The new Lumix ZS3 features 10.1 megapixels, a 25mm ultra wide angle lens and 12x optical zoom, meaning it provides added 2x optical zoom in the award winning TZ series camera, yet reduced its size. The ZS3 also comes with a Leica DC Vario Elmar lens and Harley davidson (HD) video recording ability, labeled AVCHD Lite.

The ZS3 is a world’s first digital camera to feature HD video recording in "AVCHD Lite." Offer the traditional Motion JPEG format, AVCHD Lite allows longer recordings with breathtaking HD visual and audio quality. This in addition to a well considered control interface, which includes a dedicated movie recording button around the camera’s back panel, would make the ZS3 a hybrid model that performs admirably for both still and motion image capture.

The ZS3 also expands Panasonic’s popular Intelligent Auto (iA) mode with the help of Face Recognition a feature that "remembers" faces from previous shots. Each time a registered face appears in the frame, the digital camera will prioritize focus and exposure to capture it beautifully. With Face Recognition, if your familiar face is recorded many times, your camera will prompt a persons to register the public presence. Once registered, should the face appears within the frame again, you displays the name specified for your person and prioritize focus and exposure so that the registered face is bright and sharply focused.

New this holiday season in to the ZS series, iA mode is likewise to be found in Movie Mode. It automatically selects the most suitable Scene mode so it helps to fix handshake, focus and brightness problems making iA mode your one stop method for capture beautiful still and motion images. In Movie Mode, the ZS3, Optical Image Stabilization (O.I.S.) avoids handshake when using the high powered zoom. Face Detection automatically detects a face inside frame and adjusts focus, exposure, contrast, and skin complexion in order that it turns out perfectly. Intelligent Exposure continually checks the ambient light level and adjusts the exposure setting as conditions change to prevent blown highlights and blocked shadows. And Intelligent Scene Selector automatically switches between Normal, Portrait, Macro, Scenery, and Low Light modes depending on the situation to optimize visual quality.

The imaging power of Lumix has further evolved with the Venus Engine HD, which boasts two CPUs to give you approx. 2.4x processing capability and support for AVCHD Lite and HDMI output. It integrates each of the advanced functions and camera operations rich in performance and low power consumption. In image processing, luminance noise and chromatic noise are reduced separately pre and post signal processing. It is further refined by separating noise two dimensionally into high frequency and low frequency noise. The circuits then effectively reduce merely the low frequency noise to reduce the unwanted noise and help produce beautiful, sharp still and motion images.

Playback together with the ZS Series will also be easy. Simply insert the camera’s SD memory card on the VIERA HDTV’s Image Viewer SD Card slot for your photo slideshow. Alternatively, connect your camera via an optional HDMI mini cable, the DMW HDC2, towards a VIERA Link equipped Panasonic VIERA HDTV and use the television’s distant to perform mixed slideshows of photos and videos. The ZS3 comes with a 3 inch, hd 460,000 dot Intelligent LCD using a wide viewing angle, improving visibility during recording and playback.

Other parts of the Lumix ZS3 include:

• Increased Scene modes for both still and motion image shooting optimized on a great diversity of situations. There are 26 scene modes for still image and 17 for motion image (Portrait, Soft Skin, Transform, Self portrait, Scenery, Low light, Food, Party, Candle light, Sunset, High sensitivity, Beach, Snow, Aerial, Pin hole, Film grain and Underwater)
• Two new My Scene settings let users assign their two normally used Scene modes towards setting, adequate a simple switch, allow admittance to either scene instantly.
• New Panorama Assist scene mode allows users to shoot quite a lot of consistent photos, either vertically or horizontally, by aligning them in accordance with helpful tips that overlaps the screen. Then using those photos and also bundled PanoramaMaker software, users may make dramatic panoramic images.
• High Speed Burst (Speed Priority) that fires off approx. 10 shots per second.
• Menus are clearer and easier to navigate aided by the Display Size option.
• Macro Zoom function lets users pull subjects even nearer to capture dramatic close up shots by using the 3x digital zoom in the wide angle.
• Bundled Software: Up to date version of PHOTOfunSTUDIO 3.0 HD Edition allows users to watch, edit and archive captured at ease with greater ease and fun. Still and motion images is generally utilized in your computer in a USB cable for viewing and archiving. Using PHOTOfunSTUDIO 3.0 HD Edition, users can edit and remove unwanted portions of films recorded in AVCHD Lite. Contents recorded in AVCHD Lite is burned directly onto a DVD disc or perhaps the software can convert contents to MPEG2 format. Software program also incorporates the face area Recognition function, which recognizes registered faces in photos stored via my pc, making organizing and archiving photos which includes a specific person not as difficult. Additionally, movies might be uploaded with the YouTube.

What's inside the Box
Battery Pack, Battery Case, Wall charger, AV Cable, USB Connection Cable, CD ROM, Hand Strap, Operating Instructions