Panasonic lumix dmc-s3 special edition

Its broad-ish focal range for an entry-level compact ensures that the S3 has most everyday subjects covered, from landscape and group portraits to candid close ups. There's nothing provided on the camera's rounded edges or smooth and shiny front and back surfaces for the user to get a firm grip on when taking photographs without the aid of a tripod, so it's important that the S3's image stabilization proves effective to avoid external wobble translating into blurred images.

Turn it on via the Stabilizer option in the main menu and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-S3 automatically compensates for camera shake, which is a slight blurring of the image that typically occurs at slow shutter speeds when the camera is hand held. There are three different modes, Mode 1 is on all the time including image composition, Mode 2 is only on when you press the shutter button, and there's also an Auto mode.

It does make a noticeable difference in practice, as shown in the examples on the Image Quality page. Thankfully leaving the anti-shake system on didn't negatively affect the battery-life, with the camera managing shots using the supplied rechargeable Li-ion battery, more than the S3 model that we recently reviewed. The High Sensitivity mode also helps combat the effects of camera shake.

When this scene mode is selected, the camera automatically raises the ISO speed from up to a maximum of and therefore allows for a faster shutter speed. This mode allows you to handhold the DMC-S3 without using the flash and get more natural results, whilst at the same time freezing subject movement more successfully.

There are some obvious drawbacks with this special scene mode, principally a significant reduction in resolution to a maximum of 3 megapixels in the aspect ratio, and the Quality is also set to the lowest level.

The user guide states that "you can take pictures suitable for 4x6 inch printing" using the High Sensitivity mode. You also need to select the right scene mode and therefore have some idea about when it is applicable to your subject.

The camera automatically sets the appropriate shutter speed AND ISO speed for the subject that you are taking pictures of. So if you're taking shots of a child indoors, the DMC-FX70 automatically raises the ISO and in turn the shutter speed to avoid blurring the child's movement. If the subject is still, then the camera chooses a lower sensitivity and slower shutter speed. It's a clever idea that works well in practice, with the camera generally choosing an appropriate combination of shutter and ISO speed.

You can also limit the maximum ISO speed that the camera can choose, which I'd strongly advise, as the fastest available setting of ISO produces very noisy images - ISO is a better choice. Underneath the lens are two tiny holes which house the mono built-in microphone. A thumb-operated button on the rear of the camera is used for operating the 4x zoom lens.

You can move through the complete focal range from wide to tele setting in just over three seconds. There is no one-touch movie record button, instead you have to press the Mode button and then select the Motion Picture option.

You can choose one of the various colour modes and set the white balance for movies. You can use the zoom lens during recording and really make the most of the 5x focal range, although the zoom speed is unfortunately much slower than for still images and you can hear the zoom mechanism during recording. Also on the negative side, you'll find that if you choose continuous auto-focus, areas of the video will be blurred before becoming sharp again as the camera tries to refocus.

On a more positive note, the the S3 is quite fast at re-focusing, and having this system is much better than not being able to auto-focus at all. The Intelligent Auto mode automatically chooses the best settings for the user's chosen subject. Panasonic have tried to make things as easy as possible for the complete beginner by providing this shooting mode, which allows you to point and shoot the camera without having to worry about choosing the right mode or settings.

In practice the Intelligent Auto Mode system works very well, with the camera seamlessly choosing the most appropriate combination of settings for the current situation. The 6 available scene modes are Macro, Portrait, Scenery, Night Portrait, Night Scenery and Sunset, so obviously not all situations are covered by Intelligent Auto Mode, but it does work for the majority of the time. It makes it possible for the less experienced photographer to easily take well-exposed, sharp pictures of people, scenery and close-ups by simply pointing and shooting the camera.

If you prefer to have a little more control, the Scene Mode option lets the user select from amongst 16 different options. The Normal Picture mode provides the greatest level of control over what is predominantly a point-and-shoot camera. Select this option and then press the camera's Menu icon and you're provided access to a wider range of functionality than offered by the pared down previous modes, laid out across three successive screens. Underneath are self-explanatory Playback and Delete buttons, with the latter doubling up as a "Go Back" button when required.

It's all very conventional and therefore perfect for its target audience. The Pansonic Lumix DMC-S3 is well-suited to its beginner target audience, with a clean and unthreatening interface, just enough key features and an attractive design. Now let's take a look at its image quality. All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 14 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5.

ISO exhibits quite visible noise, smearing of fine detail and colour desaturation, and ISO is even noisier, although still usable for small prints. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-S3 dealt fairly well with chromatic aberrations, with some purple fringing effects appearing mostly in high contrast situations.

The flash worked well indoors, with a little red-eye and adequate exposure. The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 60 seconds allowing you to capture plenty of light. Anti-shake is a feature that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. Macro performance is fine, allowing you to focus as close as 5cms away from the subject.

The images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting and ideally require further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting if you don't like the default results. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop.

The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default sharpening setting. You can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default look. As a result of its price the S3 feels a bit plasticky to use, but it's very light to carry around and is ideal to throw in a handbag or pocket for spontaneous photography.

The 4x optical zoom lens opens to 28mm wide-angle, and the camera also comes with Panasonic's Mega OIS optical image stabilisation. Controls at the back of the camera are simple and, thankfully, buttons are large enough for chunkier fingers. Rather than having a zoom control around the shutter button, the S3 has its zoom controls set to a single button at the back.

The S3 has a range of shooting modes available, including intelligent automatic, normal picture, video mode and scene modes. As with any other camera in this price range, you do need to keep your photo quality expectations in check for the price.

That said, the S3 does a pretty decent job at making images with good colour rendition and pleasing saturation levels. Unfortunately, as seems to be the case with cameras of this price range, the S3 has far too many megapixels for the lens to be able to resolve. At reduced magnification, images look great; zoom in to full resolution and you'll see the over-processing issues. The flash also seems rather under-powered, particularly noticeable on night shots. Images taken at high ISO levels are naturally full of colour noise.

Fortunately, the S3 doesn't tend to push itself too high in the ISO levels except when absolutely needed. Video is OK, with above average image quality let down by very poor audio recording from the mono microphone. Expect your recordings to sound like they were made in a tunnel.

Click each image for full-sized samples from the Lumix S3. No post-processing has been done to alter these photos.