Panasonic's Lumix DMC-S3 Digital Camera (Red) couldn't be much easier to operate--or have more features packed into its very slender (3.9 x 2.3 s 0.8"/9.8 x 5.8 x 2 cm) body.
An amazing 14.1 megapixel resolution means superb picture quality, and the 4x wide-angle zoom lens (28-112mm equivalent in 35mm format) can capture everything from landscapes to pets to sports. The bright 2.7" LCD monitor makes it easy to compose and play back your pictures, and the fabulous 1280 x 720 high definition video that's included. Optical image stabilization and high sensitivity up to 6400 ISO mean you never have to stop taking pictures because it's too dark.
With 16 different Scene modes and 7 Color modes, you get terrific creative pictures and movies every time. The Intelligent Auto mode will take care of all the details for you--just point the camera and push the button, and you'll get great images, time after time. Images that you can share with the Lumix Image Uploader that lets you post pictures or movies easily on websites like Facebook or YouTube.
A Simple, Stylish, Smart Camera
Simple, smart and stylish S-series is developed for users who pick up their first digital cameras. Pursuing the ultimate ease of operation, only essential functions are equipped in the DMC-S3. In addition to its easy-to-press shutter button, the DMC-S1 has a round-form that fits comfortably in the palm of the hand, and a body that's designed for easy use. A special color-matched front lens ring also makes the DMC-S3 look like a digital accessory. It is a compact and lightweight "power stone" - you can just leave it to the camera to get beautiful photo, movies and fun for sure.
iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode
When you don't know which mode will give you the best shooting results, or when a sudden photo opportunity pops up and you don't have time to make any settings, simply choose the iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode and let the camera do it all for you. You just choose the iA Mode, aim at your subject, and shoot. 4 detection and correction functions are simultaneously activated to optimize the settings, so you get stunning photos every time.
MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) - Shake Detection
The MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) in the DMC-S1 compensates for the blurring caused by hand-shake. Apart from the digital image correction, the MEGA O.I.S. corrects a jolt of light axis by shifting the O.I.S. lens unit to offset it. Thus the image is not affected digitally nor deteriorated at all. You get clear, sharp images in exchange for nothing.The MEGA O.I.S. lets you shoot in dimly lit rooms or evening illumination to preserve the mood, and works for macro shots and zoom shots, which are especially susceptible to hand-shake. In short, it lets anybody take beautiful, blur-free shots with ease.
Intelligent Scene Selector - Scene Detection
When the camera's in iA Mode, the Intelligent Scene Selector automatically sets the Scene Mode to one of Scenery, Portrait, Macro, Night Portrait, Night Scenery or Sunset. The camera judges it from the various detection results such as focusing and brightness level of the circumstance. You are free from annoying settings every time scene changes when taking images with these most frequently used Scene Modes to get beautiful results even before you know it.
Intelligent ISO Control - Motion Detection
The Intelligent ISO Control function in the DMC-S3 made possible by the Venus Engine VI detects subject movement and automatically adjusts the ISO setting and shutter speed to best suit the movement and light conditions. When it detects subject motion, it automatically raises the ISO setting and increases the shutter speed to prevent motion blur. On the other hand, when the subject is still and no movement is detected, it takes beautifully natural photos with a low ISO setting.The Intelligent ISO Control gives you stunning images with ease because there is no need for complicated settings.
Face Detection AF/AE
The Face Detection AF/AE function detects faces and automatically optimizes the focus and exposure settings. It prevents the blurry faces that happen when the camera focuses on something in front of or behind the subject, and keeps faces from appearing dark when shooting indoors or against the light source. It detects up to 15 faces at a time, making it extremely convenient for group photos. Once the camera detects a face, Face Tracking follows it even when the subject moves around. Plus, the system keeps on detection if a face turns sideways to the camera.The DMC-S3 is also equipped with Digital Red-eye Correction (Red-eye Removal). The camera takes care of the red-eye effect that often happens when shooting with a flash, to ensure attractive facial expression.
28mm Wide-angle 4x Optical Zoom Lens
The DMC-S3 features a newly developed 28mm wide-angle 4x optical zoom f/3.1-6.5 Lumix DC VARIO lens (35mm camera equivalent: 28-112mm) into a compact body. Comprising 6 elements in 5 groups, including 3 aspherical lenses with 6 aspherical surfaces, this advanced lens unit realizes the outstandingly slim and compact body yet achieving exceptional optical performance. The 28mm wide-angle lens lets you easily capture large groups of people indoors or expansive architectural structures and scenes with dynamic width and rich perspective, even from short distances. The DMC-S3 is equipped with a 4x optical zoom lens (35mm camera equivalent: 28-112mm). The Extra Optical Zoom function uses the center part of the CCD to extend this 4x zoom ratio to powerful 8.4x zoom (35mm camera equivalent: 235mm) at a resolution of 3-megapixel or less. Adding the Extra Optical Zoom to the 4x digital zoom extends the total zooming power to a maximum of 33.8x.
14.1-Megapixel High-resolution CCD
The DMC-S3 features a 1/2.33" CCD with effective 14.1-megapixel resolution.
Sonic Speed AF
The Sonic Speed AF system includes numerous re-engineering enhancements, including a higher-speed actuator, optimized algorithms and parallel software processing. The result is fast and accurate AF performance. In addition, the DMC-S3 features dramatically speedier focusing that is approx. 45% faster than our previous model. You can quickly focus on moving subjects, such as when you're shooting sports scenes. The parallel processing of software resulted in ultra high-speed start-up. The shutter release time lag is as short as approx. 0.007 second, making it easy to capture sudden, spur-of-the-moment photo opportunities.
Venus Engine VI
The image-processing engine, Venus Engine VI, uses advanced signal processing to give you beautiful images even when the sensitivity is high. Multi-task signal processing is employed for all images to enable high-speed, high-performance shooting. Venus Engine VI also effectively raises the precision of various functions, such as MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) and Intelligent ISO Control. Along with its extremely high performance, Venus Engine VI reduces power consumption thanks to a number of energy efficiency improvements.
Extended Battery Life
The energy-saving Venus Engine VI image processing engine and the efficient lithium-ion battery, which stands up durably to repeated recharging, work together to extend the shooting time of the DMC-S3. This lets users take approximately 250 shots on a single battery charge.
HD Movie Recording
The DMC-S3 can record motion images in high-definition (1,280 x 720 pixels at 30 fps in Motion JPEG format). The pixel mixed readout method enables bright motion-image recording even in low-light settings. The DMC-S3 can also record standard motion images in VGA (640 x 480 pixels at 30 fps) and QVGA (320 x 240 pixels at 30 fps).
Lumix Image Uploader
The DMC-S3 gives you a new form of communication by letting you share your photos and movies. All you have to do is checkmark the photos and movies you want to share and connect the camera or SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card to a computer. Uploading automatically starts by simply following the guidance. Facebook can be used for photos and YouTube for movies. You can join these social networking services without having to install any special software. It's easy to share photos and movies on the spot, which means that your friends don't have to wait for you to come back home to see them.
Large, 2.7" 230,000-dot LCD
The DMC-S3's large 2.7" LCD features high 230,000-dot resolution LCD. The big screen reflects fine details, making it easy to check the focus before shooting. It also serves as a small photo and video viewer, allowing the user and friends to enjoy viewing the still and motion images together.
Scene Mode
The Scene Mode lets the camera make the optimal settings for you automatically, so anybody can take superb photos with ease. The versatile Scene Mode range, which handles just about any situation and subject type, is a major LUMIX feature. And to make it even simpler to use, the icons and display are designed for easy visibility.
Selectable Focus Icon
When using 11-area AF, the camera automatically determines the most appropriate AF area from the eleven points. This ensures accurate focusing even for difficult compositions. You can also select the AF setting from Face AF or 1-area AF. With the DMC-S3, you can select the icon from among 6 types that appears when the shutter button is pressed half-way.
Select from 3 Aspect Ratios
The aspect ratio for the DMC-S3 can be easily selected from 16:9 wide, 3:2 and conventional 4:3 to shoot in the framing aspect that best suits the photo's composition or purpose of use
Slideshow with Music
The DMC-S3 can play a slideshow with music. Choose from 4 types of music: Natural, Slow, Swing and Urban. Then, select the transition effect to match your music. For musical slideshows created with the included PHOTOfunSTUDIO 6.0, you can choose your favorite iTunes music file as background music.
View Photos on a Large-screen HDTV
The DMC-S3 can take 16:9 HD (high-definition) quality photos that perfectly fit a wide-screen HDTV for full-screen viewing. You can enjoy slideshows of photos taken with the LUMIX in stunning HD quality by inserting an SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card in to the SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot with the VIERA HDTV (VIERA Image Viewer).
Date Stamp
You can also print the date on your photos. These dates, which can be helpful when making a photo album, can be stamped on photos whether you print them yourself at home or have a photo shop do them.
PHOTOfunSTUDIO 6.0
The PHOTOfunSTUDIO 6.0 makes it possible to sort and organize photos not only of those newly taken but also of those stored in your computer with quick start-up and fast read-in of images. The Face Recognition function that recognizes the faces in the picture automatically sorts the photos by the registered faces without picking out each photo one by one when you only want pictures of a specific person.A Panorama Stitch lets you make a panoramic composite in MOV file by synthesizing photos taken in Panorama Assist Mode of the camera. It is also possible to make a slideshow with the selected photos adding music file on.In addition to the LUMIX Image Uploader (a direct uploading function of the camera), you can upload photos to Facebook and movies to YouTube via this software, too.
Built-in Memory 20MB
The DMC-S3's built-in memory holds up to approx. 70MB of image data.
PictBridge Compatible-Direct Print Function
The PictBridge standard lets you print directly on a compatible digital printer. Print size, layout, date and other settings can be made with the camera. Of course, you can also make multiple prints of an image, or print only the ones that you have selected.