Lumix DMC TS3 - The Tough Digital Camera

Panasonic Corporation is a multi-national consumer electronics manufacturer based in Osaka, Japan. It was founded in 1918 and has since grown to the largest Japanese electronics firm and the eighty-ninth (89th) largest company in the world.

Lumix
Lumix is a company within a company. It is the branch of Panasonic devoted to cameras and video equipment. Lumix markets everything from simple point and shoot to complex Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras. Most, if not all of Lumix brand camera include lenses made by Leica, the German lens company famous for its own line of cameras.

All Lumix cameras include built in software called Venus Engine for digital image processing. This software has gone through a number of improvements and releases. Venus Engine series include; I, II, III, IV, HD (in 2008), V (in 2009), and VI, HD II, finally ending with FHD in 2010.

Leica
All of the Leica branded point and shoot digital cameras are actually Lumix models with slight cosmetic differences to distinguish them from Lumix. Lumix does not build or manufacture any of Leica's film cameras.

January 25, 2011

Panasonic (Lumix) is introducing the DMC-TS3. This is a "point-and-shoot" camera.

This is a camera designed for rugged outdoor use, but will still be able to capture high-resolution images as well as 1080p high-definition video. Video recording is at a crisp thirty (30fps) frames per second.

A Tough Outdoor Camera
The camera has been specifically designed for rugged situations including dirt, height, cold, heat, and water. It can withstand submersion in up to forty (40f) feet of liquid, withstand a six point six foot (2 meter) drop and function in temperatures down to 14°F (-10° C). It is even dust-proof.

High Quality Image Recording
The lens is made by Leica and the Charge Coupled Device (CCD) can scan and record (to memory) up to twelve point one megapixels of data (12.1). Changes to the CCD allow image capture in as little as five milliseconds.

Image Processing
The camera uses the aforementioned Venus Engine FHD. This engine, as described by Panasonic, is capable of performing image processing, JPEG compression, and image save simultaneously.

3D Imaging
The TS3 can also create a three dimensional (3D) image from twenty (20) consecutive photos. It then overlays the two best of the twenty to create a 3D image. The 3D image is compatible with the Multi-Picture Object (MPO) model and can play the image back on any MPO compatible device. Naturally, this means that the camera will work with the Panasonic line of VIERA 3D television sets.

The camera will come with the Lumix Image Uploader software package allowing instant uploading to Facebook or YouTube through their PCs with the supplied USB cable.

High Quality Optics
The Leica lens is a 28mm wide-angle LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR, which is a folded (10 elements in 8 groups) optics design. Zoom is accomplished both mechanically and digitially with 4.6 X optical zoom. Digital zoom adds another 2X to that for up to 6X zoom.

The camera works in up to forty feet of water making it a passable underwater rig.

High Quality Video and Sound
For video capture the TS3 also includes Dolby® Digital Creator software so that the audio quality is as high as the video. A built-in white LED allows shooting in low light situations.

Image Playback
Image playback and composition is aided by the two point seven (2.7") inch LCD screen with wide-angle of view and an Anti-reflection coating. It does not have a traditional optical view-finder.

Image Stabilization
The TS3 has an iA (intelligent Auto) mode which provides image stabilization while shooting as well as an active video shooting mode designed to reduce motion blur. Shooting still images is assisted by face recognition, face detection, auto-focus tracking, automatic ISO control, automatic scene selector and automatic exposure. As expected the TS3 also has full manual, apeture priority, shutter priority and custom settings.

Geotagging
Geo-tagging is accomplished with the built-in GPS system which, with this model, can include not just the coordinates, but the name of the country, state, or township. It can even identify landmarks by coordinate and tag the image with that information. This GPS system has information on over two hundred countries and one million landmarks. It can even reset the built in clock as the camera moves from time-zone to time-zone.

The TS3 is expected to be available online and in stores by March 2011. Prices are unavailable at this writing, but should be announced thirty days prior to availablity.

The camera will come in blue, red, orange, and silver.

The DMC-TS3 will come with battery charger, pack, case, AV cable USB cable, brush, handstrap, silicon jacket (may not be available) and CD-ROM.

About the silicon jacket; though Panasonic includes this in web-site description of included items I am not able to actually find it listed "in the box," therefore it may not actually be included. Check with your supplier.

Prices for the DMC-TS2 ranged from an MSRP of $399.99 to discounted prices of $260.00. As the DMC-TS3 has slightly lower resolution the MSRP may be lower than the $400.00 above. This camera is a direct competitor to the Olympus Stylus TOUGH 810 (8010) digital point and shoot camera.

Kudos
The camera has excellent optics and a huge assortment of built-in filters providing many different effects that you can apply to both still and motion images. That it is also capable of recording both types of images underwater, to forty feet (this is about the limit of SCUBA equipment divers) is also pretty amazing, so much so, that I'm amazed that Panasonic is not touting it more in the advertising.

Pans
As with the Olympus Stylus TOUGH 810, I would expect a camera with all of these features to also be able to play movies at 1080i (if not 1080p) rather than the lower resolution 720p. Still, this is about the only fault I find with this point-and-shoot camera.

The author was not compensated in any way, monetarily, with discounts, or freebies by any of the companies mentioned.

Though the author does make a small profit for the word count of this article none of that comes directly from the manufacturers mentioned. The author also stands to make a small profit from advertising attached to this article.

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