Besides it’s great wide, 10X zoom lens, the Panasonic TZ3 has some interesting features that are not on any of the other digital cameras I’ve previously owned. If you’re unfamiliar with some of these features, it’s well worth checking the manual.

Here are the features I find intriguing and sometimes useful:

• High Angle LCD Mode - makes a scene easier to see when holding the camera high above your head. Turn the camera upside down, and you have improved low angle viewing.
• Zoom Resume - when powering up the camera, it automatically extends the zoom to the length is was before shutting off the camera.
• Favorites only slide show - make favorite images to display as a slide show on the LCD monitor or a TV.
• Display two pictures vertically on the LCD at the same time.
• Intelligent ISO is said to detect movement. When there is fast movement in a scene, the ISO is adjusted by the camera to stop the motion.
• Jitter detection demo screen - camera displays a graph of the estimated jitter and extent of movement of a subject.
• Travel feature to record holiday day number or local time of overseas destination on each image.

My favorite FZ3 feature is TeleMacro mode.