Panasonic Panasonic ZS3

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dixeyk

Guest
I picked up one locally for a decent price. I have had a few of them (and sold them) but find that I really do miss the flexibility of having one. First off, it's a GREAT little carry around camera that isn't intimidating and my wife will use if I hand it to her. It also delivers very nice quality with both BIG ZOOM and MACRO capability. I think of it the way I would think of my iPhone except with more zoom. Also compared to my m43 stuff it really is pocketable.

I'll try and post a few images when I can.
 
Loved my ZS3 when I had one. They're little work horses, and do some amazing video for something so small.
 
I had one for a year or two but the screen died on it. I think that was my last point and shoot until I got back into photography for real nearly 2 years ago. I thought it was the most amazing camera I could ever imagine - I didn't really understand all of the compromises inherent with super zooms at that point. And it actually was a pretty amazing little camera.

-Ray
 
My wife still uses it's predecessor, the TZ5 (dunno what that translates to in ZS language). Specs aren't quite up with the TZ7 aka ZS3 but the big(ish) grip on it is much appreciated. I had a TZ7 briefly but sold it in lieu of a black Ricoh CX1 which I thought looked cooler, lol. The Panny was the better camera, but I loved the Ricoh interface.
 
I like having some sort of point and shoot on hand (and my old Fuji F20 and F45 have long given up the ghost) so I got a barely used one for super cheap (in blue) so I figured it was worth it. I thin k of it more as a little documenting machine as opposed to a camera. It shoots pretty decent video, has good sound, a huge stabilized zoom and shoots a decent macro. What's not to love. There's always room in the bag for something like that. It's also REALLY small...and the Leica version is waaaay more expensive.
 
The only thing that really annoyed me about the TZ/ZS cameras is that they don't retain shooting priority on the shutter button in playback mode. Because play/record is a switch rather than a button, it has to be physically switched back to record mode before you can start taking images again.
 
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