Panasonic GH3 vs Panasonic ZS15

On this page, we will be looking at the Panasonic GH3 vs Panasonic ZS15, former being a Advanced Mirrorless while the latter is a Small Sensor Superzoom and both of them are sold by Panasonic. There exists a noticeable gap between the image resolutions of the GH3 (16MP) and ZS15 (12MP) and the GH3 (Four Thirds) and ZS15 (1/2.3") have different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The GH3 was launched 3 months later than the ZS15 so they are both of a similar age. Both of the cameras have different body design with the Panasonic GH3 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera and the Panasonic ZS15 being a Compact camera.

Before delving right into a thorough comparison, here is a short highlight of how the GH3 grades vs the ZS15 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery photos for Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS15. The complete galleries are viewable at Panasonic GH3 Gallery & Panasonic ZS15 Gallery.

For those who are looking to lug around your camera, you need to factor in its weight and proportions. The Panasonic GH3 offers outside dimensions of 133mm x 93mm x 82mm (5.2" x 3.7" x 3.2") with a weight of 550 grams (1.21 lbs) and the Panasonic ZS15 has measurements of 105mm x 58mm x 33mm (4.1" x 2.3" x 1.3") having a weight of 208 grams (0.46 lbs).

Check out the Panasonic GH3 vs Panasonic ZS15 in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will vary based on the lens you select at the time. Here is a front view dimension comparison of the GH3 and the ZS15.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability score of the GH3 and ZS15 is 66 and 92 respectively.

More often than not, its difficult to picture the difference between sensor measurements simply by going over technical specs. The graphic below should give you a much better sense of the sensor sizes in the GH3 and ZS15.

As you can tell, both cameras have different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The GH3 featuring a bigger sensor is going to make achieving bokeh simpler and the Panasonic GH3 will offer you greater detail utilizing its extra 4MP. Higher resolution will allow you to crop photographs a bit more aggressively.