Panasonic FP3

Panasonic FP3 is Panasonic's Ultracompact camera first revealed on January of 2010. The camera comes with a 14MP, CCD 1/2.3" size sensor with a full resolution of 4320 x 3240.

The FP3 is placed #80 out of 151 in Ultracompact cameras & over all #1057 out of 1465 for digital cameras in our database. Please check our Advanced camera finder to get camera results based on your customized factors.

Here is a graph of multiple factors used in the rating system.

The Panasonic FP3 has a history of related digital cameras. Below, you can check out all older and latest models as well as important specs.

You can look at the FP3 from different angles in the gallery underneath.

Here is a checklist of advantages and disadvantages of the Panasonic FP3 based on criterias that are generally regarded as necessary in a camera.

The Panasonic FP3 is powered by the Venus Engine IV chip. The measurement of the sensor in the Panasonic FP3 is 6.08mm x 4.56mm (1/2.3"). The 28 mm² sensor can capture 4320 x 3240 pixels using aspect ratios of 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. The camera comes with Image Stabilization (Optical). In body stabilization is preferable than digital stabilization as the latter might lead to cropping.

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The CCD sensor has 14 megapixels and gives a native ISO range of 80 - 6400. Unfortunately, RAW files are not saved therefore the user has less room to maneuver in post.

The graphic below shows the FP3's sensor size in comparison to other common sizes. The FP3 sensor has a crop factor of 5.9 and is shown in green.

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To get an understanding of different aspect ratios, you can refer to the visual below.

Panasonic FP3 weighs around 0.34 lbs (155 grams or 5.47 oz) & has outside proportions of 99mm x 59mm x 19mm (3.9" x 2.3" x 0.7"). The weight of average Ultracompact camera is 121 grams so the Panasonic FP3 is weightier as compared with other rivals.

Photography Glossary

Listed below is a pic of the Panasonic FP3 next to a soda to help you to get a sense of its size.

The top view directly below will show the button design on the FP3.

The FP3 provides an inbuilt lens having a focal range of 35-140mm making it a 4.0 x zoom which may not be great but it is likely to be useful in certain circumstances.

At it's widest 35mm, the lens comes with an aperture of f3.5 which will be rather sluggish and not very good for low light occasions and you may struggle to get a shallow depth of field. You will probably also need to boost your ISO which causes noisy photographs. At the long end, 140mm comes at f5.9 which is really slow and you would have to set slow shutter speeds.

The FP3 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes

Digital cameras that have NFC and / or Bluetooth support are able to be controlled wirelessly with smartphones. You can transfer pictures and sometimes adjust settings without connecting physically with the camera.

Several apps also give a Liveview and release the shutter in case you are not near the camera. If the camera boasts a HDMI port, it can easily be hooked up to an external screen. Many cameras will allow you to recharge the battery pack through the USB socket.

The highest possible video quality in the Panasonic FP3 is 1280 x 720 and you can record in Motion JPEG format. 720p is terrible for today's standards. You should aim for at least FUll HD quality for video. The body does not offer a microphone and / or headphone port which means that you have absolutely no control over the sound. It is perhaps best to purchase another camera should you require good sound for your video clips.

There is no environment sealing for the Panasonic FP3 so you have to be careful in rainy or dusty conditions.

The Panasonic FP3 comes with a 3" fixed display screen having a resolution of 230k dots.

Additionally the display screen is touch friendly which means you are able to change focus point and adjust settings using your fingers.

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The ViewFinder specs for Panasonic FP3 are the following:

• ViewFinder None

Viewfinders are pretty handy in bright outdoor conditions which can easily make the camera display washed out and very difficult to see.

Panasonic FP3 can shoot continuously at 5.0 frames/s. The highest shutter speed is 1/1600 seconds.

Panasonic FP3 comes with just built in flash with no external flash support.

Panasonic FP3 comes with only Contrast Based AF & lacks Phase Detect AF. Phase Detection focusing is a lot faster and exact as compared with Contrast Based focusing.

It comes with 9 focus points to choose from. Panasonic FP3 has tap to focus. You can use your fingers in order to adjust where you focus. Panasonic FP3 does not have manual focusing. Manual focusing is good in low light or you need more accurate control on depth of field.

The average Ultracompact camera battery life is 214. Nikon L32 has the best (320) battery life in this range of cameras.

Below is a list of Ultracompact cameras with the highest battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Nikon L32
FP3 vs L32320 nonono

Olympus TG-870
FP3 vs TG-870300 nonono

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Panasonic FP5
FP3 vs FP5260 nonono

Sony TX20
FP3 vs TX20250 nonono

Sony TX55
FP3 vs TX55250 nonono

The following diagram shows a summary of the Panasonic FP3 for specific categories of photography. To view more, check out the specific section below.

The Panasonic FP3 receives a rating of 28 which is low, and means the camera is simply not very good for portraits. Shooting portraits favors greatly towards sensor dimensions, support for RAW files along with the capability to work with off-camera flash.

Having a reasonable points total of 60, the Panasonic FP3 is fairly appropriate to use in street photography. A decent street photography camera offers a perfect balance of image quality plus portability.

A low sports photography points total of 35 suggests the Panasonic FP3 is simply not very good for taking pictures of sports. A camera needs to have excellent autofocus plus fast continuous shooting for sports photography.

Size is pretty important when buying a travel camera. On the whole, the Panasonic FP3 gets a modest 60 as a travelling camera which is relatively suitable to take on your travels.

When you're looking to pick a camera for landscape photos, the most important aspect will be image quality. The Panasonic FP3 and it's low grade of 37 for a landscape camera is simply not very good within the current market.

A vlogging camera should really posses a moving display, mic input and if possible IBIS. Taking all things in to account, the Panasonic FP3 is simply not very good for vlogging as it delivers a low rating of 27.

If you need alternatives to the FP3, below is a collection of the top placed cameras that fall within the family of Ultracompact.

The line graph here gives you a summary of the FP3 compared to it's highest ranked rivals suggested previously.

Following are additional cameras you may check out as alternatives. To read through a thorough comparison, click the "compare" link.