only the thumbnails of the pictures that are on the SD card, but the EXIF information about the photos as well - date/time, aperture, shutter speed, camera model and other information.
Performance
The camera takes pictures of amazing sharpness and colors are great - great deep blues, lush green and vivid reds. And if you are Photoshop-proficient, you can make your photos shine even more.
There is slight vignetting present - the corners of the photos are sligthly darker then the center. But it is minor. There is no noticeable purple fringing (chromatic aberrations) at all - the purple fringing is effectively suppressed by the camera's Venus II engine. The lens does not exhibit any noticeable pincussion distortion at telephoto end. There is slight barrel distortion at wide angle, but it is minor.
The burst mode lets you take up to 13 pictures (standard) or up to 7 pictures (Fine) in rapid succession (at 4 frames per second!) at full resolution. The button on the top deck of the camera lets you switch between single-frame mode, high-speed burst (4 fps) and slow burst (2 fps).
The camera's amazingly fast (throughout the zoom range) f/2.8 lens exhibits slight barrel distortion at wide angle, but no noticeable pincushion distortion at telephoto. The lens is very sharp and the optical image stabilization helps when shooting handheld. I was able to shoot handheld at 1 sec shutter speed at wide angle – a feat, unthinkable without OIS.
The camera also lets you record short audio annotations and attach them to the still pictures.
The supplied lens hood is handy at fighting flare, but could be a little easier to install. Also, the lens cap cannot be attached to the hood, as the length of the lens cap string is insufficient.
The zooming is fast, smooth and quiet. Note: don't be concerned if you feel something move inside when you tilt the camera in the powered off state. It is normal and once the camera is powered on, it stops. Unfortunately, there is no manual focus, or live histogram (to estimate the exposure better), but the rest of manual controls is impressive (shutter/aperture, ISO, white balance, sharpness, color bias, etc.)
Competition
This camera is very similar to the
Canon S1 IS. It has similar resolution, OIS, but 12x optical zoom vs. Canon's 10x and f/2.8 maximum aperture (at full telephoto) vs. Canon’s f/3.1. The FZ3 also has an AF assist illuminator, which Canon S1 IS lacks.
I do like this camera better than the
Canon S1 IS.
Aside from these two, other manufacturers have cameras with long zooms, but they don't have image stabilization...
Bottom Line
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ3 is an excellent flexible camera with high-powered zoom and, great optics and optical image stabilization that really works. It has a world-class lens in a compact body and many features and manual controls. Unless you need manual focus or depth of field that only SLR can provide, I highly recommend this camera.
My Reviews of Other Digital Cameras
Canon:
Canon Powershot S2 IS Digital Camera Review
Canon Powershot S1 IS Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A520 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A510 3.2-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot S500 5-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot S410 / Digital IXUS 430 Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD400 5-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Panasonic:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ4 4-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ15 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ3 Digital Camera Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ2 Digital Camera with 12x Leica Lens and Optical Image Stabilizer Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1 Digital Camera with Optical Image Stabilizer and 12x Leica Lens Review
Olympus:
Olympus Camedia C-765 4.0-Megapixel Digital Camera with USB and ED Lens Review
Olympus Stylus 410 4-Megapixel All-Weather Digital Camera Review
Olympus Camedia D-580 / C-460 4.0-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Olympus D-565 Zoom Digital 4-Megapixel Camera Review
Olympus D-575 Zoom Digital Camera Review
Sony:
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T1 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T33 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T7 Digital Camera Review
Others:
Minolta DiMAGE Z2 Digital Camera Review
Pentax *istD Digital SLR Camera Review
