Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic Lumix TZ7 Digital Camera - Black (10.1MP, 12x Optical Zoom) 3.0 inch LCD

I used this product for 3 days while site seeing from 10 am to 4 pm and on each day the battery ran out of life by around 1pm/2pm (manual says it lasts approx. 300 shots). It was a real let down but it may have been a fault on my particular camera. I sent mine back but it was never confirmed as an actual fault. I would suggest having two battery packs for this camera nevertheless. For outdoor photos this camera is quite amazing, but a real let down for indoor shots. Perhaps I needed to learn/practice more with the settings. While on the settings subject - quite a few of the settings are rather ridiculous. Examples, there is a setting that makes people look thinner and prettier in the shot - but it fact it makes people look extremely weird and not at all natural. There are also rather silly editing features, most people prefer to crop photos on their computers, and it uses battery life to do this, so if the battery life is poor I wouldn't want to waste it. I liked the face and travel recognition - not entirely accurate but I'm still impressed. It's a nice to have rather than a must have feature.

Conclusion: Optical lens for outdoor shots is quite amazing. Very disappointed with indoor shots and very frustrated by battery life.

I used to be a 'wannabe photographer' and purchased various mid-spec Nikon SLR cameras before the digital revolution. My first digital purchase was a great dissapointment, a Nikon 5000 that broke after only a few years use. The repair cost was so expensive I was offended and livid. In the aftershock I quickly bought a compact camera to use as a stop gap, whilst I researched the market for a DSLR from a manufacturer less in love with themselves.

This compact slowly became my favourite thing, a Canon Ixus 70, it takes great pictures, is genuinely pocketable and has been an absolute boon. So much so that I gave up on the notion of hefting a DSLR and started to research a better compact all-rounder, leading me to this Panny.

I have had the camera for two months now and used it for real on a recent holiday. The still picture quality was great and the video an outstanding perk. I chose this camera partly to avoid buying a new video camera too and having used it I am quite content with the 'one fits all' approach. Our video has always been a bit turgid, pans over scenery and the odd bit of action, so we don't have demanding requirements. We just like occasionally to capture the 'sound and feel' of a place to augment our photos. So it's ideal in that respect and certainly works well for those seeking a one-stop solution. I use it in the HD mov format rather than the Panny HD-Lite, partly because the HD-Lite format is so rigid and unrecognised by my video editing software, any alleged loss of quality wasn't apparent to me.

The Panny isn't quite pocketable enough and remains quite noticeable in your clothing compared to the little Ixus. The size difference isn't great but boy does it make a difference in use. Plus the Panny has a few bulges that means it catches on things as you move round and often the mode dial changes setting on me un-noticed. I am tempted with a thin clamshell case but of course that makes the thing that bit bigger again and then you have to haul it out of that, hardly helpful for candid shooting. In that respect I still have huge respect for the Ixus, that really does slip unoticed into almost any pocket.

Of course the picture quality is outstandingly better, the big lens on the Panny means the zoom is fully useable. The wide angle short focal length has already proven more useful than I expected. The full *10 zoom works great and the image stabilisation quietly sorts out a lot of the potential camera shake so that even those pictures can be minutely examined and are in clear focus. It operates better in low light, I can take pictures at *10 zoom indoors with no flash under normal lights and get noise free pictures that still withstand further digital cropping, it impresses me.

I purchased a 16Gb memory card from Transcend that has just worked. I enjoyed the declaration that I have '2,700 pictures remaining' but of course once you use video that does get eaten up. Still, I can't imagine a situation in which two 16Gb cards wouldn't be a complete solution for the casual amateur.

I do have some battles with the auto mode, it has a rather irritating habit of switching between fill flash and normal flash depending on whether it has seen a face in the picture or not. The resulting different behaviour of the camera can be confusing at just the moment the picture is taken and you just have to keep an eye on the auto icon to know which way it has moodily chosen to go. Of course you can jump out and manually control it, but inevitably the opportunity has passed.

All in all I love this camera, it is a huge improvement on the Ixus and for me a fantastic all-rounder that delivers on it's promises. It has cured my residual desire to have the greater control and flexibility of a DSLR. I hope Panasonic look at the controls for the next model but that is no reason not to enjoy this box of delights.

I bought a TZ1 2½ years ago after a digital camera magazine had rated it "best travel camera" by far, a view I was soon to endorse. Years ago I used to travel incumbered by an SLR, several lenses and various filters - then I discovered the high quality of good compacts and have never looked back since. I always strive to take "great" pictures and whilst I don't succeed most of the time, it has nothing to do with the camera. I was able to achieve some great pictures with my TZ1 out of the more than 15,000 pictures I took with it.

As the TZ1 was getting well worn, I decided to look around for the replacement but quickly decided to stay with the TZ series and bought the latest TZ7. It's a definite improvement on the TZ1 but, to be frank, there was not much wrong with the earlier model. The new one is slightly smaller and lighter, which can easily be put into your pocket. The irritating separate lense cap of the TZ1 is now replaced by an automatic one. The optical zoom is now 12x, up from 10x, and the IOS rating increased to 1600. The wide angle is now even wider at a useful 25mm. The megapixels doubled. The controls and menu system have been improved, the new Quick Menu being an inspired improvement. The HD Movie quality is excellent and while this won't beat a stand alone video camera, it makes a fine challenge. I've taken some test video shots to playback on a big plasma TV and the quality (both picture and sound) is very good.

Some reviewers have complained about battery life - which continues to be short. But when I go out, I always carry 2 or 3 fully charged spares - so what's the problem? Others have complained about the comparability of picture quality vesus a good DSLR camera. Unless you're a professional photographer whose pictures might grace a 48 sheet billboard poster, you will not be able to tell the difference, even if you print bigger than A3 - which I have.

There are few downsides. Yes, if you expect superb quality when on full 12x zoom and/or when using ISO 1600 you will find a slight degradation of quality - a bit grainy. But if you're happy to operate at up to 9x and no more than 800 ISO then you won't be disappointed.

This camera is a truly great camera, only marginally compromising on the quality and greater flexibilty of a much larger, bulkier, more expensive DSLR camera. The TZ7 gives you the capability of taking great pictures - the rest is up to your creativity and luck with the light! I never enter competitions but I have no doubt that you could submit competition entries taken with this camera - and win.

I wholeheatedly commend this camera to you.

Panasonic Lumix TZ7 Digital Camera - Black (10.1MP, 12x Optical Zoom) 3.0" LCD

I've recently bought this camera, an upgrade from the FX33. I am so far very impressed with it. The monitor is nice and big and the picture is very clear. The functions seem good so far. The zoom is smooth and the choices of different quality video (from Jpeg to 720p HD) is an excellent improvement. It also records sound in Dolby Stereo 2.0, which is not mentioned on the product description. Also, excellent is wide angle and being able to zoom whilst recording footage. It's also deceivingly small given the zoom it has.

I've noticed some things that were on the FX33 that are not included. There's no high angle view to alter the viewing angle of the LCD for when you take shots above your head. As I'm not the tallest person in the world I found this feature very helpful in crowded locations on the FX33, and it's disappointing to notice it's been left out. You can't also change the optical stabiliser whilst you are in shooting mode, something you could previous models.

You can't use digital zoom in IA mode but can in normal mode. You can't delete pictures when you are in shooting mode. You have to go to playback mode. The dial is as people have said before, a little easy to get out of place and lacks that comforting 'click' as it should lock into place. The battery performance is not so good and replacement batteries are very expensive (although I bought one as could not risk running out of power).

The power issue I think is unfortunately acting like a speed limit on video recording. Now memory cards can go to 16gb (and shortly beyond) so recording time from that aspect is excellent but when you go to HD mode the battery goes down quite quickly. So now recording time hinges on how many batteries you have rather than gigabytes! A big shame.

All in all, its certainly worth buying but when Panasonic have conquered additions on previous models that attract you only to leave them out on 'upgraded' models I can't help wonder why erode one's market dominance by choice! I hope the TZ8-9 has a better battery capacity and full blown 1080p HD.

I spent many happy hours with my Lumix TZ5 (the predecessor of the TZ7)and appreciated its superb HD, widescreen, video clips almost as much as its brilliant, multi-format stills.
It's true what they say about Leica lenses.
Shooting stills in 16 by 9 format enabled me to fill the screen on my Panasonic Viera TV just by popping the SD card into the slot provided.
All this and more applies to the magnificent TZ7.
The extra few mil on the wide-angle end of the zoom gives great coverage and has the additional advantage of making the hand-held video sequences that much steadier. ALWAYS shoot your hand-held video sequences at full wide angle; for any other focal lengths use a Gorilla Pod or a screw-in pod cushion.
The two movie modes are a great idea and make the camera sort-of future proof as more editing software trickles onto the market.
My other camera is a Canon 5D and the TZ7 comes close to the results from this top-line DSLR.
To sum-up... a little smasher at an amazingly low price.

Signed Mean Brother Gene