Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3K

To take a great landscape photo of a sprawling mountain range or an island sunset, you used to need a bulky digital SLR with a pricey wide-angle lens. Now, however, several point-and-shoot cameras offer the beauty of wide-angle photography in less expensive, relatively compact packages. The best of the recent lot is the 7.2-megapixel Panasonic Lumix TZ3, which couples a 28mm wide-angle lens with built-in optical image stabilization, a generous number of specialty modes, and a gorgeous three-inch LCD.
 
The TZ3 is fairly large for a point-and-shoot (4.2 x 2.4 x 1.5 inches and 9.1 ounces with the battery and memory card), but it's reasonably sized given the 10X optical zoom. The stainless-steel chassis felt solid and durable, but the buttons were a bit too small.
 
This digicam's 10X zoom gives it an impressive 28-280mm (in 35mm equivalent) range. To help stabilize your shots, the TZ3 offers three separate shooting modes, two of which utilize Panasonic's MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer), along with a separate Intelligent ISO Control setting, which detects a subject's movement and automatically adjusts ISO and shutter speed to decrease blur.
 
Although Intelligent ISO Control didn't dramatically reduce blur in the shots we took of a pair of cavorting cats, the two MEGA O.I.S. modes--one constantly corrects for camera shake, and the other corrects at the moment the shutter is pressed--were a great help in keeping our photos steady. Manually selecting your ISO light sensitivity levels with the TZ3 to shoot in low light is a better bet even though the high ISO 1250 setting (the max is 3200) produced noisy images. ISO 800 is about as far as we'd push it on this model. Images captured in low light at ISO 400 were clean enough to print at up to 8.5 x 11 inches.
 
Under normal shooting conditions, the camera excelled with the MEGA O.I.S. and sharp Leica lens, producing crisp pictures with accurate color. The camera's large LCD had ample resolution (230,000 pixels), so we could easily tell whether we got the shot, without having to transfer photos to our laptop.
 
Panasonic's Venus Engine III image processor made the TZ3 a breeze to use and virtually eliminated shutter lag. The camera was also quick on the draw in our shot-to-shot tests, pausing between images for only about half a second. Along with wide-angle photography, the TZ3 can shoot in 16:9 mode, which is great for playing back images on a widescreen TV. The lens can also shoot in 4:3 and 3:2 aspect ratios. The TZ3 has so many scene modes (20 in all, including new pet and sunset modes) that the mode dial has two separate settings to handle all of them.
 
With a versatile wide-angle lens and helpful automatic controls, the TZ3 is definitely a camera that takes photography seriously. The best part is that you don't need to be a serious pro to capture great pictures with it.

 

Ten Quality Cameras You Can Afford
Want good-looking pictures without breaking the bank? We put the latest crop of digicams under $150 to the test.

 

How To Take Better Pictures
You don't need a fancy digital SLR to get perfect shots. Just better technique.

 

Digital Cameras for All Levels
We review four digital cameras ranging in price and control level, and give you advice on how to take better pictures.