Photo quality is very good for its class. Things that megazoom photos typically exhibit--softness, barrel distortion, purple fringing--didn't seem to trouble the ZS1. Photos below ISO 200 were generally sharp with good detail with excellent color and exposure, though there was some highlight clipping. Photos had a slight graininess to them across all ISOs, but as usual, the higher the ISO and the larger you view the photos the more likely you are to see it. In other words, there's noise, but most probably won't see it unless they're looking for it. Between ISO 200 and 400, photos get a little fuzzier and softer from noise reduction, but detail is still fairly good. Everything taken with ISO 800 or ISO 1600 isn't particularly useful, so you'll want to be careful about taking handheld low-light shots without using the flash.
Video quality is good for VGA with monaural audio and you get use of the 12x optical zoom while you're recording.
If you want a pocketable point-and-shoot megazoom camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS1 is one of the best options around. Even with its few flaws, it comes out on top of the competition as long as you don't need semimanual or full manual controls. Again the decision between it and the ZS3 comes down to whether you want the HD movie capture, and if you don't, the ZS1 is a sound purchase.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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