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| Click photo for more images of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3. |
The 10x optically stabilized optical zoom (28-280mm 35mm equivalent) Panasonic DMC-TZ3 (street: $299.00) is the upgrade to Panasonic's original 10x pocket rocket, the Lumix DMC-TZ1. Overall, we were very impressed with this first model, although there were a few areas of improvement: the five megapixel sensor was a bit small by modern standards, and noise was a concern at most ISOs. We also put a full manual mode on our wish list for the next generation in Panasonic's travel zoom line. You can't always get exactly what you want, but, in this case, two out of three isn't bad.
Panasonic fixed the important things: The TZ3 features a 7.2 Megapixel CCD sensor backed by the Venus 3 processing engine, which dramatically reduces noise and improves overall performance. There's still no full manual mode, but it's not the end of the world -- but we'll get into that later.
The most notable feature of the TZ1 was the big, round owl-eye of an internally-focusing Leica Vario-Elmarit 4.6-46mm (35-350mm equivalent) lens, that even had a removable lenscap! This glass was fast -- f/2.8-4.2! It's gone, and so is half an f/stop at either end: instead the TZ3 has a retracting Leica Vario-Elmarit f/3.3-4.9 maximum aperture zoom lens with integrated lens protector. We were skeptical at first at why Panasonic would choose to mess with such a nice fast Leica optic and slow it down -- but then we saw the results of our DxO 2.0 distortion tests, even with the wider wide-angle setting and did a double-take.
There is only Slight barrel distortion (.11%) at the widest setting, 28mm, which is a true wide-angle lens -- not the 35mm or 38mm "wide" setting of most of its competitors . We're used to seeing results for wide settings on compact cameras that are up in the .30%s and beyond -- even for "wide" settings around 38mm. Consider that a score of .10% ranks "imperceptible" and a score of .11% ranks "slight" to get a better understanding of just how impressive this distortion control is. At 140mm and 280mm, it turns to Slight Pincushion (.16%, .18%). These are still very respectable results, but the barrel distortion control at wide-angle is amazing! We're not sure if Panasonic accomplishes this strictly by the optical characteristics, or if there is an in-camera distortion fix during image processing, and really, we don't care how they do it -- we're simply thrilled by the results! (There is still a bit of big-nose barrel distortion evident in macro focusing, which leads us to believe the distortion control is mostly optical.)
Do we miss that half stop, after seeing the DxO wide angle results? Nope, not at all. Not one bit.
But doesn't a smaller aperture mean less light-gathering power? Yes it does -- but don't forget that the 10x lens is a Mega Optical Image Stabilized piece of glass. The floating elements to minimize camera shake are effective: at 280mm, it is effective enough to gain 2.5-3 stops hand-held (meaning you can shoot as slow as 1/30-1/50 second and not be limited to 1/300 as you would on a non-stabilized lens) with acceptable sharpness and edge clarity in our observations. Half an f/stop loss in maximum aperture? We don't miss it at all.
Our single biggest criticism of the TZ1 was its mediocre noise performance. That was then, using the Venus II image processing engine. The TZ3 is now, with the lastest Venus III engine. Noise is handled much better in the TZ3. It doesn't score the lowest numbers we've ever seen, but scores much better than its predecessor. It only creeps into "Unacceptable" territory at ISO 1250. Here's the numbers for the data hounds:
Resolution is in the middle of the pack for the 7 megapixel class, with a respectable 1730 score (Excellent) at 100. It drops slightly, to Extremely High at 400 (1580), and Very High at ISOs 800 (1480), and 1250 (1380). Our advice is to stay in the lower ISOs and trust the Image Stabilization to gain a stop of light in your exposures.
The TZ3's LCD monitor also gets a half-inch upgrade, to become a 230,000 pixel 3-inch display and viewfinder. It gains up and down automatically, but also includes a "Power Up" mode for severe sunlight, and "High Angle" for those over-the-crowd shots. As the name of the game is compactness, there's no optical viewfinder -- typical for this camera class. There are several live preview display options, from grid, to live histogram, to the option of shrinking the live preview to have the full unobstructed preview framed by right and bottom rails showing the settings aside, not on top of, the scene to be captured.
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