Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT3 review

There’s no shortage of rugged, waterproof cameras, but the Panasonic FT3 is as resilient as they come. It’ll survive drops from two metres, can operate 12 metres underwater, or in temperatures down to -10 degrees centigrade, plus it’s perfectly happy in dusty and sandy environments too. It looks reassuringly tank-like with its curved metal body and substantial door for its battery, card slot and sockets. Although we didn’t test its rugged credentials to their limits, the design seems to match up with Panasonic’s claims.

GPS makes perfect sense in a rugged camera. When you’ve taken snaps in the sea or up a mountainside, it’s great to be able to plot them on a map when you get home. A GPS radio isn’t enough for the FT3, though – it also has an altimeter, barometer and compass. The altimeter produced some strange results, claiming that Alexandra Palace was 13 metres below sea level, but the compass worked perfectly regardless of which angle we held the camera.

Ultimately, it’s the GPS data that’s most important, as this is the information that’s recognised by software such as Google Picasa. As usual, it could take over an hour to get a fix on a new location. On these occasions, instead of leaving photos’ GPS tags blank, it often used the last known location – resulting in some tags being 100 miles out. However, once it had got its bearings, locations were updated more quickly and tagging was usually accurate to within a few metres.

While most rugged cameras are basic point-and-shoot models wrapped up in a tough shell, the FT3 has the photographic talents to justify its premium price. It’s fast, capturing a shot within two seconds of switching on. Successive shots were just 0.9 seconds apart – one of the fastest times we’ve seen from a compact camera. Continuous shooting was at 2.5fps and lasted for seven shots. With a fast SDHC card it could take another burst of seven shots with just one second to catch its breath. The controls are fairly simple, with little in the way of manual tweaks, but key features such as ISO speed, white balance and continuous mode are quick to access via the Q.Menu button.

The Video mode is another highlight, with 1080p capture in AVCHD format and clip lengths up to 30 minutes. Picture quality was excellent, with crisp details, balanced colours and effective noise reduction in low light. Face detection was available for video – a rare feature in stills cameras’ video modes and one that helped avoid exposure and focus problems. The autofocus and zoom motors remained active while recording and didn’t spoil the high quality soundtrack. There’s an LED video lamp to illuminate nearby subjects in low light, which might prove really useful when snorkelling or exploring caves.

Photo quality is perhaps the FT3’s least noteworthy trait, but it did well not to fall short of our high expectations at this price. The lens and 12-megapixel sensor captured sharp details, struggling a little in the corners of wide-angle shots but showing a massive improvement on the Fujifilm XP30 and Olympus TG-310, two other – admittedly much cheaper – rugged cameras we’ve seen recently. The Intelligent Auto mode lived up to its name by choosing sensible settings for a wide range of lighting conditions and subject types.

Noise reduction was a little odd. There was no sign of noise in brightly lit shots using slow ISO speeds but fine textures had a subtle cross-hatched appearance, with a propensity towards vertical and horizontal lines. It was usually barely noticeable (as in the ground of our woodland, example shot below) so it wasn’t much of a problem, but it’s still a little perplexing. The other surprise was that, as we raised the ISO speed, noise levels and detail-zapping noise reduction were unusually gentle for a 12-megapixel compact camera. Shots taken at ISO 800 and 1600 did suffer from smeared details and grubby shadows, but less so than from most cameras that use small, high-resolution sensors. The upshot was that the FT3 turned in respectable photos throughout our tests.

Click to enlarge this example shot

This is an expensive camera. Most retailers are out of stock as we go to press, so the price may come down a little when it’s more widely available. While it’s hovering around £300, its image quality is overshadowed by cameras costing just a little more, such as the Panasonic LX5. However, the combination of solid photo quality, excellent videos, fast performance and a rugged, waterproof shell make this an outstanding jack-of-all-trades. It’s a great choice for the beach and outdoor pursuits, and makes a perfect second camera for SLR owners.