Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3: quick review
Back in 2005 I picked up my first waterproof digicam, the Pentax Optio WP. It was great, I could carry it anywhere, always in my pocket while riding motorcycles, bicycles, hiking - no worries through rain, sleet, and snow - and even a snorkeling trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The old WP actually still works just fine, but with all the new offerings out there, I finally decided to upgrade for slightly better image quality and video (the WP does video, but very small, very low-res).
Blah blah, if you're in the market, I'm sure you know what's out there, so I'll spare the selection process and just skip straight to my impressions of the new Panasonic Lumix TS3.
I got the camera two weeks ago, right before we headed to the coast of Maine for a vacation.
Typical snapshots: EXCELLENT. The intelligent auto mode (iA) does a very good job with the usual vacation shots. Good colors, contrast, even sharpness.
Up close: again, iA is good at switching straight to Macro mode and the detail and colors are quite good. Again, I should note, it does this fully automatically (very nice for a pocket cam).
How about not so ideal light? Still quite good, although here, iA starts to fumble. The "Normal Picture" mode lets you set a few things: ISO, AWB, etc - call it a typical "P" mode. The result: where iA forces very high and grainy ISO, you can get much better results, even handheld.
Indoors low light: well, here the little fixed lens and high-density pocket-cam typical dense little sensor start to show the usual weakness. Grainy unless you force lower ISO, colors are off-ish (there are only a few WB settings), and fairly slow lens. But still acceptable with only a few tweaks in the P mode.
Action at a distance: definitely not this camera's forte. Zoom doesn't have much reach, images get really soft, and in the hands of a novice in full iA mode, the focus really hunts.
Note the waves in the foreground, and not me, are in focus. I should add, I think this has a lot to do with the fact that my wife really has no clue about panning. She'll just wait for me to ride into the frame and then snap, hence the lack of focus on the intended target (I have a few shots of me riding a bike where the result is the same). Also of note here, there is a "tracking" feature. Basically, you enable it, then hit one of the arrow buttons to "lock" onto something in the frame and it will keep it in focus. It seems to work well, but since I'm the one normally doing the action, I didn't get a very good chance to try it out. Furthermore, I guess its noteworthy to mention my wife never really picked up how to use this feature, so perhaps that's a sign it's not all that easy to use.
Finally, video: Not bad. Definitely better than my old WP! There are two settings for video 1) full HD, but that is stored as AVCHD, and therefore can only be imported straight into something like iMovie, and only directly through the camera at that (annoying, but, yes, better quality). 2) "video jpg" which gives you a .mov file that is easily imported via iPhoto from a card reader. Lower quality, but still quite decent. The focus works pretty quickly - watch it hunt here in this little example (watch the green):
<iframe frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="640" height="360" src="http://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/1408905189_GMKJXRg?width=640&height=360"></iframe>
Handling wise: starts up fast, shoots the first photo fast as well. Perfect for intended use. The size of the TS3 is also quite acceptable; a bit bigger than than all the current pocket offereings out there, but slim rectangular shape with non-extending lens and no odd shapes means its slides in and out of a pocket easily.
I recently had the chance to shoot quite a few photos with a Canon Elph 300 HS (the newest, tiniest one). The Elph is much smaller, has better control, costs less, takes better quality photos straight off the card, and has a longer lens. Yeah, but it can't do this:
So overall, am I happy with it? Definitely. A big step up from the WP, and the weaknesses only rear their head in all the same situations where any pocket camera with a small-internally reflecting lens will suffer. With just a touch of good technique, however, great results are easily attainable. I recommend it as a great waterproof, go anywhere option that doesn't look like a humvee (that's a nudge at the current Pentax which is a bit, well, too rugged-looking) :thumb :thumb
Blah blah, if you're in the market, I'm sure you know what's out there, so I'll spare the selection process and just skip straight to my impressions of the new Panasonic Lumix TS3.
I got the camera two weeks ago, right before we headed to the coast of Maine for a vacation.
Typical snapshots: EXCELLENT. The intelligent auto mode (iA) does a very good job with the usual vacation shots. Good colors, contrast, even sharpness.
Up close: again, iA is good at switching straight to Macro mode and the detail and colors are quite good. Again, I should note, it does this fully automatically (very nice for a pocket cam).
How about not so ideal light? Still quite good, although here, iA starts to fumble. The "Normal Picture" mode lets you set a few things: ISO, AWB, etc - call it a typical "P" mode. The result: where iA forces very high and grainy ISO, you can get much better results, even handheld.
Indoors low light: well, here the little fixed lens and high-density pocket-cam typical dense little sensor start to show the usual weakness. Grainy unless you force lower ISO, colors are off-ish (there are only a few WB settings), and fairly slow lens. But still acceptable with only a few tweaks in the P mode.
Action at a distance: definitely not this camera's forte. Zoom doesn't have much reach, images get really soft, and in the hands of a novice in full iA mode, the focus really hunts.
Note the waves in the foreground, and not me, are in focus. I should add, I think this has a lot to do with the fact that my wife really has no clue about panning. She'll just wait for me to ride into the frame and then snap, hence the lack of focus on the intended target (I have a few shots of me riding a bike where the result is the same). Also of note here, there is a "tracking" feature. Basically, you enable it, then hit one of the arrow buttons to "lock" onto something in the frame and it will keep it in focus. It seems to work well, but since I'm the one normally doing the action, I didn't get a very good chance to try it out. Furthermore, I guess its noteworthy to mention my wife never really picked up how to use this feature, so perhaps that's a sign it's not all that easy to use.
Finally, video: Not bad. Definitely better than my old WP! There are two settings for video 1) full HD, but that is stored as AVCHD, and therefore can only be imported straight into something like iMovie, and only directly through the camera at that (annoying, but, yes, better quality). 2) "video jpg" which gives you a .mov file that is easily imported via iPhoto from a card reader. Lower quality, but still quite decent. The focus works pretty quickly - watch it hunt here in this little example (watch the green):
<iframe frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="640" height="360" src="http://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/1408905189_GMKJXRg?width=640&height=360"></iframe>
Handling wise: starts up fast, shoots the first photo fast as well. Perfect for intended use. The size of the TS3 is also quite acceptable; a bit bigger than than all the current pocket offereings out there, but slim rectangular shape with non-extending lens and no odd shapes means its slides in and out of a pocket easily.
I recently had the chance to shoot quite a few photos with a Canon Elph 300 HS (the newest, tiniest one). The Elph is much smaller, has better control, costs less, takes better quality photos straight off the card, and has a longer lens. Yeah, but it can't do this:
So overall, am I happy with it? Definitely. A big step up from the WP, and the weaknesses only rear their head in all the same situations where any pocket camera with a small-internally reflecting lens will suffer. With just a touch of good technique, however, great results are easily attainable. I recommend it as a great waterproof, go anywhere option that doesn't look like a humvee (that's a nudge at the current Pentax which is a bit, well, too rugged-looking) :thumb :thumb
Erik
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