This will be the first in a series of photoessays dedicated to showcasing older equipment: don’t bury those dinosaurs just yet! In all seriousness, I hope it will both go do its part to convince you that the equipment doesn’t matter; and at the same time, show you my evolution as a photographer (to be the subject of a future article; one of the hardest things to write are the introspective, self-assessment genres).
First up is the Panasonic TZ3, a 2007 vintage compact ‘travel zoom’ camera that combined a very good 28-300mm equivalent zoom with a multi-aspect ratio sensor; I particularly enjoyed 16:9 mode on this camera. It shot fast, too – 4-5fps depending on the shutter speed, with large bursts and fast buffer clearing, making it ideal for capturing sequences of expressions. The lens-based stabilizer was also excellent. Its main handicap? A sensor that was dodgy at ISO 400 and above. I’m not 100% sure what happened to the camera, but I think it’s probably with my brother in law somewhere.
Enjoy! All images can be clicked on for larger versions, or EXIF information. MT
Moon and ships
The bits of the chicken we don’t eat
Paradise found
Sunset in the city
Heavy metal
Singapore by night
Koi pond
The need for air conditioning
Race time
A tudor story – in Malaysia
Advertising in your fridge
Man and duck
Cameron highlands fog
____________
The inaugural mingthein.com photography contest closes 31 July 2012 – the more people entering, the larger the cash prize! Enter here
If you enjoyed this post, please consider supporting the site via Paypal (mingthein2@gmail.com) or via Ming Thein’s Email School of Photography – learn exactly what you want to learn, when you want to learn it. You can also get your gear from Amazon.com via this referral link. 
Don’t forget to like us on Facebook!
Ming Thein | Photographer 
I just found this series from ThePhoblographer’s write up on the discontinuation of the Nikon D700. I think many of us get swept up in the marketing and hype around new, shiny, “must have” gadgets that we are quick to dismiss the gadgets we own that were the “must have” gadgets of their time. In gadget time, “their time” could mean a year (or less).
I was a TZ3 owner and at the time was very impressed by its zoom range and image quality (in good light). My biggest frustration with that body was the lack of manual control and its handling of noise (very heavy handed noise reduction). Since then I’ve moved on to dSLRs (Nikon D40 > D90 > D700) and my iPhone.
Oh, didn’t even realize I got backlinked from there!
I still have yet to work out why one would need manual control in a compact – you’ve got to shoot pretty much wide open for diffraction control, there’s no DOF control to speak of because of the sensor size, and anything above the lowest ISO entails a noise penalty. I think you might enjoy the Sony RX100, though – I know I am. The later TZs got too ambitious in terms of sensor and lens reach – and image quality suffered quite a lot as a result.
Agreed on all counts, except for Exposure time.
The ‘S’ or ‘Tv’ mode does indeed help even in a compact …
Except…I’ve never used it. Ever. Though I could see why one might find it useful.
Amazing… You do excellent pictures with ANY camera!! Nice series this.
Thanks!