Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 (TZ7): a TZ6 with HD video and Dolby Digital sound !

Panasonic is a reference in video, with epoch-making digital camcorders and other hi-def innovative models with storage on SD and 3-CCD cards. Today, the Japanese giant merges photo and video with its first hybrid camera which can be used as a camcorder: the Lumix DMC-TZ7.

 

So it is a hi-def 720p video recording mode in AVCHD (no full HD here: Panasonic’s range of camcorders keeps its lead ahead), format which is known its excellent quality-disc space ratio. The recorded resolution is of 1280 x 720 with 60 fps. Even better, the ZS3 offers Dolby digital stereo sound, which is ideal to render all the extent of a scene.
 

Panasonic smartly chose to add the functions of a digital camcorder on the TZ6, which lets us enjoy its extraordinary lens, which was co-developed by Leica and offers an amazing range of 25-300mm with built-in stabilizer! The quality levels of the videos go from 17 to 9 Mbps.

Panasonic applies to video its innovations in intelligent automatic systems developed for digital photography. So the Lumix DMC-ZS3 will offer also in video mode automatic scene detection, AF tracking of any subject that you have saved previously, face detection or else intelligent exposure which allows to unblock shadows and preserve highlights.

 

The screen of the ZS3 measures 2.7" for a resolution of 230 000 points and offers automatic adjustment of its brightness according to the surrounding light. A continuous shooting mode allows to take 2.5 frames per second in full 10-megapixel resolution, or 6 fps when setting the resolution down to 3 megapixels. As usual with Panasonic, the TZ7 allows to choose between 3 formats: 4/3, 3/2 or 16/9.