as an underwater vidcam the zs3 excels. its the best video point and shoot out there and id dare say as good as some 720p dedicated vidcams.
as a camera it is very good. it isnt full manual but you do get iso, min shutter speed, exposure, white balance, multiaspect, bracketing. the only thing lacking is aperture control really. you really have to go through the manual to see what it is capable doing.
i shoot the camera in vivid mode and with iso set to 80 or 100 in manual mode for bright/daylight settings. i shoot almost everything else topside in iA mode which i think is one of the best auto settings.
u/w i shoot u/w mode for reef shots without a strobe. with a strobe i shoot manual with minimun shutter of 1/125 and iso 100. this is also the settings i use for fish action shots w/strobe. for macro i use the same manual settings or go to iA. i never use u/w mode for macro as there is usually enough of a light source to bring out true colors.
to improve battery life, turn off continuous focusing and get around double the battery life.
the zs3 has a leica lens and has 2 image processors which makes it capable of shooting 720p avchd and shooting stills with an almost hdr-like effect. it handles lens flares very well - try shooting your dive buddy against the sun the next time you dive and you will see what i mean.
but just like any piece of new tech, the user has to learn the camera and read the manual, however poorly written it is.
a lot of complaints about the camera could have been addressed by just reading the manual.
well just my 2psi.
cheers
Bob, Panasonic
should be paying you commission for pushing this amazing little cam : )
Bought yesterday (because of you), played with it topside, video is amazing
cons though (but the pros outweigh the cons by a ton)
(2Cents from a former g series Canon user)
1. Stock Panny DMW-MCTZ7 u/w housing upper right knob (shifting from Ai to cam mode, and other modes knob) slightly difficult to turn since only quarter of the knob exterior groove exposed, tendency to slide and I suspect internal grooves in time will smoothen out, rendering that knob useless- but, its a secondary knob though, as you may choose to set cam at ai mode during pre-dive
2. Panning a bit torpid, subject looses focus unlike canon g series which has faithful focus during panned shots (i've yet to try it u/w though, and have to update firmware, is there an effect? ...) still playing with it though,
3. This cam could have added more manual controls, but then, if would be a lx3 or a gf1...I mean, for a cam this good, its gonna loose lots of supposed potential customers who like a semi slr feel, felt awkward at first having no control over shutter and aperture (ala canon g series), I stand corrected u can choose shutter speed but not in the way you want (or maybe its just me) ..yet has a myriad of other scene effects/functions, in a way, its a confused camera for me, more than a point and shoot, less than a high end cam and definitely no slr..
but at the end of the day, its the final output (pic/videos) and
pricepoint which are important and zs3/TZ7 wins handsdown vs the canon g series and other u/w cams out there. Evie had great shots at PG last weekend, even Mark of Sea Rider was surprised with how vibrant, crisp and clear the pics were.
already booked for Nha Trang this wkend, lets see how my tz7 performs
