Digital Cameras Reviews

Posts Tagged ‘Inch Lcd’

Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS3 10MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD Black

The ZS3 records HD motion images at a smooth 60 frames per second with 1280 x 720-pixel resolution. It uses the AVCHD (MPEG-4/H.264) format, via AVCHD lite, which stores less data than other formats and thus lets you shoot more minutes of HD motion images before running out of memory.Just set the camera to iA mode, aim and shoot. The camera does all the rest. It automatically determines the most suitable scene mode and helps correct blurring, focus, and brightness problems. With iA mode, it’s easy to get beautiful, clear results. In the ZS3, iA mode cannot be used when shooting motion images.The ZS3 packs a LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens with 12x optical zoom into a compact body. This versatile photographic tool lets you shoot everything from sweeping vistas at the 25mm wide-angle setting to dynamic 300mm telephoto shots. And the lens system’s exquisite rendering ability lets you capture even the subtle nuances of the sights and scenes in your travels.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Very good camera, although I expected a little bit more…
As has been said, it’s a really good camera. With a powerful zoom, little bit uncomfortable to handle if you are used to super compacts, but you know that (or you should know) when you buy it.

The video is very good, I’d say that it’s the best that I have ever seen or I would expect from a still camera.

I haven’t noticed too much lose of focus when I zomm in and zoom out during video. But the AVCHD format isn’t very common. Other pro is that the slow speed of zoom during video make transitions very soft being more slow when you start and finish zooming than in the middle.

The part that I expected much better was the face recognition, which is like play to Lotto.

And although reviews say that it hasn’t manual focus, there’s an option to follow objects. You have to put the object on the center of the screen, click a button, and then the camera will automatically focus that object although it or you move, or zoom, etc. Not very accurate, but good enough!

The battery life deppends on some options. If autofocus is working all the time instead of just when you click the button to take the photo, then your battery will have a shorter life. But the performance average is normal for this type of camera.

5 Stars Easy to use digital Camera with great HD video!~But CAUTION when order replacement batteries!
I purchased this camera just before I left for a trip to the Galapagos Islands. I’m not a whiz kid when it comes to cameras, but I knew the Galapagos Islands would have once-in-a-life-time photo opportunities that I didn’t want to miss due to poor quality equipment or equipment that was too complicated for me to use. This camera DELIVERED on all my needs! (except battery incompatibilities, mentioned later!)I recommend spending an hour or two with the camera and instruction book. The 130 page instruction book was easy to navigate through, but it takes a while to familiarize yourself with everything this amazing little camera is capable of doing!!

The quality of my vacation photos and videos were amazing! I was able to record a video of the mating dance of two blue-footed boobies, iguanas fighting, and sea lions and penguins playing. My landscape photos have such detail that it’s hard to believe these were not taken with a more expensive SLR digital. When I returned home, I projected the video onto a giant classroom screen during a lecture and the quality was amazing. Everyone asked what type of camera I was using! I connected the camera to my Samsung 46 inch 1080i HDTV. The photos and videos looked so good I couldn’t believe they were really MY photos!

The large 3 inch LCD monitor on the SZ3 is large enough to review photos and videos so I could easily determine which photos and videos were worth keeping while I was still on vacation. The size and quality of the LCD was even good enough replay videos and scan through photos for fellow travelers.

The 12X optical zoom on this camera allowed me to zoom up on animals and landmarks otherwise too far away to photograph. I did not try out the 21X extended optical zoom. Thanks to the setting made for photos from airplane windows, my on-flight photos turned out better than any on-flight photos I’ve ever seen.

There is a setting on the camera that allows you to hold the shutter down. It will continue to take photos until you release the shutter. This allowed me to take photos of animals in motion and later choose to save which photo caught the animal in that “ideal” position! No more pushing the shutter only to have the subject move and you’ve missed the shot! If you don’t want to change settings on the camera, there is an “Intelligent Auto Mode” that adjusts automatically to light, movement, scenery (adjusts to take sharp pictures near and far landscapes), recognizes faces to adjust light to create optimal settings for portrait lighting, etc.

The FACE RECOGNITION setting isn’t always accurate. I tried to train it to recognize my dad, and several other faces were later incorrectly identified by my camera as “Dad.” Hopefully re-training it will resolve that glitch. I eventually had to turn off. It was even labeling photos of women as “Dad”!

The Travel feature allows you to set the dates of your vacation into the camera memory. It also allows you to change the time zone during your vacation and automatically returns to “home” clock at the end of the ‘Vacation mode dates’. This creates a time stamp that is not only accurate to your vacation time zone, but allows you to record when & WHERE each photo was taken! This is especially great if your travels include several cities or islands. The on-screen menu tells you what day of your trip you are on (Galapagos Day 1, Galapagos Day 2, etc.). It’s really nice for later when you are trying to sort through photos and remember what day and where they were taken. Especially when you have more than one SD card!

You can increase the size of the on screen menu to a larger font if you have problems with reading small print.

I have to say I was impressed with the different settings for taking photos of babies, sunsets, portraits, food, etc. It was amazing how many differnt settings were available and the instruction book gives great hints on how to maximize the use of each of those settings. I think this is one of the best instruction manuals I’ve seen for cameras.

Again, my only hesitation with this camera is with the battery, and it’s more of an idealogical complaint against Panasonic. I just don’t think they should create a camera with a battery that is so difficult to find and doesn’t have a compatable generic. SO………WARNING!!!!!!!!! THE ONLY battery that is compatable with this camera is the Panasonic Lumix DMW-BCG10PP. USE CAUTION when ordering batteries advertized on Amazon’s website that claim to be compatible with this camera. I ended up going on vacation without a second battery and due to the high volume of photos and videos I was taking each day I ran out of battery before the end of the day. Luckily most days I had a lunch period where I was able to recharge the battery. The instructions say you can get 300 photos from a battery charge, but I got more than twice that amount and somedays got almost three times that many. Still, If I didn’t recharge mid-day, I ran out of battery before I ran out of photo opportunities each day. I’m sure it’s because I took those shots so close together. One battery is probably good enough for almost every situation except special vacations where photos are a huge part of your day! ENJOY!

4 Stars I NEED HELP! How to get MAC Preview to render clear images of ZS3 10 MP shots
I am making some simple mistake – please help! I have a MAC G5/OS 10.5.8/2 GB dram running Preview 4.2 (all software up to date). Previously I had a 2 MP Fuji 2650 and its jpegs looked fine with this setup. Now with the ZS3 the 10 MP photos looked muddy and ill-focused, 5 MP and 3 MP of the same subject look much better. I think it must be some issue with how the Preview program is set to display the photos. When I change the jpegs to actual size, and zoom subjects in the 10 MP shot to the same size as the 5&3 MP shots they look almost identical (so I think the camera is focusing correctly) – but when I simply double-click on the jpegs the 10 MP shots look awful. Is this because the 10 MP shots are downsampled more? How can I get all the jpegs to render well? Am I supposed to use some Preference setting like “respect image and screen DPI for scale”? Could this be a setup issue (haven’t read the manual much)? Could this be because I haven’t imported into iPhoto with which I am not that familiar?

As for the ZS3 the dedicated movie button is awesome, the zoom is quite nice to have but uses so much juice that the battery shuts down pronto! I actually find the wideangle annoying, have to read to see if I can defeat that default state. Haven’t tried to view the AVCHD lite video yet, sounds like getting it to work will be a lot of work. I really like the package as seemingly the best you can get and still carry in your pocket but man the battery issues are a serious problem if you zoom much; not to mention the price and availability problems of the OEM battery and the 1.2 software shutdown of non-OEM batteries that sell for much less!

4 Stars SO far so good
It’s probably unfair to write a review after only one day’s ownership, especially a work day, but here are a few thoughts.

12x zoom in a pocket camera is an amazing thing. Whatever other camera(s) you own, this is the one you can take everywhere.

And while the 65x zoom available with combined optical/digital doesn’t produce pictures that you’d want to show anywhere, it’s certainly fun for spying on people. I was even able to see people at the top of the Empire State building taken from the street, 10 blocks away.

Polarized sunglasses can make the screen disappear in bright sunshine. (Do wish this camera had a viewfinder.)

27 scene modes cover most conditions, but they’re on 2 separate screens, and the first has modes such as “baby” and “pet” (which I don’t need) while “burst” and “flash burst” are on the second screen Wish one could move them around.

Tried flash burst in a pretty dark room and didn’t work very well, pictures were much darker than with normal flash, though the camera’s flash refreshes fairly quickly so you can take a series of pictures with full flash almost as fast as in burst mode. Didn’t try burst flash in a room with some lights on, yet. One of my reasons for wanting this camera is to be able to take candid pictures in a party situation and my old Sony H-5 just takes too long and I’d miss more pictures than I’d get.

I’ll add to this review after I use the camera a bit more.

5 Stars Love this camera
Camera arrived quickly and was easy to set up. Make sure you get a large memory card for this as a 10MP camera creates large files. I work on a MAC and the camera was recognized automatically. The zoom is incredible and the video works fine. Very impressed with this camera.

Buy/More Info

The GF1 is essentially a G1 (with a couple of GH1 features and the loss of a handful of scene modes) squashed into a body that’s more or less the same size as the E-P1 – it occupies 35% less volume and is 26% lighter than the G1. It may lack the E-P1’s cute-as-a-button retro styling but it does effectively answer the three main criticisms faced by the Olympus: the lack of built in flash (check), the lack of a viewfinder (there’s an optional EVF) and the poor focus speed (it has the same impressive system as the other ‘G’ models). You don’t get the E-P1’s total compatibility (it currently won’t focus any Four Thirds lens that doesn’t currently offer live view AF on an Olympus SLR), but those lenses it will focus, it will focus a helluva lot faster.

Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS3 10MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD Red

The ZS3 records HD motion images at a smooth 60 frames per second with 1280×720-pixel resolution. It uses the AVCHD (MPEG-4/H.264) format via AVCHD Lite, which stores less data than other formats and thus lets you shoot more minutes of HD motion images before running out of memory.The ZS3 is equipped with an HDMI output terminal for direct transmission of digital picture and sound signals. Just connect the camera to an HDTV using a single HDMI mini cable (purchased separately), and it’s easy to view beautiful HD photos and motion images. If you have a VIERA HDTV, you can control the camera’s playback functions with VIERA’s remote control unit.The ZS3 packs a LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens with 12x optical zoom into a compact body. This versatile photographic tool lets you shoot everything from sweeping vistas at the 25mm wide-angle setting to dynamic 300mm telephoto shots. And the lens system’s exquisite rendering ability lets you capture even the subtle nuances of the sights and scenes in your travels.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Very good camera, although I expected a little bit more…
As has been said, it’s a really good camera. With a powerful zoom, little bit uncomfortable to handle if you are used to super compacts, but you know that (or you should know) when you buy it.

The video is very good, I’d say that it’s the best that I have ever seen or I would expect from a still camera.

I haven’t noticed too much lose of focus when I zomm in and zoom out during video. But the AVCHD format isn’t very common. Other pro is that the slow speed of zoom during video make transitions very soft being more slow when you start and finish zooming than in the middle.

The part that I expected much better was the face recognition, which is like play to Lotto.

And although reviews say that it hasn’t manual focus, there’s an option to follow objects. You have to put the object on the center of the screen, click a button, and then the camera will automatically focus that object although it or you move, or zoom, etc. Not very accurate, but good enough!

The battery life deppends on some options. If autofocus is working all the time instead of just when you click the button to take the photo, then your battery will have a shorter life. But the performance average is normal for this type of camera.

5 Stars Love this camera
Camera arrived quickly and was easy to set up. Make sure you get a large memory card for this as a 10MP camera creates large files. I work on a MAC and the camera was recognized automatically. The zoom is incredible and the video works fine. Very impressed with this camera.

4 Stars SO far so good
It’s probably unfair to write a review after only one day’s ownership, especially a work day, but here are a few thoughts.

12x zoom in a pocket camera is an amazing thing. Whatever other camera(s) you own, this is the one you can take everywhere.

And while the 65x zoom available with combined optical/digital doesn’t produce pictures that you’d want to show anywhere, it’s certainly fun for spying on people. I was even able to see people at the top of the Empire State building taken from the street, 10 blocks away.

Polarized sunglasses can make the screen disappear in bright sunshine. (Do wish this camera had a viewfinder.)

27 scene modes cover most conditions, but they’re on 2 separate screens, and the first has modes such as “baby” and “pet” (which I don’t need) while “burst” and “flash burst” are on the second screen Wish one could move them around.

Tried flash burst in a pretty dark room and didn’t work very well, pictures were much darker than with normal flash, though the camera’s flash refreshes fairly quickly so you can take a series of pictures with full flash almost as fast as in burst mode. Didn’t try burst flash in a room with some lights on, yet. One of my reasons for wanting this camera is to be able to take candid pictures in a party situation and my old Sony H-5 just takes too long and I’d miss more pictures than I’d get.

I’ll add to this review after I use the camera a bit more.

4 Stars I NEED HELP! How to get MAC Preview to render clear images of ZS3 10 MP shots
I am making some simple mistake – please help! I have a MAC G5/OS 10.5.8/2 GB dram running Preview 4.2 (all software up to date). Previously I had a 2 MP Fuji 2650 and its jpegs looked fine with this setup. Now with the ZS3 the 10 MP photos looked muddy and ill-focused, 5 MP and 3 MP of the same subject look much better. I think it must be some issue with how the Preview program is set to display the photos. When I change the jpegs to actual size, and zoom subjects in the 10 MP shot to the same size as the 5&3 MP shots they look almost identical (so I think the camera is focusing correctly) – but when I simply double-click on the jpegs the 10 MP shots look awful. Is this because the 10 MP shots are downsampled more? How can I get all the jpegs to render well? Am I supposed to use some Preference setting like “respect image and screen DPI for scale”? Could this be a setup issue (haven’t read the manual much)? Could this be because I haven’t imported into iPhoto with which I am not that familiar?

As for the ZS3 the dedicated movie button is awesome, the zoom is quite nice to have but uses so much juice that the battery shuts down pronto! I actually find the wideangle annoying, have to read to see if I can defeat that default state. Haven’t tried to view the AVCHD lite video yet, sounds like getting it to work will be a lot of work. I really like the package as seemingly the best you can get and still carry in your pocket but man the battery issues are a serious problem if you zoom much; not to mention the price and availability problems of the OEM battery and the 1.2 software shutdown of non-OEM batteries that sell for much less!

5 Stars Easy to use digital Camera with great HD video!~But CAUTION when order replacement batteries!
I purchased this camera just before I left for a trip to the Galapagos Islands. I’m not a whiz kid when it comes to cameras, but I knew the Galapagos Islands would have once-in-a-life-time photo opportunities that I didn’t want to miss due to poor quality equipment or equipment that was too complicated for me to use. This camera DELIVERED on all my needs! (except battery incompatibilities, mentioned later!)I recommend spending an hour or two with the camera and instruction book. The 130 page instruction book was easy to navigate through, but it takes a while to familiarize yourself with everything this amazing little camera is capable of doing!!

The quality of my vacation photos and videos were amazing! I was able to record a video of the mating dance of two blue-footed boobies, iguanas fighting, and sea lions and penguins playing. My landscape photos have such detail that it’s hard to believe these were not taken with a more expensive SLR digital. When I returned home, I projected the video onto a giant classroom screen during a lecture and the quality was amazing. Everyone asked what type of camera I was using! I connected the camera to my Samsung 46 inch 1080i HDTV. The photos and videos looked so good I couldn’t believe they were really MY photos!

The large 3 inch LCD monitor on the SZ3 is large enough to review photos and videos so I could easily determine which photos and videos were worth keeping while I was still on vacation. The size and quality of the LCD was even good enough replay videos and scan through photos for fellow travelers.

The 12X optical zoom on this camera allowed me to zoom up on animals and landmarks otherwise too far away to photograph. I did not try out the 21X extended optical zoom. Thanks to the setting made for photos from airplane windows, my on-flight photos turned out better than any on-flight photos I’ve ever seen.

There is a setting on the camera that allows you to hold the shutter down. It will continue to take photos until you release the shutter. This allowed me to take photos of animals in motion and later choose to save which photo caught the animal in that “ideal” position! No more pushing the shutter only to have the subject move and you’ve missed the shot! If you don’t want to change settings on the camera, there is an “Intelligent Auto Mode” that adjusts automatically to light, movement, scenery (adjusts to take sharp pictures near and far landscapes), recognizes faces to adjust light to create optimal settings for portrait lighting, etc.

The FACE RECOGNITION setting isn’t always accurate. I tried to train it to recognize my dad, and several other faces were later incorrectly identified by my camera as “Dad.” Hopefully re-training it will resolve that glitch. I eventually had to turn off. It was even labeling photos of women as “Dad”!

The Travel feature allows you to set the dates of your vacation into the camera memory. It also allows you to change the time zone during your vacation and automatically returns to “home” clock at the end of the ‘Vacation mode dates’. This creates a time stamp that is not only accurate to your vacation time zone, but allows you to record when & WHERE each photo was taken! This is especially great if your travels include several cities or islands. The on-screen menu tells you what day of your trip you are on (Galapagos Day 1, Galapagos Day 2, etc.). It’s really nice for later when you are trying to sort through photos and remember what day and where they were taken. Especially when you have more than one SD card!

You can increase the size of the on screen menu to a larger font if you have problems with reading small print.

I have to say I was impressed with the different settings for taking photos of babies, sunsets, portraits, food, etc. It was amazing how many differnt settings were available and the instruction book gives great hints on how to maximize the use of each of those settings. I think this is one of the best instruction manuals I’ve seen for cameras.

Again, my only hesitation with this camera is with the battery, and it’s more of an idealogical complaint against Panasonic. I just don’t think they should create a camera with a battery that is so difficult to find and doesn’t have a compatable generic. SO………WARNING!!!!!!!!! THE ONLY battery that is compatable with this camera is the Panasonic Lumix DMW-BCG10PP. USE CAUTION when ordering batteries advertized on Amazon’s website that claim to be compatible with this camera. I ended up going on vacation without a second battery and due to the high volume of photos and videos I was taking each day I ran out of battery before the end of the day. Luckily most days I had a lunch period where I was able to recharge the battery. The instructions say you can get 300 photos from a battery charge, but I got more than twice that amount and somedays got almost three times that many. Still, If I didn’t recharge mid-day, I ran out of battery before I ran out of photo opportunities each day. I’m sure it’s because I took those shots so close together. One battery is probably good enough for almost every situation except special vacations where photos are a huge part of your day! ENJOY!

Buy/More Info

Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ35 12 1MP Digital Camera with 18x POWER Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2 7 inch LCD

The FZ35 records HD movies with 1280 x 720-pixel resolution. It uses the AVCHD Lite format to achieve higher image quality while storing less data than the conventional Motion JPEG. Plus, the FZ35 is equipped with an HDMI output terminal for direct transmission of digital image and sound signals.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Freaking beautiful camera, LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT
I bouht this camera to replace a lemon of a Nikon P90 that took yellowish tint pictures all the time and had no white point setting, what? NO WHITE POINT SETTING? COME ON!? WHERES THE SLR LIKE CAMERA IN THAT!

I shipped it back to amazon and they promptly refunded me, great service and I ordered this.

The image quality is superb, even if you barely have set up the camera it looks great, slightly noisy when you have 22x of zoom but I expect that from any digital camera after you hit the 18x optical and slip into digital zoom, It still looks freaking awesome.

The image quality in the DEAD OF NIGHT is beautiful. [...]

You can also see the image which I took at 22x zoom!

Beautiful camera and I will be sticking to the Panasonic name for a while now, the Nikon is good in the D series but the P series is god aweful from my experience.

The battery life on this camera is awesome, just like my Nikon D40 but even boasts HD videos![...]

5 Stars Worthwhile upgrade
Upgraded from my FZ-18 because of the major improvements. HD jpeg movie is amazing with focusing while zooming and with stereo sound. Movie button on back enables fast switch from still to movie and back. 12 mp ccd gives denser colors and greater optical zoom when dropping to 3 mp. Auto focus tracking is uncanny as it tracks the locked target across the LCD/EVF. Review switch is now on the back for quick review. The old review button is replaced by a function button enabling it to be set for five possible functions. There is so much flexibility in the camera, the operating manual had to be put on a CD for PDF viewing of its 219 pages. Basic instructions come in a paper version. Fabulous camera for a little over $300. Sold my used FZ-18 for a good price.

5 Stars Love my camera
I had a Lumix DMC-FZ class camera before, so I had high expectations. They have been met. A few gripes, none serious: It took a little while to learn the new system (on-off switch is on the top of the camera now, not at the top right edge of the back — my thumb keeps reaching for it there). I missed being able to focus manually by twisting the lens, but someone who never had a film SLR won’t have that problem. I hate the tweet the camera emits when it autofocuses, but that can be turned off (sacrificing the shutter sound, too, sadly). The amber light that the camera projects when I use autofocus scares off wildlife. Hate that. The default shutter seems not quite as quick as the old camera’s.

On the good side, it takes very good pictures. It’s quite a bit lighter and smaller than my other Lumix, so it’s easier to carry. The battery lasts ages, and when it has to be topped up, I love the new battery charger. Such an intelligent design with fold-out tines in the back of the cube; no need for wires. Thank you, Panasonic, for the cable that attaches to the lens cap. Previously had to improvise my own. The camera takes good pictures without flash in less light than before. The longer lens is a joy. I like the shoot/review thumb switch instead of the old system of turning the wheel to the green arrow. I like that I can adjust the length of auto-review time. In fact, so many more of the functions can be customized that I’ve barely begun to explore their extent. I’m looking forward to experimenting.

5 Stars dj fom mass.
Camera does everything they say it will do , but don,t buy it if you want a common point & shot! This camera comes with the best online manual I’ve ever seen! You need to take advantage of it to get the full range of amazing capabilities. So far very happy with results!

5 Stars Amazing
was torn between the canon sx20is and the panasonic fz35 i first bought the canon the picture quality wasnt as great as i thought it would be maybe because i didnt play around with the option much, but i returned it and got the fz35 which had great picture quality. highly recommend this camera. my first superzoom and im loving it.

Buy/More Info

Canon PowerShot SD780IS 12 1 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2 5 inch LCD Deep Red

It may be the slimmest Digital ELPH Canon has ever created, but the impact couldn’t be bigger. The PowerShot SD780 IS Digital ELPH captivates the senses with bold saturated colors and a daringly original design that matches the intensity of Canon’s most innovative camera technology. Even when picture-taking conditions seem pretty unforgiving, you’ve got Canon on your side. So the shots you used to miss are the images you’ll now be sharing, and the movies you never took before will be HD unforgettable.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Pocket Camera
Easy to carry in your pocket. Image stabilization works well. Just finished two week vacation and batteries still have 3/4 charge.

5 Stars Great Camera
Just go to auto mode and shoot away. One of the smartest Auto modes I’ve used in any camera. Picture is kind of grainy at 100% but who cares. I don’t upload 4000×3000 images anyway. Great, solid feel. Buttons are small but still very much usable.

5 Stars Love it!
I love this camera! It takes beautiful pictures. I highly recommend it. But be ready to read the manual. The things this camera can do are amazing! I still have yet to learn what all the buttons do. But then again, I’m not that technologically savvy.

5 Stars Great little camera
This little camera is awesome! It fits great in my purse, it takes beautiful pictures and videos and is very easy to use.

4 Stars Small and Portable
I LOVE this camera, the quality of the pictures are incredible and the zoom is outstanding. My only issue is the static it has before you snap a photo and after you record a video. Aside from that I won’t trade it for any other

Buy/More Info

Panasonic DMW BCG10PP Battery for select Panasonic digital cameras

rechargeable lithium ion battery * designed for use with select Panasonic digital cameras * rated at 3.6V, 895mAh * ?appoximate weight: 1.6 ounces * warranty: 1 year *

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Alert vendor canceled this transaction
As others have noted, Panasonic is updating the firmware for many of its cameras to prevent the use of non-Panasonic batteries. Even though the description and photo for this item indicate that it’s a genuine Panasonic product, it isn’t. It’s a generic battery, and the vendor emailed to inform me of this before shipping. After exchanging a few more emails with me, the vendor decided he didn’t want to take the chance of shipping me a product that might not work, so he unilaterally canceled the order and refunded my money.

At first, I was annoyed … but in retrospect I appreciated the vendor’s initiative in canceling an order that most customers would have ultimately had to return.

Use caution when buying batteries for recent Panasonic products, not just the ZS3. Verify that the firmware you have (or are willing to downgrade to) allows the use of generic batteries. Annoyingly enough, genuine Panasonic batteries are in very short supply. In fact, I haven’t been able to find them in stock anywhere.

5 Stars This is the Panasonic Battery
Ordered this item to have a back up battery for my brand new Lumix ZS3. This battery is the Panasonic battery, identical to the one that came with the camera.

5 Stars Power in time
It’s tough to review batteries because they are a product we simply want to have work as expected…and last as long as possible. I purchased this rechargeable battery as a second to take with us on a vacation to Europe. Our Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS1 10MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Black)and their battery worked extremely well for us and I had the charged spare I needed when I needed it…even on top of Mt Pilatus…and long battery life.

1 Star Misleading Picture, Misrepresentation, Misleading Advertising
Beware of sellings selling this battery. The photo clearly shows it is listed as DMW-BCG10PP. This is what I needed for my Panasonic DMC-ZS3 camera.

After careful checking I found this listing and ordered this battery, or so I thought!

The battery arrived with this comment on the packing slip:

“This is DMW-BCG10E, new in the box, shipping same day. It is not DMW-BCG10PP. You can return, but refund only the product, not the postage”

It is great that seller kohno1 can ship the same day new in box a batter, but it is not the battery I see the picture and it is not the battery I ordered!

I tried to put this battery in my camera and sure enough it said this battery cannot be used.

When I order online, if I see a picture that matches what I’m looking for, down to the exact model number, this is what I expect to receive, not some other replacement that they just happen to have in stock hoping I would not notice or care!

I do not go to McDonalds and order a Big Mac, only to be served a hot dog, and told I can return for a refund except the tax, service fee and bun!

So in total I will be out the shipping to me and the shipping back or about $10. Not because of any fault of my own, only because this seller showed one batter in the picture and knowly send a different battery. (why else would they be so specific in their packing slip comments to say they were shipping a different battery!?)

I see now they have listed this product as out of stock! wow, I sure wish they could have marked it out of stock and saved me the hassle, and cost of shipping the wrong batter back!

5 Stars Panasonic Lumix ZS3 battery
Bought this as a back-up battery for my Lumix DMC-ZS3. I wanted the Panasonic brand, not a “universal” substitute, and it was not so easy to find. I needed to trust what I was getting, not being techno savvy enough to buy generic in this case. I am completely satisfied with the product.

Buy/More Info