Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 HD Hybrid Reviewed, Found Worthy

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 has been given a thorough workout by the folks over at DCresource and they have mostly good things to say. The ZS3 is one of the latest compact cameras release by Panasonic which is being billed as part still camera and part camcorder. It packs some top of the line features in nice package. Originally being one of the first to widen up their lenses to 28mm this new generation has expanded it even further to 25mm. The zoom level is no slouch either at a whopping 12x (300mm). The LCD view screen is a spacious 3 inches wide and features an automatic brightness adjustment to help you best frame your images in changing light conditions. Another aid for lighting is Panasonic's best in class optical image stabilization. The image processes provide extra value with face detection and ultra fast image processing.

The feature many are most interested in with the ZS3 is the motion video capture. Touting 720p resolution this packs as much or better resolution than most current dedicated camcorders. The fun starts with a dedicated movie capture button woefully missing from most cameras. Video and stereo audio are recorded in either the new standard AVCHD Lite or the old reliable MotionJPEG. AVCHD Lite can record up to one hour of video on a 16GB card. MotionJPEG files will be bigger and therefore less content can be recorded but AVCHD does not have as much support yet with software video editors. While this will surely change in the future Panasonic's included software will help bridge the gap with ArcSoft Media Impression suite and their own PhotoFunStudio. The release date still isn't solid but MSRP looks to be in the $399 range.