Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Red)
- 12.1-megapixel effective recording
- 12X optical zoom (4X digital/48X total zoom)
- Built-in GPS function lets you keep track of your photos by location
- 3″ LCD screen
- Optical image stabilization
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 Point & Shoot Digital Camera – 12.1 Megapixel – 3″ Active Matrix TFT Color LCD – Red DMC-ZS7R Digital Cameras
List Price: $ 349.95
Price: $ 309.95
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Very Good Photos with Great Video,
I’ve got my ZS7 today – the camera is just great! A superior Leica lens with a high-resolution sensor, advanced image processing, and plenty of sophisticated features in a small but very solid and stylish body.
PROS:
– Solid metal body, stylish design, nice dark-blue color
– Very convenient one-hand grip, unusual for such a small pocket-size body
– Short startup time (1-1.5 sec), no shutter lag, fast auto focus
– A dedicated Movie-button for instant recording
– Big 3″ colorful “juicy” display visible even in direct sunlight
– Intuitive menu plus very convenient Quick-menu with a dedicated button
– Excellent quality Leica lens: sharp and contrast in the entire zoom range
– Wide 25mm (35mm equiv.) is very convenient for indoors
– Huge 12x optical zoom (up to 300mm equiv.) in such a compact design
– Two-speed of zooming – fast/slow controlled by the lever
– Smooth and silent auto focus and optical image stabilization
– Best in the industry “iAuto” mode – you can really trust it!
– New “Intelligent Resolution” feature greatly improves the image quality
– Creative Aperture- and Shutter-priority and full Manual modes
– Three independent scenery modes including “High Dynamic” range scene
– New GPS feature for those who travel a lot
– Very good movie quality in 720p AVCHD mode looks like a full 1080 HD one
– High-quality stereo microphones
– Accepts SD/SDHC and new SDXC huge capacity memory cards
CONS:
– A mechanical lever for switching between shooting and playback modes
– Some soft “sh-sh-sh” noise while zooming in and out (but no “clicks”)
– I wish more sensitivity for low-light shooting
BUILD: The ZS7 camera looks and feels as good as it’s predecessor DMC-ZS3. The design is almost as the same, just the power switch and the mode dial exchanged their places. One significant addition – a GPS mark on the top, right above the lens. The blue color is not that dark as on TZ5 and not so striking bright as on ZR1. A slight dent on the back with some prominence on the right side makes a very convenient grip to operate with one hand. A metal body looks pretty solid, however it is not that heavy.
PERFORMANCE: The new camera has a pretty good performance: the startup time is a little bit more than 1 sec and with almost zero shutter lag. Taking into account a new very quick “Sonic Speed” auto focus, which takes about 0.35-0.4 sec, you will be able to catch virtually every spur-of-the-moment photo. And a dedicated movie button allows starting video recording at any time without any preparation.
LENS: Leica lens is just excellent: unusually big for a so small body 12x zoom starting with the very convenient for indoors shooting 25mm up to telephoto 300mm (equiv.) plus a quick and precise auto focus (however might be somewhat slower in low-light), and good optical image stabilization in conjunction with the digital one which allows you to take sharp pictures in the entire zoom range and at the very low shutter speed around 1/8 and even 1/4. The auto-focusing and optical image stabilization work in absolute silence, and the only zooming produces some soft “sh-sh-sh” noise. Good news – without any start/stop clicks on the footage :).
DISPLAY: A large 3-inch high-resolution LCD monitor with 460K pixels has a very good contrast and saturation – the pictures look very “juicy”. The brightness also is high enough to be seen even in a direct sun-light (just a bit darker) and in a wide angle of view. All that allows to share photos and videos immediately with other people.
MENU: For those who used the Panasonic P&S cameras before the ZS7 menu looks very familiar, just some new items added. Also there is a Quick-Menu button which is very helpful for a quick access to the most frequently used settings. The new camera has such a luxury as the Aperture, Shutter speed, and Manual modes and there is a new Exposure button (next to the video one) which allows to set manually the aperture using the Left-Right buttons and the shutter speed with Up-Down buttons.
AUTO SETTINGS: The best in the industry Panasonic’s Intelligent Auto mode is getting better with each new model. Actually it’s a whole bunch of sophisticated algorithms which help to take really nice pictures with minimum efforts. They are worth to be aware about so here is a brief list of most effective of them.
“Intelligent Scene Selector” – It quickly analyzes the light conditions as well as focusing results and selects either portrait, scenery, macro, night portrait or night scenery. It also displays a small icon of the chosen scene in the top left corner. The feature is extremely helpful when you need to shoot very fast on spur-of-the-moment.
“Intelligent ISO” – If camera detects that your subject is…
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|Almost Perfect 4.9 stars!,
After using this camera for a few weeks I am amending my rating and giving it 5 stars. This camera is truly incredible. The intelligent automatic is amazing—I only move it to manual for a few special situations. The only real complaint is that I occasionally inadvertently hit the video button. Otherwise it is simply amazing.
It handles difficult situations with grace. Sunset with sky and foreground properly exposed. Delivery room newborn with no flash and low ambient lighting. Black and white is fantastic. Couldn’t be happier.
This is a great camera for a beginner—Point and shoot. Lots of control for advance photographers. I’m sorry to say I don’t lug around a camera bag and tripod anymore. Just slip this in my purse.
I waited a long time to upgrade from the first generation Panasonic Lumix TZ1 (complete with dangling lens cover & 5MP) Glad I did. The best improvements are the quick power-up and lack of a shutter delay for catching fast action. If you leave it in the completely automatic mode it does an impressive job—and if you need control there’s plenty and then some. Lots of programs plus aperture and shutter priority or complete control.
Other notable improvements are in the macro end of things where capturing very fine close-ups are greatly improved—my TZ1 was always focusing on the background if I could get it to focus at all. This does an incredible job! Almost too much detail (if that’s possible) Every speck on the petal of a flower is exposed. This camera is slightly smaller and has a larger display screen. Most of the functions and dials are similar and I find easy to use but that may be because they are familiar.
Flash is improved over the first generation.
The zoom on the original was 10X. 12X even better. I took incredible photos of bullfrogs 15 feet away. Unbelievable detail.
This camera isn’t perfect and no camera will ever be. It would be nice to have a more powerful flash and nice if you could shoot in lower light with less noise without flash and it would be nice if it had a 20X optical zoom and a faster lens but for what it is its an incredible piece of engineering. AND don’t forget the Leica lens which is just plain beautiful.
All cameras have limitations and this is no exception. However it will get you a great photo most of the time. The wide angle to long telephoto range is why I bought my first Lumix. This flexibility makes for great travel photos. I did side by side comparisons of a Sony, Canon, Nikon and the first Lumix in the store and then we printed them out on the spot. No comparison. No ghosting, better color correction, better macro. And I like the ergonomics. I always place the wrist band over my wrist and hold onto the camera with fingers and pad of thumb and it feels secure. Some of the ultra small cameras are almost too small for me. (Didn’t compare to current models)
What is truly awful about this camera is that the manual is on a disk and covers this camera and its 2 predecessors making it a bit (if Not totally confusing at times). It also does not come with MAC compatible editing software which is really not a big deal for me. One person asked if it is MAC OSX 10.6.3 compatible and it is. The only problem I’ve encountered is in using Aperture (a MAC program)it doesn’t want to import directly into a project that has other images from my other Lumix camera. Make a new project and problem is solved but irritating. (Manual software and downloading from card to MAC is compatible)
Haven’t tried uploading video yet.
DO purchase an extra Panasonic Battery DMW-BCG 10PP. Make sure it has the PP (It won’t work without it) Also you’ll need a SD Card. It’s not necessary to go to the Class 6 cards unless you are shooting HD video. A SDHC 4GB card will hold 700+ photos at full MP.For most people this will be more than adequate. I carry two cards in case one goes south. You can always find them on sale for under $20. I also like the Caselogic TBC-302 Ultra Compact Camera Case for under $8.
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