4.8
Panasonic TS3 vs TS2
When we went through the Panasonic brochure, we didn’t expect much from the Lumix TS3.
Yeah, there’s the 3D mode or GPS function added, but the most important thing we want to know is this — Are the pictures better ?
After spending days studying the specs and the review pictures from the bloggers who got their test units, we think TS3 will be far better than the TS2. But you be the judge.
Here are the differences or the improvements that the TS3 has when compared to its predecessor.
What’s Better ?
- The Pictures
The Panasonic TS2 has a 14.1Mp resolution, and that was too much for its tiny sensor to handle. All it does is give you softer pictures. Panasonic fixes the error this year by reducing the TS3′s resolution to 12.1 Mp. This adjustment alone should give you sharper pictures.
- The Body
The metal body of TS2 was excellent, but this is improved further in the TS3.While the TS2 has 2 door covers, the TS3 has only 1 door to house the connectors, the battery and the memory card. This makes it harder for water to ruin this camera.
The body design also sees some changes. The TS3′s right hand side is bulged to help you get a good grip of the camera when your hands and camera are wet.
- Waterproof Rating
The TS3 is designed to be waterproof to 12 meters, which is 2 meters more than the predecessor. You can now shoot deeper into the sea without buying an extra underwater casing.
- Outdoor Mode
The TS3 has four instead of three outdoor modes. The one important mode we want to highlight is the smart Beach & Snorkeling mode. Instead of changing your camera setting back and forth when snorkeling and when on the beach, this one mode saves you plenty of time by automatically adjusting itself to detect whether you’re on land or on shallow water.
- The Speed
The TS3 focuses 28% faster that the TS3, thanks to the new Venus Engine. And instead of just 11 autofocus areas, it now has 23 areas of detections.
The shutter interval has also been reduced from 1 second to 0.3 seconds, making it truly fast and easy to take pictures in quick succession. Check TS3 Price now.
What’s Worse ?
- The built in memory — reduced from 40Mb to 19Mb.
- Battery Life. The older model gives you around 360 shots with a single recharge. But the Lumix TS3 could only muster 310 shots. This is probably due to the added GPS, altimeter and barometer functions. But even at this rate, the TS3 is still one of the best battery conserving waterproof camera on the market right now.
What’s New ?
- GPS Function
We find the GPS function not only useful at telling us later where we took our shots, but also for another added advantage — the camera smartly organizes your photo according to where you took them. So, if you want to see the picture of the lions you took in Tanzania, just browse to the letter T folder and you’ll see all your Tanzania pictures there. You no longer have to spend hours organizing or browsing your photos to find the one you need.
- Barometer, Altimeter and Compass.
These functions will make sure that you’ll not only know where you take your pictures (thanks GPS), you’ll also know how deep or how high you were when you took your photos. And if you lost your way, there’s a digital compass as a guide.
- Active mode during recording.
On top of the stabilizer, the mode helps you shoot beautiful movies while walking or moving.
- Motion Deblur Mode.
This mode reduces blur when the person or object you take moves.
- 3D Photo
What the 3D function does is the camera tries to select 3 images from 20 panning shots you take to make a 3D composite. You can then use your Panasonic Viera HDTV to see the 3D shot. We think this is nothing to shout about, and we dismiss this function as nothing more than a marketing gimmick.
- Lumix Image Uploader
If you’ve read the comments by the owner of the earlier Lumix waterproof cameras, you’ll know that many of the non-technical users have some problems processing their movies for YouTube. In the TS3, Panasonic has brought an image uploader that would solve the problem. Now you can publish or share photos and movies to your facebook and Youtube accounts without much trouble.
We find the Panasonic TS3 waterproof camera to be a significant upgrade over the TS2. It is so much easier to take beautiful pictures and videos. And instead of wasting your time sorting and processing your old photos and videos, the TS3 stores and processes them beautifully to help you share your adventure with the world.
We think the Lumix TS3 will be this year’s bestseller. What do you think ?
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