If you’re working in the middle of construction site, trekking through mountainous ranges, or just the type of person who’s not fussed to let the kids play with your digital camera… then the camera in your pocket is likely to be tough.
The ‘tough’ segment is small with the mix consisting of the Olympus Tough 8010, Sony TX10 and Panasonic’s FT3 digital camera rounding out the main three.
Appearance & Functionality
As with each new model car that hits the road, Panasonic too with the upgrade from the FT2 to the FT3 in the still camera segment have made adjustments to the styling along with paint job and ergonomics. The previous model was by comparison boxier and a less sexy unit. This time around, the retail shelf appeal for Panasonic is likely to attract greater attention and convert to larger numbers pushing through the registers.
The FT3 is available in 4 colours, red, blue, silver and orange. Although orange generally is not my thing, it was the colour of the test unit and looked very slick with its hints of grey and black. But as we all know it’s about what’s under the hood that will get the prospective buyer over the line.
New features for the FT3 include GPS, an altimeter, barometer and compass, plus an additional 2-meters of underwater depth now taking the camera to 12-meters. It’s still freeze-proof to minus -10 degrees and dust / sand proof – both features that were 'a must' and carried over to the new model.
The menu navigation is much like other Panasonic compacts – loads of options and user-friendly, but likely only a handful for most to be used! For piece of mind, you can easily flick to a scene selection, or at a simple press of a button move between movie or stills mode.
Image Quality / Lens Quality
The FT3 comes equipped with a newly developed 12.1-megapixel Hi-Speed CCD sensor with advanced image processing LSI, Venus Engine FHD, and produces high picture quality in both photo and movie recording. Staying on the geek side, it also comes with Face Recognition & Detection in still mode, Zoom Macro, Intelligent Auto and countless Scene Modes in both Still and Video modes.
Panasonic has covered the most useful zoom range well with a 28-128mm lens and provided a handy battery that should deliver you over 300 photos between recharging. Under general testing in various lighting scenarios from ambient, fluoro and daylight to combined flash with ambient and combined flash with fluoro lighting the FT3 performed very well where white balancing is concerned.
Testing for grain at 1600 ISO actually produced some surprisingly good results too for an ISO that high. As always with cameras in this bracket the safest and cleanest option for shooting is to stay between 100-400 ISO, however acceptable results at 800 ISO were achieved too but the lighting condition does affect the quality of the image – brighter outdoor lighting produced cleaner images where indoor darker shadow areas showed the ISO level being pushed to its limit.
It seems as though the FT3 has the same 2.7" TFT Screen LCD Display (230K dots). With an AR Coating, and an approximate Field of View of 100% Wide Viewing Angle, the images viewed on screen were punchy and viewable outdoor and in bright overcast weathered conditions at the time of testing.
Video
A considerable advantage the FT3 now has over its competitors is the introduction of Full HD movie recording, 1920x1080 movies in AVCHD format which works beautifully with the Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens. Another, second lesser advantage is the addition of 3D Photo Mode which produces a 3D image in the camera and saves the file in MPO format.
As Panasonic say, “just take 20 panning shots and the camera automatically selects the two most suitable images to synthesize a 3D composite”. A clever function however, though it’s not overly useful if you don’t have a 3D TV to view your images on… Perhaps a 55” VIErA Full-HD 3D for your shopping list right after bread, butter and vegemite?
And to maximise the Full HD capability Panasonic have also included, be it small yet thoughtful, a micro HDMI, AV Output (PAL) alongside the USB2.0 High speed socket.
Just keep in mind that with only 19mb of onboard memory, like so many other compacts you’ll need at least an 8gb memory card to get you started before capturing some lengthy video in Full HD.
Conclusion
The FT3 should be given serious consideration from potential 'tough camera' buyers as Panasonic have given attention to little things such as a double lock on the battery compartment / sd card entry, and sped up the auto focus and start up times from the previous model.
If it’s just about handling the Panasonic FT3 does well in this area too as it sits nicely in your hand with all the relevent buttons easily located... may be the comfort comes from holding the camera more loosely than usual knowing that in the event that it may be dropped, the steel outer and shock resistant build are protecting the elements inside.
What ever the draw is, the FT3 should be in the mix.
Thumbs up.
Appearance
rating
4.5
stars
Functionality
rating
4
stars
Image Quality
3.5 stars
Lens Quality
4
stars
View finder / LCD screen
3.5 stars
Value for money
3.4
stars
RRP
(AUD)
$599
Effective
Pixels
12.1 Million mega pixels
Image
Sizes
21 Sizes
Compaitble Lens
LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR, 10 elements in 8 groups
(5 Aspherical Lenses / 6 Aspherical surfaces / 1 ED Lens)
Dust Filter
Supersonic Wave Filter (dust reduction system for image sensor)
Resolution
Settings
640x360 to 4000x3000
Shooting
Modes
Portrait, Soft Skin, Transform, Self-Portrait, Scenery, Panorama Assist,
Night Portrait, Night Scenery, Handheld Night Shot, Food, Party, Candle
Light, Baby1, Baby2, Pet, Sunset, High sensitivity, Hi-Speed Burst
(Image priority, Speed priority), Flash Burst, Starry Sky, Fireworks,
Aerial, Pinhole, Film Grain, High Dynamic (standard/ art/ B&W),
Photo Frame
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community. With long standing links to local manufacturing and with
hundreds of employees, Panasonic Australia is committed to fostering
good relationships with consumers, businesses and governments alike.
On both a Local and International basis Panasonic is deploying long
term strategies related to stable economic growth, responsible use of
resources and being friendly to the environment.
The pages
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Appearance & Functionality
The FT3 is available in 4 colours, red, blue, silver and orange. Although orange generally is not my thing, it was the colour of the test unit and looked very slick with its hints of grey and black. But as we all know it’s about what’s under the hood that will get the prospective buyer over the line.
