Panasonic DMC-ZR3

Viewfinder

There is no viewfinder on the ZR3: all operations are carried out through the LCD screen on the back of the camera.

LCD

The LCD screen of this camera is a 2.7-inch TFT model with a resolution of 231k pixels. That's a little on the low side; other cameras have higher resolution screens, such as the 921k pixel resolution screen of the Sony DSC-TX7. Although this screen is clear and bright, it doesn't feel especially sharp.

The LCD screen of the ZR3 has 231k pixels

Flash

The flash of the ZR3 is a small, thin model located just above and to the right of the lens. This is a little too close to the lens for comfort; we suspect that this camera may produce a fair amount of red-eye, although we will have to wait to get it into our labs before we can be sure of this. Panasonic didn't supply any figures for the range of this flash, and we were not able to test the power of the flash at the PMA show.

The flash of the ZR3

Lens 

The lens of the ZR3 has Leica branding and an impressive 8x zoom range. This starts at a focal length of 4.5mm, equivalent to a 25mm lens on a 35mm film camera. That's a decent wide angle, but a touch smaller the 24mm that some other cameras offer. At the telephoto end, the focal length goes out to 36mm, which is equivalent to a 200mm lens on a 35mm film camera. If you want to push it further, a 4x digital zoom is available, but we don't generally recommend the use of digital zooms if you can avoid.

The 8x zoom lens of the ZR3

Jacks, Ports & Plugs

There are two ports on this camera: a HDMI port for connecting to a HDTV and a multi-purpose port that provides a USB connection and an analog video output. 

The ports of the ZR3: HDMI and multi-purpose

Battery

The ZR3 gets is juice from a Lithium Ion battery that can hold about 865 mAh of juice. That's a decent amount of juice for a small camera, andPanasonic claims a battery life of 330 shots. We weren't able to test this claim.

The battery and memory card compartment of the ZR3

Memory

Images are stored on SDHC Cards, which fit into a slot above the battery. In addition, there is also about 40MB of built in memory, which provides a nice cushion if you run out of space on the SDHC card.