20 Most Recent Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Digital Camera Questions & Answers

TZ stands for Travel Zoom, which is code for Outside View shots. The TZ is supper in good light, not so much in lower light.

In side shots need to be with 8 feet of subject so the flash can reach. Use ISO and IS mode 2 settings, especially IS(Image Stabilization) on zoomed shots where ANY camera movement becomes amplified by the ZOOM.

Lastly, camera movement and/or subject movement will add blur to a shot. Squeeze off shot, don't push it off. Try to brace your camera against another object when possible, or hold you elbows against your sides when you can't. Treat taking a pic shot like you were taking a rifle shot. Stabilize yourself when possible and gradually squeeze off the shot when possible.

When low light cannot be avoided, try the night shot setting, which will keep the shutter open longer to gather more light, but will be much more venerable to camea movement at the same time.

I assume you can view them in you camera, right? If not, the following solution will not help.

The .MOV Apple QuickTime format Panasonic uses for its camera movie clips cause problem on with viewing, as seen from several other problem posts here and the net.

Some computer use a Win 32Bit operating system, other better ones use a Win 64. It is hard to believe QuickTime would let you load a 64bit version into a 32bit OS, or vice versa. But who knows. Rather double clicking on te file name itself, open QuickTime, then go to File Open and Browse to the file and select it that was. If this doesn't work, go to QuickTime website and try their User Forums first to ask a question or find a thread talking about movie files not playing. Else, CONTACT website and ask question. Post any solution here for readers.

I would suggest that the image stabilizer might not be working right. Could you upload a photo to Flickr or other location where I could look at the EXIF, or list it here. I would like to see what the camera is writing to the image as the settings when the photo was taken.

Does it make a difference when the image stabilizer is on or off?

It's geometry. If you tilt the camera to get all of a tall building, the top of the building is farther from the camera than the bottom. Objects farther away look smaller than nearer objects. Thus the top of the building looks narrower than the bottom and the building looks like it's falling over backward. You see the same effect when you look at a straight road going off into the distance; the road gets narrower the farther you look. The human brain is wonderful at automatically compensating for this effect but the camera records the scene as it is.

Professional architectural photographers get around this problem by using expensive lenses which shift, allowing them to shoot up while keeping the camera pointed straight ahead and level. The rest of us solve this problem using a combination of two techniques. One is to keep the camera level and either zoom out or back up to get all of the building in the picture and then crop out the bottom. The other is to use a photo editing program with perspective correction capability. Programs such as the GIMP and Photoshop allow you to "stretch" the top of the picture.

Is the lens cover opening ?

I recently had the lens cover stick partly open.  There are 4 segments to the lens cover, and if we number them from the top, number 2 was not closing.
I gently flicked the segments a few times, in case there was a grain of dirt causing it to stick (although the camera has never been in a dirty or dusty environment).  This caused the lens cover to close fully each time, but now it would not open fully, segment 1 would not open, although it would stay open if moved by finger.
Anyway, after a bit of fiddling, I got it working properly again.  The way that the lens cover appears to work is that only segments 2 and 3 are pushed open or shut by springs, segments 1 and 4 are pushed open and shut by tiny tabs that catch on segments 2 and 3.  If the segments somehow get pushed out of alignment, then they either bind (causing the cover not to shut), or they get disconnected (causing the cover not to open fully.
Now I am not sure exactly what I did to get the mechanism form the stuck open state to the not opening state, but from there the way to fix it is to:
-With the lens open...
- Hold segment 2 in the closed position with firm finger pressure (which will tend to push it towards the lens).
- Push segment 1 towards the open position until you can see that it has cleared the edge of segment 2.
- Lift segment 2 way from the lens so that it will rub past segment 1 as you...
- Move segment 1 to the open position.
- Repeat if necessary to get the technique right.

I can't provide any guarantees, and I am not about to repeat the excercise on my camera, but it was a lot easier than sending it off for repair.

what is the reflction of the camera. is your camera full charged or some button is in a normal condition.http://www.skiliwah.cn/http://www.digitalcamera-parts.net/e-mail:[email protected]

Lens covers are delicate things. A bit of dust or dirt inside and the the springs can't do their job. When cleaning doesn't work, to repair this I remove the lens cover and shorten the springs by cutting off a bit and then reattaching them. A small bit of mollyd to lubricate helps too. never use oil or silicone.

The camera is probably damaged, this also happend to my DMC-TZ5 as well after a few (5-6) years of heavy use but without any visible damage, a repair is most likely more expensive than just buying one of the new lumix cameras which have also improved A LOT, so you wont be disappointed!

Do the pictures still look this way when they are downloaded to your computer or just when played back on the camera screen? Was the camera exposed to high heat (like being left in a hot car)?

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Hi the LCD screen may be faulty, or the connecting strip loose or corrosion on it, clean, if necessary change.