Frequently Bought Together
Technical Details
- 14.1-megapixel resolution; 4x optical image-stablized zoom
- 720p HD video capture at 30fps
- Panasonic iA mode makes it simple for anyone to take beautiful photos
- LUMIX Image Uploader makes it simple to share pictures on Facebook and video on YouTube
- Capture images and video to SD/SDHC memory cards (not included)
Product Details
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Product Description
From the Manufacturer
The 14.1-megapixel LUMIX S3 features a new design, with a distinct rounded shape that fits comfortably in the palm of the hand, to differentiate the models from the rest of the LUMIX line. With a 28mm* wide-angle 4x optical zoom lens, these LUMIX digital cameras are extremely versatile, helping consumers get superb shots both far and wide.
Venus Engine VI
The image-processing engine, Venus Engine VI, uses advanced signal processing to give you beautiful images. Multi-task signal processing is employed for all images to enable high-speed, high-performance shooting. Venus Engine VI also effectively raises the precision of various functions, such as MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) and Intelligent ISO Control. Along with its extremely high performance, Venus Engine VI reduces power consumption thanks to a number of energy efficiency improvements.
iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode
When you don't know which mode will give you the best shooting results, or when a sudden photo opportunity pops up and you don't have time to change any settings, simply choose the iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode and let the camera do it all for you. Just choose the iA Mode, aim at your subject, and shoot. Four detection and correction functions are simultaneously activated to optimize the settings, so you get stunning photos every time.
MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) Shake Detection
The MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)* in the DMC-S3 compensates for the blurring caused by hand-shake. Using built-in gyrosensors to detect even slight camera movement caused by handshake, the camera compensates for the shake so you get clear, sharp photos. The MEGA O.I.S. lets you shoot in dimly lit rooms or evening illumination to preserve the mood, and works for macro shots and zoom shots, which are especially susceptible to hand-shake. In short, it lets anybody take beautiful, blur-free shots with ease.
* MEGA O.I.S. is automatically turned on in iA Mode and can be turned on or off in Normal Picture Mode or some Scene Modes.
Intelligent Scene Selector Scene Detection
When the camera is in iA Mode, the Intelligent Scene Selector automatically sets the Scene Mode to Scenery, Portrait, Macro, Night Portrait*1, Night Scenery or Sunset. The camera judges it from the various detection results such as focusing and brightness level of the circumstance*2. You are free from adjusting settings every time the scene changes when taking images with these frequently used Scene Modes to get beautiful results.
*1 In iA Mode, Night Portrait is not identified when the flash is turned off.
*2 With some subject and shooting conditions, it is just not possible to judge the best shooting details. When this happens, it is recommended that you shoot with the Scene Mode that best suits your purpose.
Intelligent ISO Control Motion Detection
The Intelligent ISO Control function* in the DMC-S3 made possible by the Venus Engine VI detects subject movement and automatically adjusts the ISO setting and shutter speed to best suit the movement and light conditions. When it detects subject motion, it automatically raises the ISO setting and increases the shutter speed to prevent motion blur. On the other hand, when the subject is still and no movement is detected, it takes beautiful natural photos with a low ISO setting. The Intelligent ISO Control gives you stunning images with ease because there is no need for complicated settings.
* The Intelligent ISO Control function is automatically turned on in iA Mode, and can be turned on or off in Normal Picture Mode.
Face Detection AF/AE
The Face Detection AF/AE function*1 detects faces and automatically optimizes the focus and exposure settings. It prevents the blurry faces that happen when the camera focuses on something in front of or behind the subject, and keeps faces from appearing dark when shooting indoors or against the light source. It detects up to 15 faces at a time, making it extremely convenient for group photos. Once the camera detects a face, Face Tracking follows it even when the subject moves around. Plus, the system keeps detection on if a face turns sideways to the camera.
*1 Face Detection function is automatically turned on in iA Mode and can be turned on or off in Normal Picture Mode or some Scene Modes.
LUMIX Image Uploader
The DMC-S3 gives you a new form of communication by letting you share your photos and movies. All you have to do is checkmark the photos and movies you want to share and connect the camera or SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card to a computer. Uploading automatically starts by simply following the guidance. Facebook can be used for photos and YouTube for movies. You can join these social networking services without having to install any special software. It's easy to share photos and movies on the spot, which means that your friends don't have to wait for you to come back home to see them.
Easy Computer Connection
Select photos and movies on the camera menu.
Upload Photos and Movies
The software is launched after connecting the camera or SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card to a computer.
Share with Your Friends
You can share the URL by e-mail right after the upload!
Large, 2.7-inch, 230,000-dot LCD
The DMC-S3 large 2.7-inch LCD features high 230,000-dot resolution LCD. The big screen reflects fine details, making it easy to check the focus before shooting. It also serves as a small photo and video viewer, allowing the user and friends to enjoy viewing the still and motion images together.
Built-in Memory 70MB
The DMC-S3's built-in memory holds up to approx. 70MB of image data.
Product Description
Available Warranties for This Item
Customer Reviews
***** Highly recommended with warm fuzzies (great camera for a first-time photographer).
What is in the box package?
o DMC-S3 digital camera
o Panasonic NCA-YN101G 3.6V rechargeable lithium ion battery pack (NCA-YN101G)
o Battery charger (DE-A91B)
o USB cable to connect the camera to your computer
o Hand strap
o Software CD with Panasonic "PHOTOfunSTUDIO 6.0" and "Super LoiLoScope" 30-day trial (both software only run on Windows XP/Vista/7, no Mac version)
o 27-page "Basic Owner's Manual" (and 26-page Spanish version in the same booklet). A separate 81-page "Owner's Manual for advanced features" is included as a PDF file on the included CD-ROM disc. The printed "Basic Owner's Manual" is great as a quick-start guide, but you should also read the "Owner's Manual for advanced features" that is included on the CD.
The software installation CD gives you the option to install a URL link shortcut that merely accesses a loilo.tv Web site using your browser. From that Web site, you can either download a 30-day trial version or purchase the Super LoiLoScope software. Super LoiLoScope is third-party software that offers a bundle of video editing functions for creating videos, adding text, images, music, and special effects to videos, burning DVDs of your videos, etc. This was the only part of the camera package that I did not try out since I already use other software to edit my videos with.
Although I am a serious amateur photographer with 3 Canon dSLR cameras and 7 nice Canon lenses, I can appreciate the amount of features that are packed into this very affordable camera. The S3 comes in five color options: black, white, purple, red, and violet. This camera is aimed at value-for-money simplicity, specifically designed to be easy to use by beginning photographers. While the photos that you take using this camera will not always be perfect, they tend to be quite idiot-proof, which makes this camera an excellent choice for a first-time photographer or as a camera for a teenager. Someone who is college-age or older may potentially become very interested in digital photography and then outgrow this camera and want something better. But for a teenager, or for someone looking for a good basic and very affordable point-and-shoot camera, this is a pretty good choice.
Some of the DMC-S3's noteworthy features are described and rated below.
***** Excellent 5-fuzzies feature ratings:
***** There is an excellent set of features packaged in a very easy-to-use camera. The ergonomics of the controls and the on-screen menus are excellent and seem to be aimed at first-time digital photography novices.
***** 720P (1280x720) at 30fps HD video recording in a $120 camera is currently quite rare! If you look at all of the competing point-and-shoot cameras in this price range (or even out to $150), nearly all of the video capabilities of cameras by Nikon, Canon, Olympus, and other only go up to 640x480 at 30fps. It is not until you get closer to the $200 camera pricing that 720P is currently being offered for most camera brands (Amazon currently sells a Kodak 14MP with 720P or a Sony 16MP with 720P, both for $160)... and then at the $200 price point, Panasonic offers 1080P HD video in its Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX700 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black). So it is currently very rare to get 720P video capability in a camera of this price range.
***** The "Mega O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) Shake Detection" works very well. This is a good thing since this camera is so slim in style and slippery in feel that your hands may move the camera during the focusing process more than cameras whose bodies are molded with more edges to grip onto. On the right side of the top of the camera, where the shutter button is, that top right corner has a grooved indentation where your right index finger rests. I really wished that this camera also had a similar grooved indentation on the top left corner of the body so that my left index finger could get a better grip on the camera when holding it steady for either photos or video. The camera is housed in a plastic casing that can give it a toy-like feel, but its construction feels fairly precise, so I expect its exterior to have good long-term durability *** AS LONG AS THE CAMERA IS NOT DROPPED ONTO HARD FLOORING OR SIDEWALKS ***. The slim camera body with all of its rounded corners makes it more slippery to hold (like a bar of soap) than most point-and-shoot cameras, so make sure that you use the included hand strap when carrying and holding this camera.
***** The camera offers four flexible 'Recording Modes', three Recording Modes for photography and the fourth mode being the "Motion Picture" video mode. The "Scene Mode" covers an above-average number of shooting situations, with 16 scenes that you can select from: Portrait, Soft Skin, Self Portrait, Scenery, Panorama Assist, Sports, Night Portrait, Night Scenery, Food, Party, Baby, Sunset, High ISO Sensitivity, Fireworks, Beach, Snow. As you select each of the 16 scene modes on the LCD monitor screen, a description of that scene mode scrolls as text at the bottom of the screen, a nice touch instead of requiring you to memorize each scene mode just based on a graphical icon. Another photography mode is called "iA", or "Intelligent Auto", mode. This is the most automated mode and is great for a total newbie who is just starting out in digital photography. In "iA" mode, the camera automatically configures the settings and scene mode used based on whether it detects peoples' faces, scenery, close-up focal lengths, people or scenery in a night environment, sunset, or movement in the scene. Under most conditions, its settings were fairly accurate. But with some subject matter, such as a busy scene where there are people, scenery, and objects all juxtaposed close together, the camera can get fooled into setting a wrong scene, and then you have to switch the 'Recording Mode' over to use either a "Scene Mode" or the "Normal Picture" mode. For a first-time camera user, the "iA" mode is perfect for a novice who mainly just points and shoots.
***** The camera offers three useful autofocus modes: automatic face detection, 11-zone autofocus, and 1-central-zone autofocus.
***** The camera has a better-than-average continuous burst shooting speed when compared to other compact point-and-shoot cameras like it. When I turned on the "Burst" option in either "Normal Picture" or "Scene" modes, keeping the shutter button pressed results in additional shots being taken right at about one frame each second. A 1 frame-per-second continuous burst shooting speed is excellent for a point-and-shoot camera like this.
***** The S3 model comes with about 70 MB of built-in memory so that you can either shoot and record to the built-in memory without needing to use a memory card, or use an SD, SDHC, or SDXC card.
***** With the camera connected to your computer, the handy "Upload Set" function lets you easily upload photos to your Facebook account or videos to your YouTube account.
**** Good 4-fuzzies feature ratings:
**** The S3 has a good 4X zoom range, going from a nice wide-angle 28mm (in 35mm equivalent) to a decent 112mm telephoto reach with an aperture of f/3.1 to f/6.5. The f/3.1 at the wide-angle end is quite respectable for a camera at this economy price level, but the f/6.5 at the telephoto end is not too good. If you keep this in mind, you can work around this camera's aperture limitations by not zooming in so much when shooting indoors or at night; e.g. move in closer to the child sitting at his birthday cake or move in closer to the people standing at night on the sidewalk before take the photograph. The standard 4X zoom can be increased to 6.8X by setting an "EX" Extended Optical Zoom, which also decreases the resolution to 5 megapixels, or increased to a maximum 8.4X optical zoom by decreasing the resolution to 3 megapixels. This is analogous to a crop sensor SLR camera's effective focal length when using a lens compared to a full frame camera. The camera also offers "Digital Zoom", which multiplies the zoom of Optical Zoom or Extended Optical Zoom up to 4 times. But in trying this camera's "Digital Zoom" under a variety of conditions, including bright clear outside environments with good contrast, I found that most of the outer reaches of the digital zoom were just way too pixelated and grainy in appearance. The "Digital Zoom" is an option that you can set, and my suggestion would be to leave this option turned off, just using it sparingly on an as-needed basis. If you leave the option turned on, you may inadvertently go into digital zoom while pressing the zoom button as it transitions from the much-clearer optical zoom to digital zoom.
**** The camera has good image quality from its Leica DC lens with good contrast and color saturation. The image quality is especially excellent with outdoor daytime shots. With night or indoor low-light photographs, the photos tend to get more noisy due to its ISO performance when using ISO 800 and higher (see below). But this ISO noisiness is common for cameras in the $100 to $150 price range.
**** In some of the toughest tests for a basic point-and-shoot digital camera like this, I manually turned off the flash and tried photographing dark or even very dark night scenes in "Normal Picture" mode using ISO 800 and ISO 1600, "iA" mode, and the two night-scenery "Scene" modes. Read more ›
The S3 weighs 4 oz. with battery and card and is what we used to call an idiot-proof camera. It has only 4 shooting modes: Panasonic's famous iA (intelligent auto) mode, which is simply the best automatic scene-dependent shooting mode on the compact digital camera market today, a normal mode that is similar to the program mode on other digital cameras, a scene mode that lets you pick from 16 presets (including high sensitivity, sports, portrait, baby, etc.), and a camcorder mode that shoots video in Quicktime format at 1280x720, 640x480 (VGA) or 320x240 (QVGA) resolutions. BTW, unlike more expensive Panasonic cameras, the S3 cannot zoom while shooting video, a pity.
The S3 comes in several colors; mine is white and looks very stylish. It feels good and light in the hand, although I also think it feels almost like a toy, but not in a bad way. The plastic casing seems durable (and fingerprint-friendly), and the buttons are all solid and easy to press.
Unlike other digicams in this price range or even more expensive, the S3 exhibits little shutter lag, that is, as soon as you press the shutter button, it takes the picture (unless it's really dark in the room). The S3 takes excellent outdoor pictures, with excellent color accuracy and contrast and good focus. Indoors, most of the no-flash pictures I have taken of my kids look good, but understandably the digital noise is higher. Indoor flash photography is not something I'd call good on any compact digital camera, including this one, although the flash does make a good fill-in flash outdoors when the subject's face has shadows.
Overall, I find the S3 *very* pleasant to use. Its good performance in shutter lag and excellent outdoor picture quality and good indoor quality make it a winner for a low-cost, no-brainer take-it-anywhere camera. It even comes with date stamp (with or without time), something many casual photographers love.
Note: I posted a sample video and some sample images on the black Panasonic Lumix DMC-S3 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 2.7-Inch LCD (Black) product page.
Secondly, the photo came out sharp and without the hazing that can sometimes become visible up when viewing a photo at 100% magnification.
The flash is small and like most in-built flashes, quite useless at long range and washes everything out at close range. However, when you do manage to take a photo at that exact zoom range that is ideal, the results are quite acceptable. Just make sure to view the results on the camera's LCD screen in case you need to make adjustments and shoot again.
The menu is clear and uncluttered. You can even set the timezone via an interactive world map, similar to what you find on Windows computers. Nice touch.
The camera itself is very light. The black color lends it a stylish look, and the chrome adds to the appeal. Yes, this is a good looking camera.
And yes, it is sleek.
All in all, a very good package, value-for-money, and thus far, a highly recommended compact camera.
I'm a youtuber and a photographer.
This camera is great for photography! But video is not so great. Read more
I was looking for a cheap, but decent, digital camera to upgrade from my older cell phone camera and a friend... Read more
Picture quality is good.
No much lag time between capturing photos.
Handling is convenient.
Photos will not come in low light. Read more
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