Customer Reviews

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ3S 5MP Digital Camera with 6x Image Stabilized Zoom

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I bought this camera last year, and returned it because it did not have a Leica lens, which I wanted. However, after a family member bought a Lumix camera sans Leica lens, I was a convert. For the money, you simply cannot beat it!

What makes this camera special for the price is the 6x optical zoom (up to 24X in conjunction with the digital zoom, though that causes degradation), and the Mega-OIS, or more precisely Optical Image Stabilization. This feature adjusts the camera to compensate for imperceptible hand shakes which occur inevitably on every push of the button. I believe that in the future, all cameras will have this function as it is the single most common cause of blurred photos. I have a Panasonic LC80 with a Leica lens, but one of the reasons I went looking for another camera was the blurred photos I got, even though I was as steady as I could be. I cannot overstate the importance of this feature.

The burst mode is a very nice aspect of this camera too, one mode allowing sequential shots until the entire card is filled. There is absolutely no excuse not to "get that shot" with this camera.

Also nice is the ability to use AA batteries instead of proprietary batteries which cost $60 or more. A power supply which can be easily replenished is a necessity if you plan on being out of touch with civilization for any length of time.

If you want a "Con" to go with the "Pros" it would have to be battery life....battery life is very low and even moreso in colder weather. But this should come as no surprise as this camera does not use a viewfinder; instead it uses a 2 inch LCD screen to compose pictures. Because of this, battery life will necessarily be much lower than with a camera which uses a viewfinder for composition.

Batterly life per manual under normal conditions:
Panasonic Oxyride: 250 pictures or 125 minutes
Alkaline batteries: 155 pictures or 77 minutes
Ni-MH batteries: 400 pictures or 200 minutes

When the temperature is 32F:
Panasonic Oxyride: 45 pictures or 22 minutes
Alkaline batteries: 35 pictures or 17 minutes
Ni-MH batteries: 360 pictures or 180 minutes

One other thing I would change is the On/Off switch....it can too easily be hit sideways which would open it in the case. If this happens, it could all too easily damage the motor of the zoom lens. To obviate this potential danger, simply keep the dial mode at "play" when the camera is off, and the lens will not open.

And it should be noted that this camera does NOT have a microphone for recording in video mode; if this is what you want look at the DMC-LZ5. Because I did not plan on using this feature very often, it did not present an issue for me.

For picture taking, this is a 5 star camera. For design, there are a few possible improvements which give it 4 stars.

4 1/2 stars overall.

My previous camera before owning this one was a Canon Elph S230, so my comparisons are with that camera in mind.

PROS:
-A great price for 5MP and 6x optical zoom
-The 6x optical zoom, up to 24x digital zoom is awesome
-No time limit on movies, as long as you have memory
-Takes beautiful photos (Macro mode work great)
-Has some neat settings like fireworks, portrait and scenery that adjust everything automatically for you


CONS:
-Bigger than the Canon Elph series, can't really stick it in your pocket
-AA batteries (a pro for most people, I actually preferred the rechargeable Lithium battery on my Canon that already came with a recharger);
-no eye-hole (technical term?), only display to take photos (I got used to this real fast; most people only use the display anyways)
-only one movie size, and its not very big

What you need to buy along with the camera...
-AA rechargeables and recharger
-camera case
-SD memory card (size depending on how many photos you take at a time)

I bought this Camera almost one month ago after selling my old HP 307 camera. Compared to my old camera this one rocks!!! Macro mode is excellent, and it's got 11 scenery modes which work really well.
Battery life is very good with the Oxyride batteries and rechargable batteries.
The M.O.I.S does it's job.
It's got 6x optical zoom when most cameras under $200 have 4x max and if you change the aspect ratio you can get a total of 7.5x optical zoom which is very good to say the least.
Would i recommend this camera: Yes, definitely

Only negative i've seen after having this camera for some months now is that it doesn't record video with audio

I've been playing with this camera for about a month. My previous camera was an Olympus Camedia 720, which I decided to replace because of its frustratingly slow lag time between shots and its expensive CR-V3 batteries (it was a battery hog).

The LZ3 is much faster (even has a 3- or 5-shot burst mode). In good light, without the flash, lag time has been barely noticeable. And it uses less expensive rechargeable AA batteries.

Another poster, Brian Kerecz on May 3, 2006, has a good analysis of battery usage.

This is my first camera without an eyepiece; it only has an LCD screen.

Two problems with the lack of an eyepiece:
1) I wear reading glasses. With an eyepiece, there's no problem focusing on the subject; however, with an LCD screen, you'll need to put on your reading glasses.

2)On a bright sunny day out in the open (on a veranda overlooking a field), there was so much glare on the LCD screen that I could barely see the subject. To work around this, I'm buying a "Delkin 2.0" Universal Pop-Up Shade", and I'll update this post after I've used it.

**UPDATE**
The pop-up shade helps a little bit, but I really miss having an old-fashion optical viewfinder.

The camera itself fits into cargo pants pockets. The controls and LCD screen menus are easy to follow. And being able to hold the camera up high, using the 'high angle' feature on the lcd screen, allowed me to get some pretty good photos at crowded family gatherings.

**2nd Update, 1/25/07**
I'm giving this camera to a family member and looking for one with a viewfinder. It's become way too inconvenient, especially while skiing or hiking or at parties, to put on my reading glasses every time I want to snap a shot.
Also (and this may apply to all digital cameras with a "movie" function), I love the movie function, but I couldn't adjust the zoom during the movie shot. This was a problem with I started a shot of my son skiing towards me down a hill, and as he got closer I couldn't pull the shot back, so by the end all that filled the screen was his smile. Artsy, but not what I wanted.

One major selling poing of this camera is its 6x zoom and OIS (Optical Image Stablization) combo. The tendency is that higher the zoom, easier it is for your picture to bet blurry. OIS does a good job preventing this common problem.

Also, it is kind of nice that I can use AA batteries. I already have sets of rechargeable from my old camera, so I didn't need to spend extra for proprietry batteries.

I rated this camera at 5 for two reasons:

1.) A highly polished product for a steal of a price.
2.) It was more than I asked for when I walked into the store.

I bought an Olympus D-460 for $450 a long time ago. 1.3 MP & 3x optical zoom. Then I bought this, a 5MP 6x optical zoom *with stabilization* for a quarter of the cost of the other one.

I went in looking for a 5MP w/3x optical zoom and removable storage with the expectation of dropping $200. I did...but I also walked out with a 1GB SD card and an in-store repair plan. I've had enough experience with digital cameras to know that some type of plan is a virtual necessity.

No, this is not a high end camera, nor does it pretend to be. But if you want something with decent resolution, with a bunch of presets, yet still allows you to customize your own shot, then this is your camera.

I've been snapping pictures ever since I got home with it...taking some really difficult shots...the TV...the computer. Stuff in a dark closet. The only thing it couldn't do was take a decent picture of me...then again, a professional photographer with a $3000 camera and photoshop couldn't get a good picture of me. :-)

I bought this camera for my daughter's 13th birthday. She is into salamanders and has 2 geckos. I have not seen a bad picture come out of this camera! I have several black pets that are usually impossible to photograph. They come out clear, with their eyes open! We have also not seen a single blurry photo due to the image stabilization.
It also takes wonderful pictures in low light situations.
What a buy for such a great price!!!!

Since I have only had this camera for a month, I'm still learning how we fit together, but I'll review the best I can! There are a few cons that I'd like to point out first.
-The flash sometimes works funny. It'll make the picture weird colors if I let it do automatic sometimes. And then I'll take it off completely so that I can get a better picture, and it's too dark, or poorly lit. So I'm reading the manual again to find out if there is a way to fix that, but so far I haven't.
-The on/off switch is very easy to slide over so if you aren't very careful when putting the camera in it's case, it will slide to on and waste battery power. I wish that it had a button instead of a switch, but oh well.
-Lastly is the batteries. I loved the batteries that it came with. They lasted a whole week of constant picture taking (I was on vacation) and viewing. But I can't find them anywhere. So I have been using duracell and energizer AA's, and they work, but the camera goes into power saver mode all the time and so the screen turns off in the middle of setting up for a picture. It gets annoying. I'm going to try the rechargable ones next since I can't find the kind it came with and hope that it solves this problem. Well, it's not really a problem per say, but an annoyance for sure.

Overall, so far I love this camera and the things that it is capabale of doing. One suggestion would be to get a screen protector. Where some camera's have the screen that is sunken in some, this one kind of sticks out. So it will get easily scratched if not looked well after, and then sometimes it will anyways. So a screen cover would be a good investment.

I originally bought this camera because of my job, now I use it for almost all of my picture taking. I have a 35mm canon rebel G EOS but I was always running to have film developed. I bought this camera so that I could get my pictures easier (and cheaper).

It is a really easy camera to use. Mostly point and shoot, but it does allow you to control many options.

We do a lot of horticultural diagnostics at work and are always getting calls to come out and figure out what is wrong with a plant or id an insect, plant etc. In macro mode this camera takes the best pictures of insects and small items. Our diagnostic clinic has been able to id mushrooms and diseases from this camera's pictures (which says a lot for this camera's quality).

The size of the camera is awesome. It's small and lightweight and can fit in a purse or pocket. I was able to go out into an extremely muddy horse pasture yesterday to do diagnostic work and I was able to not worry about my camera because it was tucked away safely in my pocket. This is not something I could have done with my 35mm.

I also use this camera outside of work. It does really well in low light. I have been able to take pictures in a dark auditorium during a choir concert without the flash on and the pictures come out great. It takes great landscape pictures.

The software to download the pictures into the computer is really easy to use. Its set up to automatically download the photos as soon as you plug it into the USB port using the cable that comes with the camera. No special docks required.

The only drawbacks to it are:
1- you really need a SD card to supplement storage. Without it you can only store 4-7 pictures.
2- I also recommend getting rechargeable batteries. These have saved me numerous times because you can tend to go through the batteries pretty fast when you use it as much as I do.

Overall I highly recommend this camera.

It took the absolutely best pictures of any digital camera that I have owned (4)
...and then while taking pictures in my garden, it froze and stated that I needed to turn it off/on...I did and it said, replace batteries (which were new that day, honest...I had taken only 10-20 photos before it crapped out)...

It turned off with the lens extended and it won't focus. I called up for the one year warranty...that is a one year PARTS warranty, no labor, so I am sol.

Great camera, until it died. They told me that you have to put the exact same type of batteries in it every time. I have never done that with any electronic device before.