Digital Trends

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7 May 30th, 2006 | by David Elrich

The FZ7 has aperture and shutter priority modes. Just flick up the joystick and you can change the aperture between f/2.8-8.0. Shutter options range between a nice long 8 seconds to 1/2000^th of a second. Manual lets you change both settings. Manual focus is also nicely implemented by adjusting the joystick; an insert window magnifies the subject so you can make sure it's razor sharp.  

Like almost all better digicams, the DMC-FZ7 also takes 640 x 480 pixel video clips at 30 frames per second (VHS levels). Quality is O.K., good enough to grab a clip for the family. With the proliferation of widescreen HDTVs, the camera also takes 848 x 480 pixel 16:9 format videos at 30 fps. OIS works when taking videos but only in mode 1 (constantly on).

After taking a ton of photos in a variety of settings it was time to take stock of Panasonic's latest mega zoom camera. And the verdict? Mixed but leaning to the positive side.

As noted, start-up time was nice and fast. However, there was a bit of a lag when the camera saved TIFF files. This is to be expected since only D-SLRs really eliminate this lag and deliver almost instantaneous response. Fortunately, the camera has a good burst mode but only in JPEG (3 fps). I found the camera very easy to use, but having the owner's manual nearby certainly helped. Panasonic does not have the good onscreen descriptions like HP or Kodak; perhaps next year when they get around to changing the red heart icon to its proper green!

There is no getting away from it: the best part of this camera is its combination of a 12x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. Everything else seemed secondary. Using 3x zooms on most digicams and then having the ability to really zoom in on a subject is wonderful. As for the quality of the images themselves, Panasonic still needs to work on its noise levels. Shooting in daylight, the camera delivered very nice photos although I did see some purple fringing of stark edges against cloudy skies at the extreme end of the telephoto range. Once you adjusted the ISO above 200, noise became annoying, the same problem as with the 8MP Panasonic DMC-FZ30. I made many 8 ½ x 11 prints and was happy with the ones taken outdoors or with the flash. A 6MP imaging device is more than enough for good letter-sized prints. Problems arose when pushing the ISO. If adjusting ISOs is a foreign language for you, this is much less of an issue.

Click for sample images