Digital Trends

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7

May 30th, 2006 | by David Elrich

The DMC-FZ7 is a surprisingly light camera, tipping the scales at 13.8 ounces with SD card, lens hood and battery. If you take off the lens hood, the camera is very compact, measuring 4.48 x 2.8 x 3.1 (WHD, in inches), slightly smaller than the Sony DSC-H2, very close to the Canon S3 IS and much smaller than the FZ30. In other words, this one is a good choice for travelers who want a 12x optical zoom that delivers a range of 36-432mm (35mm equivalent). Sweet, as Mr. Cartman says.

The black-bodied digicam we tested is fairly button and decal free, other than a few self-serving items and the usual keys found on almost every digicam. (The camera is also available with a silver finish.) The front is dominated by the lens which is a Leica DC Vario-Elmarit design with mega zoom capability. You'll also find an AF Assist lamp and a tiny microphone. The camera has a built-in pistol grip on the right that's reasonably comfortable although I wouldn't mind the depth of the FZ30. Note to all potential purchasers of this camera or any other—do your own hands-on test since my preferences might be wildly different than your own. That said, the FZ7 felt all right, not great.

On the top of the camera is a pop-up flash (manually operated unfortunately), a mode dial, the wide/tele zoom toggle switch, a button to set the level of optical image stabilization and another to change from auto to manual focus.

The rear of the camera is dominated by a 2.5-inch LCD screen rated a so-so 114K pixels. There's a power key, flash open button and another to switch between the LCD or viewfinder. The .33-inch electronic viewfinder has a diopter adjustment and is rated 114K pixels. To the right of the LCD screen is a four-way controller with center set button, a joystick to navigate through certain onscreen menus and a key to cycle through the displays and a delete key. The left side has a compartment containing the DC in and A/V out connections while the bottom has a door that covers the battery/memory card compartment and a tripod mount. In all, a fairly logical set-up with no real surprises or faux pas. 

The DMC-FZ7 comes with just about everything you need to start firing away. It has lithium ion battery rated a nice 320 shots (per CIPA testing), a charger, USB and A/V cables, lens hood, an ArcSoft software bundle on CD ROM, a 132-page Owner's Manual and a measly 16MB SD card. Budget another $40 or so for a one gig card to hold a bunch of 2816 x 2112 pixel files. You might consider a 2GB card since if you shoot in TIFF mode it'll hold around 100 compared to 650 JPEGs.

Image Courtesy of Panasonic