Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 review

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Review

Reviewed by: Will Greenwald

Reviewed on: 25 April 2007

Image quality
The TZ3's pictures looked good and were almost completely free of lens distortion. This greatly impressed us, as most ultrazoom lenses -- especially those with 28mm-equivalent wide-angles -- tend to heavily distort images at their extreme settings. Fuzzy artefacts obscured certain finer points, but photos were otherwise colourful and detailed.

Noise was evident, even at the camera's lowest sensitivity of ISO 100, but the Panasonic keeps it well under control up to ISO 400, where the amount of finer detail in our images diminished further. Even at ISO 800, the TZ3 produces usable images, though fine detail and shadow detail decrease slightly compared to those taken at ISO 400.

The noise turned into a sea of static at ISO 1,250, taking away most fine detail and shadow detail, though you should still be able to eke out a usable 100x150mm (4x6-inch) print. Of course, it's best to stick with lower ISOs whenever possible.

Conclusion
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 puts a lot of lens into a small package. The wide-angle, high-zoom camera performs well and takes acceptable shots, though it's hardly perfect. Its higher resolution, wider lens and larger screen make it better than its predecessor in nearly all categories.

Unfortunately, it misses one of the TZ1's most fun shooting modes, and it keeps some minor image issues that, while improved over the TZ1, still cause problems. All that said, the DMC-TZ3 offers great value for the money and easily trumps most other superzooms on size.

Edited by Philip Ryan
Additional editing by Nick Hide