Panasonic DMC-ZS3

	Color
	Product Tour	Page 3 of 16	Noise

Color Accuracy (13.38)

In our tests for color accuracy, we found that the ZS3 performed extremely well, capuring most colors with spot-in accuracy. We found that the only colors that the camera struggled with were the purples and reds, which were slightly deeper than the origionals in the color chart that we use for our testing. But even these colors were pretty close; as you can see from the samples below, the differences between the ideal (the original color) and the captured color were very minor. Click here for more on how we test color .

The ZS3 offers 4 color modes: Standard, Natural, Vivid and Black & White. We found that the Standard had the best color accuracy (the results below were taken in this mode), but only just; the Natural mode was also very accurate, but the colors were significantly less saturated. The Vivid mode turned the saturation dial up to 11: we found that it had saturation of 126 per cent, and colors looked very cartoonish.

	Camera Color Comparisons
	Ideal	Panasonic ZS3	Kodak Z950	Nikon L100	Canon SX120
Dark Skin
Light Skin
Blue Sky
	Ideal	Panasonic ZS3	Kodak Z950	Nikon L100	Canon SX120
Foliage
Blue Flower
Bluish Green
	Ideal	Panasonic ZS3	Kodak Z950	Nikon L100	Canon SX120
Orange
Purplish Blue
Moderate Red
	Ideal	Panasonic ZS3	Kodak Z950	Nikon L100	Canon SX120
Purple
Yellow Green
Orange Yellow
	Ideal	Panasonic ZS3	Kodak Z950	Nikon L100	Canon SX120
Blue
Green
Red
	Ideal	Panasonic ZS3	Kodak Z950	Nikon L100	Canon SX120
Yellow
Magenta
Cyan

NOTE: Because of the way computer monitors reproduce colors, the images above do not exactly match the originals found on the chart or in the captured images. The chart should be used to judge the relative color shift, not the absolute captured colors.

Color Score Comparisons
		Compare to Kodak Z950
		Compare to Nikon L100
		Compare to Canon SX120

Color Modes (3.00)

The ZS3 offers just a limited selection of color modes: Standard, Natural, Vivid and Black and White. But that's enough for everyday use; we generally recommend that people stick to the most accurate and process colors afterwards, anyway.

See how the competition stacked up against the Panasonic ZS3
Kodak Z950	Nikon L100	Canon SX120