We used the lenses at their widest and longest focal lengths and with the apertures wide open. The crops are taken from the upper left corner of the chart and presented here at 100%.

The Lumix TZ3, like its predecessor, fares very well in this test, exhibiting little if any coloured fringing throughout its focal length. Impressive work considering the long optical range and the compact body which houses it.

To measure and compare the Panasonic Lumix TZ3’s macro performance we photographed a custom chart using it and a number of rival super-zoom models with their built-in lenses.

Each camera was positioned at a distance and set to a focal length which delivered the maximum possible reproduction.

The dark lines are 10mm apart and the result is not cropped. Smaller areas are preferred in this test. The image left was taken with the Panasonic Lumix TZ3 in its Macro mode.

The Lumix TZ3 should focus closest when fully-zoomed-out, but we managed to achieve a sharp result from the same distance with the lens fractionally zoomed-in a notch. At this focal length of 6mm, the TZ3 delivered an area of 50x38mm, which while not as impressive as its predecessor, does at least share its low geometric distortions. The Lumix FZ8 and Olympus SP-550UZ both exhibit quite pronounced barrel distortion at their closest focusing distances, although the latter does deliver an impressively small area.