Panasonic's been a player in the digicam market for the last couple of years, but until now, we've not managed to get hands on any of their cameras to test. The 3-megapixel Panasonic FZ3 is now the second of their cameras that I've reviewed, and I was as pleasantly surprised with it as I was with the 4-megapixel DMC-FZ15 before it. Relative to the FZ15, the FZ3 makes some obvious compromises in build quality and heft to keep the price below $400, but the result is still a very capable digicam. Like the FZ15 (and FZ20, which I hope to review soon as well), the Panasonic FZ3 offers a 12x Leica zoom lens, incorporating Panasonic's own "Mega OIS" Optical Image Stabilization technology. As I've said about other cameras offering image stabilization, it's hard to overstate the benefit of this technology on long-zoom digicams: It makes an incredible difference in the usability of long telephoto focal lengths, and the Panasonic FZ3's 12x lens with Mega OIS is no exception. Read on for all the details, but if you're in the market for a relatively affordable long-zoom digicam with optical image stabilization, the Panasonic FZ3 could be the camera for you.



Link: Imaging-Resource