Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3K 10.1 Megapixel

The camera is excellent, does everything quite well. The image quality is great, the wide angle is awesome, the zoom is awesome, and the hd video is awesome! It's an ideal all-around device for documenting trips, since it fits nicely in a pocket. An hd camcorder would not be nearly as comfortable. The video quality really is great, more than good enough for documenting your life, leaps ahead of the large old standard def camcorders.

The mode dial is indeed way too flimsy and is almost always in the wrong spot. What was Panasonic thinking? It looks nice but its usability is horrible.

Dust can get in between the lens elements and can't be cleaned out, which can show up in pics in rare situations (bright sun).

Lack of proper manual modes can be annoying, at least for exposure. The "starry sky" mode of 15/30/60 seconds compensates somewhat but not quite.

But these are small negatives. Its still my favorite camera ever!

My son wanted a good camera for his school project.He wanted it to be easy to carry everyday for school.And we compared the price on the net.The best deal we found was on ebay.

I bought the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3K a couple months back and so far, it has been a great product. The first thing that anyone would appreciate is the 3 inch LCD screen and the 12X zoom with image stabilization. The pictures come out clear, the camera responds quickly, and the menus and options are easy to navigate through. One downside is the lack of an in-camera panoramic feature. It has a panoramic assist mode, but then you need to use a separate software (which comes with the camera) to stitch the pictures together to make the panoramic image. I liked having this done inside the camera. AND when turning the camera sideways to take a portrait picture, the image displays in the camera right-side up automatically, but is stored on the memory card sideways, which results in you having to rotate images after transferring them to your computer. Besides those two little qualms, the camera is a great price for the compact zoom and big LCD and great 10 megapixel clarity.

I have used the ZS3 for a week and I must say Panasonic has its place in digital camera/comcorder market. My first Panasonic which purchased 6 years ago (DMC-FX9) is having power button issue and therefore I have to purchased a new one. The old camera last me for 5+ years which is satifactory. Well, it was expensive though last time ($460+), for the FX9, hey, the ZS3, which is a far more superior camera, only cost $285 nowaday!

(I) Camera performance: the Leica lens with 25mm wide angle is superb. I am now able to capture more things with the extra angles. If you put a camera without wide angle next to the ZS3 and view the screen you could tell the big difference. The pictures are sharp, clean. Night shooting is also superior when using the slow sync flash function. Panasonic camera is by far the most superior when using it on night shot, couple with its Mega OIS + shake-proof stablize technology, capturing memorial night view moment is at ease. I still hold my Australia's trip pictures and my friends just can't tell it is captured with a compact! But hey, that was with the 6 years old FX9; I bet ZS3 would do even better than that~

(II) Now here is the bonus - HD Video Recording: If you pay a little more ($60+) to have a choice than ZS1 (which without HD video recording), ZS3 is indeed a good value camera. Recording HD Video is extremely easy - it has a designated 'camcorder' button right above the negivation buttons. Instead of turning the mode to video mode, there is no longer such need with ZS3. Simply hit that 'record' button whenever you are in camera mode, and it instantly starts recording. The switch is instantly fast. With an 8GB SD card, you could record full HD (super fine resolution) up to an hour (about 61 minutes). We spent the last Halloween with kids treat-or-trick in Mall of America. I bet I would hold on to my HD camcorder purchase for a long while :D.

ZS3, to my surprise, records the HD video very well. The video quality is superior enought consider that just a digital camera lens, and sound quality is good too. There are Left and Right microphone right above the camera and we can't get surround, but the sound quality is good enought as like a $300+ non-HD DVD camcorder.

I finally found something that takes great pictures without sacrificing the ability of good video recording. I would say this is a good family camera too. You may imagine the hassles to bring strollers + diapers bag + car seats when travelling. With a single device that does both Photo+Video, ZS3 is a good size camera that does that, and does it well.

Excellent bang for the buck!! Highly recommend!! Excellent quality in a relatively small package. Easy to use, fun to use!! No major drawbacks in my opinion.

I like a lot the Leica Lens 12 X Optical Zoom, the Pictures are beautiful and the Video is on HD, great focus during your record movie and it has a Inteligent option that give you the best shoots depend the situation, I think the only detail that I can say that can improve the battery, they can made one with more duration and until now is hard to find the original battery for buy one for spare.

the camera takes nice pictures very good audio video quality is real good also
I do have problems with the videos performance though now that i have used it for awhile!
one thing is the zoom on it is noisy, showing in the videos sound that you make!
when you move the camera when you are recording,the video it gets distorted till you stop moving the camera often !

I received everything as promised with no problems. The camera is great and the price was good. I would love to do more business with you.

The only item I would like is a viewfinder; but then I wouldn't want the camera to be bigger nor the LCD display to be smaller to pay for it. The pictures are awesome and the videos incredible. With 8GB SDHC card I can take HD superb quality video for an hour! The camera's trade-off of quality at low light is as good as it gets. It's hard to imagine any compact camera getting any better than this with 12x optical zoom.