Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3/TZ7: Small, HD Video, Dolby Stereo - demo video

[sovereign]

Interesting camera. There should be a new model released soon? The current model was released Jan. 27, 2009.

 

[Habakuk]

^ Not even rumors until now. Copied from a specialized forum on that topic:

TZ4 and TZ5 announced on 29-Jan-2008
TZ5:
9.1 million effective pixels
28 mm - 280 mm (10x) zoom lens

TZ6(ZS1) and TZ7(ZS3) announced on 27-Jan-2009
TZ7(ZS3):
10.1 million effective pixels
25 mm - 300 mm (12x) zoom lens

So, ...
TZ8(ZS?) and TZ9(ZS?) announced on ??-Jan-2010
TZ9(ZS?)
??.? million effective pixels (my bet: 12.1 millon effective pixels)
?? mm - ??? mm (??x) zoom lens (no idea, same 25 mm - 300 mm (12x)?)
???? video mode (1080i?)

Another very good compact by Panny (LX3) is even older and no announcements for a successor until now. There were some announcements by Panasonic recently but nothing better than ZS3/TZ7 hybrid-wise.

Sony has announced some "Serious Challenge To The ZS3/TZ7"—namely HX5—but I am afraid it will be not quite as good. Here you have a promo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4gFMGzevT8

No full specs and/or samples available. Not clear if AF while zooming, and if zooming during video recordings. Maybe less zoom range. No more Zeiss lens (but "G-lens"). Same bitrate as ZS3/TZ7 (17 Mbps - Sony has FULL HD with HALF the bitrate). I am not sure if I like touchscreens on cameras (except they are working as well as iPhone's), 1080i HD format could be complicated for editing, CMOS sensor (instead of CCD @ ZS3/TZ7) with maybe rolling shutter artifacts on video.

The TZ7's Leica Vario-Elmar 25-300 mm f/3.2-4.9 is an awesome lens which delivers incredibly sharp, distortion-free, aberration-free pictures at all focal lengths (including 300 mm) and at all aperture settings (including wide open).

Okay the Sony has GPS features but you can help yourself by now with an iPhone: Make a (maybe bad) photo with iPhone on location and merge geo data easily in iPhoto (one-click for multiple images).

 

[december]

editing AVCHD clips on a g4

i have a PB G4 which is slow but serviceable. it has iMovie HD and 10.5 and i was able to edit mpeg clips from my old digital camera after demuxing them. i just bought a ZS3 and i'm wondering if i can record in AVCHD Lite and import the clips into iMovie HD, either directly or after converting them with a 3rd party app. i suppose the alternative is to use the other format but i only have a 4GB card (class 6) so space is a bit of an issue

i'm really looking forward to using this camera, so if anyone has any tricks or tips for taking better pictures they would be appreciated as well.

thanks
michael

 

[kimnjerry]

I'm sold.

Habakuk, et. al:

Thanks to you, I'm sold on the Zs-3, and will buy it from Amazon. Next I have to find a good price on class 6 SD, mini-HDMI, and extra battery. If you have inexpensive and reliable sources for any or all, I'd appreciate knowing them.

Thanks.

 

[Surely]

I bought this camera 3-4 weeks ago without seeing this thread first. I got it from Amazon for $279 total. I'm really impressed with it so far, and I've just started experimenting with video.

I did quite a bit of research prior to my purchase. I was considering the updated version, the ZS5, but the reviews showed that the ZS3 is a superior camera.

This thread answered a few of my video-related questions..... but I'm curious..... Habakuk, is there a reason why don't you shoot your video in AVCHD Lite?

It seems to be pretty easy to import the AVCHD Lite video into iMovie and then Export in as a .mov which will play with Quicktime Player. Is there a reason you do not do this?

 

[initram]

HandBrake

Hello friends of mac.

My friend also had this problem. i have been working on a media workshop and now some stuff how to convert files. my suggestiens is that you use the program HandBrake. its a easy program to use. you convert the .mts files over to a .mp4 or a .mpk file. and it plays in quicktime player.

Link:http://www.handbrake.fr/

i hope you find it easy to use. good luck.

 

[Peter Longstaff]

I can confirm that you can import AVCHD into iMovie '09. Unfortunately, it's not as convenient as ejecting the SD card and putting it in a card reader. You have to use the USB cable to attach the camera. Once connected, iMovie '09 will detect the camera and import.

Screenshot of import in iMovie '09

I have a panasonic Lumix DMC-FTZ (the shock proof/waterproof camera) and am having issues importing AVCHD Lite video using iMovie. Imovie finds the videos from the camera, but when i click to import, an error message comes up each time at the end of the import saying "an error occurred during import...pls review imported movies carefully". As the movies haven't been imported (i.e. when I click on the relevant video icon in the event library (which does appear), the window on the right says "no matching video"), not sure how i can review them.

Does anyone know what the issue is here? I have a new macbook pro and have imovie 9 (not the latest though).

 

[rockchic22]

Lumiz ZS3

I just found this thread by googling for help. I'm a mac person--have only ever owned macs. That said, I'm not very computer savvy at all. I'm on a macbook pro with iphoto 8.1.2 and imovie 8.0.6. I've taken a bunch of videos with my camera, and although I can see them and play them back on the camera, I can't ever see them on my computer or download them, either through iphoto, imovie, or image capture. Even wen I put the photo cards into my other camera, I still can't see or download the videos on my computer. My other cheaper camera is fine. Can someone please tell me, step by step, how I can get my videos onto my computer? I keep having to buy new cards because my cards are full of videos that I can't download. Thanks!

 

[telluride]

i have a lumix camera and cant get iphoto to recognize videos to import. nothing shows up any ideas?

 

[Leone Astorga]

Hi
This is my first post here. I bought the TZ7 a couple of days ago and have been blown away by the camera. However, I am completely unable to download video onto either my iMac or my Macbook. When I attach the camera it will readily download the photos to iPhoto. However, if there is a movie it just takes ages to download it to iPhoto and it is just a still JPEG.
I am very new to all this and would be very grateful if someone knows how to download AVCHD (the manual says it is not Mac compatible!) or possibly the other format Motion JPEG. I can view the images on my Panasonic TV but they are not HiDef as I don't have a Mini HDMI cable. Also I would like to be able to edit my footage. Very frustrated to have basically a HiDef video camera ( thought I was buying a stills camera) and not be able to use it. Many thanks
roger

I'm also suffering this pain.

 

[Surely]

Videos are recognized in iMovie.

See many earlier posts in this thread, including my post.