Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3S 8MP Digital Camera with 3x MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)

BOUGHT MINE YESTERDAY AND AM WAITING FOR DELIVERY. TODAYS' SUN. PAPER HAS THE SAME CAMERA AT THE SAME PRICE AT BEST BUY. SO MUCH FOR SHOPPING AT AMAZON "BIG SAVING"! THINK ABOUT IT..... ....12/1/08. the camera came today "SWEET"!! I GAVE 2 STAR RATING FOR THE COST NOT THE CAMERA. I'M ALWAYS MORE AT EASE WHEN I CAN SEE AND TOUCH AN ITEM BEFORE BUYING. ONE WOULD THINK THAT BUYING ON-LINE WOULD BE LESS PRICEY....OH YEAH, I WON'T BE RETURNING IT BUT, NEXT TIME I'LL SHOP A BIT MORE..

I was able to get this camera on Black Friday for just $88 from a local store! I already had a Lumix TZ4 and I love it, but I wanted to get another Panasonic that was smaller and cheaper to tote around in my purse, so I'd always have a camera with me for an unexpected shot!

You cannot go wrong with this camera - I have already taken a few shots with this one, and it's just as good as the more expensive TZ4 I own. You cannot go wrong with a Leica lens - they are some of the best in the world.

I love the fact this camera uses a lithium-ion battery - it charges full in 90 minutes and you are good to go. You will get around 300 shots from one charge.

The shutter response time is super fast on this camera, as well as the lag time between shots when using the flash. Much better than the latest entry level point & shoots I have recently tried and returned: The Nikon Coolpix L18: VERY slow; the Canon Powershot A470: slow but not as bad as the Coolpix was.

I will be uploading some pictures for you to see later.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3S 8MP Digital Camera with 3x MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)

The price was right, and I liked the idea of having a Leica lens. I haven't been disappointed - the camera takes excellent photos, indoors and out. It's lightweight, easy to use, and uploading the photos to the computer couldn't be simpler.

I am not a spontaneous buyer - I researched the heck out of small, point and shoot cameras. I told my wife I wanted it for her but I really wanted a camera that took good pictures in a multitude of situations, including low light and I wanted to carry it in a small case on my hip.

I attended collage for graphic design and have above average experience with cameras but when it comes to buying a camera, I want the best value for the money. I visited multiple digital camera review sights but I ended up using http://www.steves-digicams.com/ the most. I began with his best camera list under ultra-compact and narrowed it down. After I got it down to three based on features and price, I went out to the stores and tried them out.

The Samsung L210 was eliminated because I had a hard time with the controls. This left the Canon Powershot SD750 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3. I was looking for the least expensive camera I could find. I walked into Circuit City and they had both these cameras. I went from one to the other and back again, using different settings, taking pictures and analyzing the cameras function and use. The FS3 won!!! It cost as much as the cheap looking Samsung L210 but was superior to the Canon Powershot SD750.

I purchased a 4GB Kingston SDHC SD4 with it and it holds almost a thousand pictures at max setting. However, I did have some trouble. I went immediately on a trip and had little time to test my new toy. When I got there I was taking pictures but I threw the camera to my son, who asked to see it (in the Samsonite case of course). He began to receive an error indication a problem reading the card. I then noticed that I lost a bunch of pictures. I was very disappointed. I continued to lose pictures after testing the function and thought it might be related to throwing it or the SD card. I had my PDA there with an older smaller SD card so I swapped it out. I did not experience any more errors or picture loss again.

Upon returning home I was disappointed that I had bought a huge 4GB card that did not seem to work with my camera. However, upon going to Panasonics support site I found an SD Formater that I installed on my Windows Vista computer. After formatting the card and evaluating the cards performance using the same methods to test for the error, I have yet to lose any more pictures. It seemed only do it when the camera was in review mode and when zoomed all the way out until the calendar of days showed. I would then get a read error on the card and loose some pictures but not anymore. Obviously Panasonic only recommends Panasonic SD cards but the Kingston was only like $17 bucks.

The bottom line - buy it. You cannot go wrong. It has tons of features, takes great pictures and my favorite is the excellent indoor, low light pictures. The flash pictures are great also, very soft and even. All at a price you can't beat... Joe

This is my first digital camera, and thus far I really like the ease of use and quality of the pictures. I also like the size & weight; fits nicely in my pant pocket.