Panasonic DMC-ZR3

Design & Appearance

The ZR3 is a small, compact camera that is thin enough (at just over 1 inch thick) to fit into a shirt pocket or a small bag. It has the same clean, simple design as other Panasonic cameras, with a raised ridge on one side of the front that provides a grip for the fingers. 

Size & Handling

Small cameras can be a little awkward to hold sometimes, but we had no issues with this one; it sat well in the hand, with the index finger falling right onto the shutter and zoom control. An area on the back with a series of raised bumps provides space for the thumb to sit if you are holding it one handed, and we had no problem zooming and shooting one handed. Using the other controls does require two hands, though: to reach down and use the 4-way control you need to have two hands gripping the camera body.

The ZR3 in the hand from the front and the back

Menu

The ZR3 has two separate menus: the quick menu that appears when you press the quick menu button below the 4-way control, and the main menu that appears when you hit the menu button in the center of the 4-way control. The quick menu button provides access to the shooting functions of the camera, such as the metering mode, ISO level, etc. The number of options that you get on this menu depend on which mode you are in: you only get ahandful of options in iAuto mode, but a wider selection in program mode (shown below).

The quick menu of the ZR3

The main menu has the same controls on it, but also the other stuff that you use less often, such as setting the aspect ratio to use, formatting the memory card, setting the date, etc.

The main menu of the ZR3

Ease of Use

We found that the ZR3 was generally easy to use; the controls are well laid out with the most commonly used ones in easy spots to reach. We did only use it for a limited time, though, so we will report back more on this in our full review that is coming soon.