The problem is that Leica’s famous 24mm super-wide angle lens costs about $3,500. But, now Leica has designed a 25mm to 300mm zoom lens for the Panasonic ZS1 and ZS3 which has even LESS visible distortion (bowing of straight lines, such as doors and window frames) and vignetting (darkening of the photo’s corners) than does Leica’s famous 24mm lens.

The Panasonic DMC-ZS1 and DMC-ZS3 share a superb Leica-designed zoom that provides outstanding performance from the super-wide 25mm range, through to the 50mm “normal” range waaay up to very long telephoto zoom of 300mm…and the lens provides excellent color and contrast in every part of that very long range.

There are NO zoom lenses or digital cameras available at ANY price level that will outperform the Panasonic ZS series for ultra-low distortion, rich colors and excellent contrast throughout the entire ultra-wide to long telephoto range of the ZS cameras.

The Panasonic ZS series cameras are designed to be easy to use. Putting them in the “intelligent auto” mode enables the camera to make all of the decisions. You simply zoom in on your subject, press the shutter very slightly to pre-focus, wait a second to see the focus confirmation “dot”, then press the shutter to take your photo.

The camera will automatically switch to the “macro” mode if you are taking a photo of something a few inches from your lens, it will recognize a person’s face and switch to the “portrait” mode for natural skin tones, and it re-adjusts the ISO level and shutter speed to match the lighting conditions for each photo.

Outdoors, the “intelligent auto” mode delivers consistently fine photos with natural color tones and contrast. The photos are “sharp” due to Panasonic’s auto stabilization mode, which makes it possible to get hand-held photos that are tack sharp, even at the full telephoto range of 300mm.

WARNING: Flash photos tend to be mediocre unless you are careful. The “intelligent auto” mode is most effective in with subjects that are very close…about three feet to six feet from the camera. Beyond six feet, many flash photos are darker than most people would prefer. The solution is to switch to the manual mode, and select a higher ISO of 200 or 400. The flash results are best in a well lighted room. However, the tiny flash, and a mediocre indoor “white balance” results in flash photos that are too dark, and with skin tones that are “off”. As a indoor flash camera, the Panasonic is average…or even less than average.

Panasonic provides many “scene” options, including a “night mode” that takes beautiful time exposures in dim lighting. I took some “night mode” shots in a dark coffee shop without flash that perfectly recreate the mood of the dimly lighted room. Also, in the manual mode, users can set the maximum ISO they want to use, and set the minimum shutter speed they prefer. So, for a sports photo, you can chose to use ONLY shutter speeds of 1/250 of a second or faster to “freeze” the action. Or, you can switch to the “sports” mode, and the camera will select a fast shutter speed, and lock the focus to keep subjects beyond about 16 feet away in sharp focus.

The manual options give users dozens of ways to tailor their photos, including ways of fine-tuning the color balance. The instruction book uses 140 pages to detail all of the options for every type of photo. It is worth an owner’s time to work page by page through the entire 140 pages to learn everything this camera can do.

But, MOST people will be happy to simply put the camera in “intelligent auto” mode and let the camera make all of the decisions. With just a hour or two of practice, anyone should be able to obtain fine photos consistently.

Digital “noise” is always an issue with pocket sized compact digital cameras. However, with the ZS cameras the digital “noise” is well controlled. In an 8 x 10 inch enlargement, it would take a very keen eye to see any “noise” in the ISO 80 to ISO 200 range. At ISO 400, a small amount of noise be visible in an enlargement, but only if you are looking for it.

For people who are “fanatics” about reducing digital “noise”, the ZS enables you to select an “auto” mode that “locks” the ISO to the 80 ISO to 400 ISO range, or you can “lock” the ISO at 80, 100, or 200 for low “noise” photos. In bright sunlight, locking exposure at ISO 80 results in photos that can match up well with those from $3,000 pro DSLR cameras.

The battery will last about 300 photos without using the flash, depending on how much time you spend reviewing and editing them, and about 200 photos if you use the flash for half your photos. The battery gauge tell you how much power is remaining with three segments followed by a flashing red warning. The battery charges in two hours or less.

WARNING: The size and shape of the LS cameras make them VERY easy cameras to drop. It would be wise to ALWAYS wrap the strap around your wrist BEFORE you pull the camera out of its case. The LS will fit into a jacket pocket, but it would be better protected in a case. Cameras this nice, with such an astounding zoom lens deserve being treated with care, and a padded case is an inexpensive way to protect your investment.

Cons:

Just decent noise performance, about average in it’s class

Just average compactness

Face recognition does not work well

Lack of manual controls such as shutter speed, aperture etc..

Record/Playback switch means that you can’t quickly take a picture

or record with pressing the video or shutter button

There’s a lot of things about this device that are a bit lacking: the colors can sometimes be washed out in flourescent lighting (even with the iA), the lens at it’s widest does exhibit some distortion at the edges (to be expected I guess from wide-angle… so I make sure it’s set to “not as wide” for most pix), also the video audio can be a bit quiet (not sure if it’s some setting… I just do post-processing and amp up the volume on all my movies).

The interface is not plainly obvious (took me several attempts to find the playback button for videos), but it grows on you and it becomes relatively handy (two user-customized settings are great… I use candle-light and sports, both with flash disabled, and go auto (iA) on all others).

Despite all this, I will give it a 5 stars for it’s video. I could have got a flip video, but this one does the job simply and with the 12x zoom lens, iA auto mode and copious manual settings, it’s more versatile and hey, it also takes pictures.

The Zoom was a incredible improvement. Also I like the Auto mode….

Face recognition helps to focus well pictures when many people is on the photo.

This is just a warning for potential buyers out there. The 3 stars I give this camera is because this camera does not use a standard mini-USB cable! If you are tired of carrying around 10 different power/USB cords for you gadgets, do not buy this camera! I am seriously considering returning the camera for this reason (even though both my laptop and netbook have SD card readers… it’s the principle of the matter). If you do not mind this flaw, this is a great camera for the money.