Tech Blog

[#1]

Last year I had a chance to take a vacation in Maui, and I was also fortunate enough to borrow a very cool waterproof point and shoot camera, Panasonic's 'take anywhere' Lumix DMC-TS2 -- and I wrote about it here and here.

Well Panasonic has recently updated that model (to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3) and again, I'm taking a look at it -- but this time, not from Maui

New Stuff
First off, this camera is much more capable, in that it now has a GPS, altimeter, barometer and compass.

As well, the body has been redesigned, and is now more waterproof than its predecessor -- able to dive down to 12 metres instead of only 10.

3D? Yep.
The Panasonic LUMIX TS3 also features a 3D Photo mode, that creates a 3D photo by taking 20 consecutive shots and overlaying the two best. This makes a 3D image that can then be displayed on a Panasonic VIERA 3D HDTV.

Now I don't have compatible playback equipment to test this, so I have no idea how well it works, and sounds kinda neat!

Preprogrammed modes
Enhancements and improvements abound in various image modes. Panasonic’s iA Mode, a cool suite of technologies that engage automatically, has better image stabilization while recording video.

Other features of iA include:

• POWER OIS
• Face Recognition
• Face Detection
• AF Tracking
• Intelligent ISO Control
• Intelligent Scene Selector
• Intelligent Exposure

So, overall this is a nice improvement to the TS2. The camera seems a bit simpler and easier to use, yet still has a set of features that make capturing great images very simple.

Here’s some shots I took with the unit, sadly no snorkeling was possible in my back yard



Normal exposure

HDR capture of the same scene

One of the 'special effects' created by in-camera processing