Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3

Resolution (10.32)

Overall, we were impressed with the quality of the images that the ZS3 took in terms of the levels of distortion, sharpness and chromatic aberration. We found that the images had very little distortion and very low chromatic aberration, while still retaining good levels of sharpness. More on how we test resolution.

Distortion (11.57)

We usually expect to see some distortion in the images taken by cameras with long zoom lenses, but the distortion across the zoom range of the ZS3 remained minimal. They were not distortion free, though; we saw a small amount of barrel distortion at the wide and middle points of the zoom range, and a small amount of pin cushioning at the telephoto end, but all of these were very low; the highest was 1.42 per cent at the middle of the range, which is barely noticeable.

Sharpness (10.52)

We also found that the images that the ZS3 captured had good sharpness, with fine details in the subjects being captured well. We did find that the edges of the frame got a little soft at the longest zoom setting, but this sharpness falloff was smaller than many other cameras.

Chromatic Aberration (7.96)

We found some chromatic aberration in the images that the ZS3 captured. Chromatic aberration is caused when the optics of the lens diffract colors of light differently, causing a colored fringe on sharp edges. This was most pronounced at the longer end of the zoom range and at the edges of the frame, but again it was much less sgnificant than many other cameras that we’ve tested.

Quality & Size Options (6.83)

The ZS3 offers plenty of choice when it comes to the size of the photos that it captures: you can set it to the full 10 megapixel resolution (3648 by 2736) or at any of 6 options that go down to 0.3 megapixels (640 by 480). At any of these settings, you can also set the aspect ratio of the image to any one of three options: 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. In addition, there are two choices for the image quality: fine or standard.

Image Stabilization (6.92)

The ZS3 uses an optical image stabilization system, where an element in the lens shifts to compensate for hand shake. We found this to be very effective; the images that we captured with this enabled at our testing shutter speed of 1/30 of a second were significantly sharper with the camera in IS mode 2, the most aggressive of the stabilization settings. More on how we test image stabilization.

Stabilization Comparisons
Panasonic DMC-ZS3	Kodak Z950	Nikon L100	Canon SX120 IS
Stabilization Off
Stabilization On