When people think of superzoom cameras, the first thing that comes to their mind is the image of a miniature DSLR camera – bulky and voluminous, with its lens protruding. Though they would love to go for a superzoom camera, they refrain or start getting second thoughts thinking about all that extra weight that they would have to carry. After all, with all that weight, they do not look like they can be easily slipped into the pockets when one goes traveling or on vacation. Panasonic seems to answer many such silent prayers by coming up with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3, which is an ultra slim superzoom camera and also offers wide angle zoom. This 10.1mp and 12x zoom camera offers wide angle focal range from 25mm to 300mm.
Design and FunctioningThose who have seen and appreciated Canon’s PowerShot A series cameras, would amply appreciate the design of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3, which may look bulky, but is extremely balanced in weight and is also ergonomically sound, especially when one considers the grip on its right side, just like most bulky superzoom cameras or even DSLRs. This camera comes in five colours of Metallic Silver, Muddy Brown, Cobalt Blue, Midnight Black and Plum Red. This camera features an enhanced version of Intelligent Auto Mode, with AF tracking and Face Recognition added to the mix. Intelligent Auto Mode automatically determines a number of key criteria when taking a picture, including selecting the most appropriate scene mode (from five most common and often used settings) and ISO speed, and turning face detection (which detects a maximum of 15 faces apart), image stabilization and quick auto-focus on. Intelligent Exposure increases the exposure only in the under-exposed areas of the image, and Digital Red-eye automatically detects and removes red-eye error. The HD video capability of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 is one of the major features of this camera, and it's now further enhanced by support for the new AVCHD Lite format. The camera is also equipped with Panasonic’s signatory Mega OIS optical stability function, that reduces the effect of shake or movement on the picture being taken, much before the picture is taken, thus rendering it immune to blur. Panasonic also provide a High Sensitivity Mode to help combat the effects of camera shake. When this scene mode is selected, the camera automatically raises the ISO speed up to a maximum of 6400 and therefore allows for a faster shutter speed. The camera comes with 40MB of internal memory and is compatible with SD/SDHC as well as MMC cards.
