Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Camera - Any Owners Here?

[Terence McCann]

Looking for a first hand review. Would also like to know if it has an automatic lens protection cover.

Also, anyone else notice that the eye view finders are becoming extinct in favor of the LCD panel? Not sure I care for that "feature".

[Richard Moore]

Hi Terry,

I bought my wife a TZ1 last year for her trip to China. I just looked at a photo of the TZ3 and it looks the same although they may have bumped the megapixels up a bit.

Anyway...No, it comes with a removable lens cap, no automatic protection. She took some great photos with it in DAYLIGHT, but the flash really sucks and very few of her indoor photos came out worth a damn.

It has some neat features, as do a lot of cameras, but, this is NOT a camera I would recommend for home inspections. Besides the flash, I think the lack of a viewfinder and the lens cap would drive you nuts. There's also the issue of the battery. It's a special one so you can't just pop in some spare AAs if it poops out in the field.

Take a look at the Canon A630. The 2.5 LCD screen hinges and swivels, which is handy for some of those awkward, behind appliance, shots and it can be stored folded with the face in to protect it in crawls etc. Normal viewfinder, automatic lens protection, and it takes 4 AA batteries. I am currently using an A95 which is basically the previous version of the A630.

[kurt]

I've got the TZ1, and would disagree about it's use for HI work.

It's excellent; the only downside is the lack of viewfinder, but viewfinders are just about extinct on point & shoots. The problem is offset w/a feature that allows one to brighten the LCD display for use in daylight; I'd rather have a viewfinder, but its' workable. Like all these new point & shoots, it's about the settings; if you don't want to get familiar w/the settings, it won't take adequate pic's. It ain't hard.

The 10x optical zoom is remarkable; I can zoom in on far away details that I'd never be able to get w/any other point & shoot.

The flash is fine; it has limited range, but that's a problem w/nearly all point & shoots.

The battery is Lithium Ion and has better life than any camera battery I've ever owned; I go for days without recharging.

The TZ3 has a nice feature; they took about 70mm off the top end, and instead have the bottom end @ 28mm, so there's a decent wide angle; handy for HI work in some situations. I think the zoom goes from 28mm to 280.

Another thing I like is the audio; you can take a pic, then record what it is; handy when you're taking a lot of pic's.

It's the tiniest 10x optical; once you get used to the 10x zoom, it's hard to give up. If you don't need 10x optical, you can go tiny w/the Canon.

[chicago]

Kurts audio feature sounds great,however the swivel feature on the other one should not be minimized as it helped me get a shot of the dryer vent behind a double stack that had a flex vent that I never would have Known about other wise.Mine is a Nikon Cool Pix.

[Neal Lewis]

Richard,

Check this thread at DP Review about some problems with the flash sync with the earlier TZ1. I don't have the problem with my TZ1, but I can't use it for inspections because of the lense cap issue. I use the Panny LZ3 now , which is OK.

The wide angle would come in handy for interior room pics. I also have the FZ5, which has the 48X zoom, but is too bulky for work.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readf ... d=23130004

[Terence McCann]

Originally posted by Neal Lewis

I use the Panny LZ3 now , which is OK.

Hi Neal,

Is it just OK, nothing to write home about?

I've narrowed it down to the LZ3 (10X optical zoom is the reason) and the Canon PowerShot A710 IS. The A710 only has a 6x (35mm-210mm) optical zoom but it does appear to have a view finder, an option I'd like to have if possible.

[Neal Lewis]

Terry,

The LZ3 can be had for pretty cheap right now. It has the 6X zoom and 4X digital. At lower quality the zoom changes to 7.5 and 30X. I like it for inspections. The LCD monitor has a high angle feature, which is useful to hold it high above a crowd, for instance, and still see the screen.

The TZ series is a much better cam, but has a removal lense cap on the TZ1; not sure about the others. The zoom goes to 12.5 and 50X at the lower quality image. The image stabilization on the Panny cameras makes this type of zoom totally usable.

I actually haven't used a viewfinder in years.

[Terence McCann]

Had the LZ3 and the TZ3 flip-flopped, my bad.

[Terence McCann]

Kurt, do you get any camera shake/blurred pictures when zooming all the way in with TZ1?