Panasonic TZ3

The latest review of TZ3 indicated it is a good camera. I have down loaded some samples and played with them. Not bad at all. The wide angle and small form factor are really amazing. It is a good travel and all rounder camera. At about US$305 (grey market) it is a good buy.

I wish Fuji can offer something similar, I settle for no OIS, larger sze and less zoom range, but I really want to know if there is going to be a wide angle P & S?

TZ3 review.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz3/

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Best Regards,

Danny



My Albums
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Hey Danny,

The new panny looks pretty fun to me. Did you think the review was a little hard on it? The pictures did not look too bad to me. Then again the new OLY sp550 pics looked alright to me too. ( so what do I know )

I have always liked the size and look of the TZ's and was considering one when I got the S6000. But with the 28mm on the new one makes it looks even better. I am with you on fuji doing something similar...
gus --
Get what makes you happy
Anything less... makes you less happy

Don't own one, but I really like everything about the TZ3 - except I'm leery of its low light performance. Nothing comes close to the Fx series in that regard.

After viewing and played with the downloaded samples, I think the TZ3 is a great camera and really deserved a "Recommended" rating. Only problems is some posters in the Panny forum reacted voilently.

As usual, the F30 got "Highly Recommended" issue was dragged into those arguments. Some behaved like a desparate housewfe, complaining the teacher being not fair, because if her daughter got only an 'AB', then her neighbor's daughter should not get an "A". I hope they can leave F30 alone. Panasonic makes great and innovative cameras, with a better sensor their TZ and FZ series are closed to perfect, why need ordain from reviewer. A great camera is always a great camera. To me, our F30 is also a great camera with or without the "Highly Recommended" rating.

Me too, before buying my F30, I almost brought a TZ1, I also loved its zoom range and small form factor, even though the TZ3 has 28mm wide angle, a mouth drooling feature, but I think the TZ1 has slightly better colors and sharpness. Some Panasonic posters have posted many excellent pictures with the TZ1. So SONY T10 is not the first camera with good folded optics, TZ1 is a great camera with excellent folded optics.

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Best Regards,

Danny



My Albums
http://photobucket.com/albums/a44/yeeonly

Our Fxx series is still the low light king. Nothing can compare with them now, but most owners really wish Fuji introduces some wide angle compact DCs. The s6500fd is great, but a little bit heavy. The TZ3 is a great travelling camera with extremely useful zoom range, take good pictures too.

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Best Regards,

Danny



My Albums
http://photobucket.com/albums/a44/yeeonly

Please take a look

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1033&message=22766221

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Best Regards,

Danny



My Albums
http://photobucket.com/albums/a44/yeeonly

(I mean adding a wide angle lens, and possibly OIS, to the great sensor that they've developed). And they even replied, thanking me for bringing it to their attention, and saying that my message has been forwarded to the marketing department. Perhaps you folks should contact them, too (I wrote through Fujifilm global website) - who knows, maybe if suggestions for a compact cam with a wide angle and OIS reach a critical mass, they might really do something about it.

Come to think of it, the wide angle lens is less of an issue for me - I can use a program like Panorama Factory, if I really need it - than the image stabilisation, that really would be great.

Of course, another possibility is that Matsushita (the owner of Panasonic brand) takes over Fujifilm, and uses their sensor. The Fuji sensor with a Leica lens, and all the bells and whistles of Panasonic cameras... Oh well, one can dream I suppose something will have to go wrong - nothng's perfect, after all.

The sad thing is even Fuji apparently has stopped using their 6mp SuperDuper sensor... If the F40 is the wave of the future I may just stop surfing. That's so Narly Fuji.
gus--
Get what makes you happy
Anything less... makes you less happy

Why change a winning game? Is it only to stuff more megapixels in the sensor?
Crazy world, I tell you.

Little Billy Bestbuy only wants to know how many mp the camera has... More is better! Everybody knows that. Even little Billy.

Very disappointing really.

I guess if they end up with IS and get the 1 to 1.5 advantage from that then a usable 800 iso will still be ok... but it is a shame they are moving away from the F30 sensor IMO.
gus
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Get what makes you happy
Anything less... makes you less happy

igilligan said:

The sad thing is even Fuji apparently has stopped using their 6mp
SuperDuper sensor... If the F40 is the wave of the future I may
just stop surfing. That's so Narly Fuji.

Click to expand...

Narly nearly everyone. Seems like someone (pany??) could buy up a few million and put them to good use. But I suppose 6mp is narly, too. What are you gonna do?
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Fred

more expensive than a grey market s6500fd. I was lucky the S6500fd is not 20% lighter and smaller, otherwise it would have been a difficult decision.

Is it a sound decision? I think so, at least before Fuji introduce their new models later this year or other manufacturers introduce nice wide angle DCs.

Its low light performance is better than I expected. But to me, nothing beyond iso200. Some with good PP skill can use higher iso, I guess.

Some pictures, it is getting late, no time to post one by one, exif embedded in pics. For caption, please visit my threads in the Panny forum

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a44/yeeonly/TZ3/2007%20-%202nd%20Quarter/

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Best Regards,

Danny



My Albums
http://photobucket.com/albums/a44/yeeonly

Hey Danny,

I went and checked out you panny posts. They look good to me. It looks like you are having fun with your little Tizzie. Cant wait to see some of your post-test shot series with it. I wish fuji would do as you ask and give us some of those options. These TZ3 features would be nice to shoot for.

I have seen some of the photos from the new sony T100 and the brand new H9 and I think canon/panny/fuji better get busy... cranking out the same old stuff in a skinny package and more mp's is not the answer.
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gus
Get what makes you happy...
Anything less makes you less happy!

John McCormack said:

Don't own one, but I really like everything about the TZ3 - except
I'm leery of its low light performance. Nothing comes close to the
Fx series in that regard.

Click to expand...

Your correct. but it depends on what type of lowlight that you shoot. If the subject ain't moving you don't have to go high ISOs with the OIS. And if it is moving like walking about in my tunsten lit living room, a lot of the time my F30 at f2.8 at ISO1600 is still not good enough to freeze that so I still have to pop the flash anyway or use my DSLR with faster glass.

TZ3 • 1/25s • f/3.3 • ISO400



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*****************************************
Packy

http://picasaweb.google.com/patsweb .... try the slideshow option!

I was all set to add the TZ3 to my camera arsenal, but then the professional and user reviews came out and I started rethinking it because of the alleged inside photo performance.

Now I'm torn between the F31fd and the Panny TZ3. They are totally different ends of the camera spectrum, but each has different key features that I'd like. On the Fuji, it would be no-flash photos of my dogs using just the room light. The TZ3 would get me 10x zoom, optical stabilization, and a wide lens in a small camera. (I already have a 28mm wide lens in a prosumer camera.)

Hmmm. Decisions to make. All I know is I'm selecting one of them as my Mother's Day gift. (My husband and kids know it's best to let me pick out this kind of stuff.)

Have them get the Panny Tizzzie and then order a $139 fuji f20 for yourself and for the dog. They should get presents too. And flashless indoor shots would be a gift for the doggy. 8^)

an ISO 1600 indoor flashless cat shot

D48 said:

Click to expand...

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gus
Get what makes you happy...
Anything less makes you less happy!

danny_only said:

The latest review of TZ3 indicated it is a good camera.
TZ3 review.

Click to expand...

danny_only said:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz3/

Click to expand...

Maybe good, but not great. From the review:

"I really liked the TZ1 - as a concept and as a camera to use - and I would have been able to give it a much more wholehearted recommendation had the image quality issues and shutter lag not let it down so badly."

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Phil .. Canon SD700IS, S3 IS, EOS 300D & 20D; Fuji F20; F31fd
http://www.pbase.com/phil_wheeler
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_ox/

igilligantoo said:

igilligantoo said:

gus

Click to expand...

Get what makes you happy...
Anything less makes you less happy!

Click to expand...

Hi Gus. Thanks for the input. But if I get a Fuji, I want the manual controls on the F31fd. I saw your cat photo on another post and it is awesome!

I already have two great cameras, so I really only want to add one more at this time (unless you want to contribute some cash!) I also want to upgrade a couple of my favorite photo software packages to their new release plus I want some more filters for my prosumer camera. Photography is an expensive hobby!!!

And don't worry about the dogs getting presents. One just had his birthday a couple weeks ago and the baby (german shepherd) turns one year old in May. The doggies get lots of presents at our house!

I have three great cams and now I would love to have the T3 and the new Sony H9 to play with... it is a disease... I had only one camera for 4 years and since I found this Dpreview, I am addicted. I do not need them, I just want them.
My name is gus.. and I am a new camera junkie
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gus
Get what makes you happy...
Anything less makes you less happy!

PC Wheeler said:

Maybe good, but not great. From the review:

"I really liked the TZ1 - as a concept and as a camera to use - and
I would have been able to give it a much more wholehearted
recommendation had the image quality issues and shutter lag not let
it down so badly."

Click to expand...

He's talking about the TZ1 in that paragraph. Read on to the next two paragraphs for the TZ3. There have been slight improvements in IQ (not leaps and bounds) and he liked more about the TZ3's range and features and 3" LCD. At the end of the day he said he buy one himself. Would a pro reviewer spend his hard earned cash if it was totally rubbish in IQ?...I don't think so. He just don't think it's great at 100% pixel level. At normal prints and viewing it's just fine.

I have both TZ3 and F30 and the Tizzy matches my F30 outdoors in every aspect and in some areas even better with no PF, no distortions, way better range, and a live/playback histogram and easy to use bracketing to ensure perfect exposure on those hard to see LCD sunny days..

The F30 has better high ISO indoors but that don't mean the Tizzy is unusable. Certainly not, I have got some nice stuff off this cam even some stuff that would be impossible and out of range for my F30 like this section of ceiling at 1/5s at ISO800 at 280mm!!...and yes that's 1/5s handheld and not a typo.



or this at ISO800 at 238mm



I'm pretty happy with the outdoor and overall output too with a little PP:









*****************************************
Packy

http://picasaweb.google.com/patsweb .... try the slideshow option!