Sep 12, 2009 01:38 PM
3070 Views
(Updated Sep 13, 2009 09:24 PM)
I purchased this camera after reading lot of positive reviews on the internet. I was looking for a small pocket size camera with optical image stabilization. I finally narrowed down my choice to Canon IXUS 95 IS, Sony W220 and Panasonic FS3. All of them were slim enough to fit into pocket. No doubt all 3 are great cameras but I purchased Panasonic FS3 because, it was almost 50% cheaper than other two. It just costs me Rs. 5, 500/- where other 2 were in the range of Rs. 11, 000/-
The camera looks brilliant in black metal body and has a solid feel. Its build quality is very superior. All the buttons layout is just perfect.
It is small enough to fit in any size pocket. It has a nice 2.5 LCD screen which is very clear(unlike some cheaper cameras with grainy LCD screens). The lithium battery fully charges in 2 hours and comes with separate external charger which is a good thing. The camera comes complete with 2 GB card, case, USB cable and Audio/Video cable.(Most of the cameras now a days don't give you A/V cable.)
So I was very excited to take the shots with my new camera. The camera has Intelligent Auto(iA) mode which automatically selects the best scene out of 5 scenes and adjusts all the settings like ISO, exposure etc. The picture quality was very nice for the indoor pictures. The pictures were sharp and showing vivid colors. There was very less noise(almost negligible) on all the indoor photos.(I already own another digital camera HP-R707 from last 4 years, so I definitely know how to compare the indoor picture quality.).
The outdoor pictures were just excellent. All the colors are natural and photos were properly exposed. Noise levels were again almost negligible. Performance of the camera is really very good and you can take next photo within 3 seconds.(Some cameras take a gap of 7-8 seconds between shots.). I really like the iA mode which automatically selects the Macro, Night Portrait, Portrait etc. modes plus detects all the faces in the photo and adjusts the exposure for best results. I was able to take some beautiful Macro photographs without flash in medium light conditions. Although the shutter speed was 1/8 seconds, but still the photos were very sharp. Thanks to Panasonic's MEGA O.I.S which shifts the lens to compensate for hand shake. The system really works well and I was able read all the letters in photos without any blur.(My old camera either burns the Macro subject with flash or takes blurry images if flash is kept off). But Panasonic FS3 is just fantastic in that terms.
Although I can even operate a DSLR camera without any problem but sometimes I prefer to let the camera to do all the settings and I can just take pictures and relax. This camera is very good for that.
The camera also has 22 scene modes and you can select it to best suit your condition. The scene modes work perfectly. In "Starry sky" scene mode you can adjust the shutter time to 15, 30 or 60 seconds. Off course you must use a tripod for that. This camera also offers some manual controls like setting the ISO for controlling noise levels, back-light compensation which prevents under exposures of human faces where strong light is present at backside.
The video quality is also very nice and the microphone is sensitive enough to capture all the sounds. It also has a inbuilt speaker for reviewing your video clips. The playback options offer some good controls to move forward/backward by single frame at a time. The 640X480, 30FPS takes more space, so I normally prefer 320X240, 30FPS which is also pretty good. I attached the A/V cable to my TV and played all the photos and videos on big screen. It was a nice experience.
The menu system of the camera is easy to use. It offers options like setting LCD brightness, Optical image stabilizer modes, high speed auto focus and controlling max ISO limit etc.
The LCD screen is very bright and visible in bright sunlight also. There is an additional manual setting which makes the LCD screen very very bright and you can see it even of direct sunlight is falling on it. However I didn't require to change this setting.
The battery has fantastic life. Although the Panasonic claims the life up to 330 shots, but you can get around 270 shots easily, which is more than enough.
Overall I must say that, this is a wonderful camera and you can't go wrong with Panasonic and Leica lens. I am very happy about it.
