Well, the new Z3 looks very interesting - I'm a Panasonic FZ10 owner so it's interesting to finally see a direct competitor. I did briefly own a Z1 which had the all-too-common problem with a sticking switch finder, so I am glad to see that there is a separate EVF on the Z3. I haven't quite decided whether the Z3 is nice-looking or not - I could never decide with the Z1 and Z2 either, and I haven't come to a conclusion of whether it's a stylistic improvement - but I am certain that the Z10 looks dreadful (to me, anyway)! The buttons around the back are very uninspiring in design...the whole effect seems rather toylike on that one. The Z3 is certainly better.
Back to the Z3 - I wonder if the choice of silver or black will be available everywhere, or certain colours for certain markets? I am envious of the small size for a 12x zoom camera (335g? very impressive - the lens when retracted looks remarkably compact) and the movie modes (BTW - is the lipsync problem the Z1 had fixed yet?).
However, there are a couple of things I am concerned about. 1.5" for the monitor is a bit small these days, though bearable - but the resolution is unusually low at 78,000 pixels. The EVF looks better at 118,000, though it's still the minimum that this class of camera comes with (same as on my FZ10 - the current Olympuses and the Kyocera M410R especially have considerably more EVF resolution - on paper at least).
My main concern, though, is the maximum aperture of the lens at full zoom - f4.5 is pretty slow (remember, the FZ10 maintains f2.8 even at 12x zoom and it is undoubtedly what makes the lens so large, but I think it is worth it - at least with my example, the focusing sensitivity and speed remains very good even at full zoom [as it takes place via that wide-open aperture] Like most of these large-zoom cameras, the FZ10 has no AF illuminator either). What makes me concerned about the f4.5 maximum aperture is that I don't see any sign of the external passive AF sensor of the other Z series (even the Z10) and nor can I make out an AF illuminator. Obviously nothing will be truly discovered until the camera is out there being used and tested (they don't always perform the way you expect from the spec - and it cuts both ways) but I wondered what you all thought? Being stabilised, the f4.5 restriction isn't such an issue regarding requiring the use of slower shutter speeds as it would be in an unstabilised camera, but it is half a stop down on the previous smallest full-zoom maximum aperture - f3.7 - on the Z2 and the Olympuses (oh, and the Kodak DX6490 - I think the 10x lens used on all those cameras is suspiciously similar...).
Back to the Z3 - I wonder if the choice of silver or black will be available everywhere, or certain colours for certain markets? I am envious of the small size for a 12x zoom camera (335g? very impressive - the lens when retracted looks remarkably compact) and the movie modes (BTW - is the lipsync problem the Z1 had fixed yet?).
However, there are a couple of things I am concerned about. 1.5" for the monitor is a bit small these days, though bearable - but the resolution is unusually low at 78,000 pixels. The EVF looks better at 118,000, though it's still the minimum that this class of camera comes with (same as on my FZ10 - the current Olympuses and the Kyocera M410R especially have considerably more EVF resolution - on paper at least).
My main concern, though, is the maximum aperture of the lens at full zoom - f4.5 is pretty slow (remember, the FZ10 maintains f2.8 even at 12x zoom and it is undoubtedly what makes the lens so large, but I think it is worth it - at least with my example, the focusing sensitivity and speed remains very good even at full zoom [as it takes place via that wide-open aperture] Like most of these large-zoom cameras, the FZ10 has no AF illuminator either). What makes me concerned about the f4.5 maximum aperture is that I don't see any sign of the external passive AF sensor of the other Z series (even the Z10) and nor can I make out an AF illuminator. Obviously nothing will be truly discovered until the camera is out there being used and tested (they don't always perform the way you expect from the spec - and it cuts both ways) but I wondered what you all thought? Being stabilised, the f4.5 restriction isn't such an issue regarding requiring the use of slower shutter speeds as it would be in an unstabilised camera, but it is half a stop down on the previous smallest full-zoom maximum aperture - f3.7 - on the Z2 and the Olympuses (oh, and the Kodak DX6490 - I think the 10x lens used on all those cameras is suspiciously similar...).
. My guess is that's in "good" lighting, but as has been stated, we won't know until someone can try it out.