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

When I first spotted Panasonic TZ-7 on the web,as a TZ-5 owner my curiosity got the better of me, availability of a BROWN version soon made it a 'must have item'. I convinced myself that a zoom range of 25-300mm was reason enough to own one.
Why BROWN IS BEAUTIFUL? - Those who can cast memories back to Box-Camera era, 'Baby-Brownie' by Kodak was perhaps the very first to introduce a film size smaller than 120, (I think it was called127). It was truly brown and an exquisite little head turner.
It took longish wait before Brown TZ-7 became generally available. Mine was finally supplied by U.K.Digital Cameras who were not only the first ones to have it in stock,but were very reasonably priced with a history of top quality service to me.
First impression - A beautifully crafted piece of equipment oozing quality and precision. Merely holding it generated a sense of pleasure.
Closer look - Good Lord, this is not BROWN, if this is brown, there is something wrong with my sense of colour perception! Some disappointment, but it is not a bad colour, whatever it is called!
3" LCD screen - you can hardly tell the difference from TZ-5 as the measurements are diagonal. However its clarity in bright sun is quite something and well up to Panasonic's claims and almost does away with the need for an optical viewfinder - excellent!
Battery - I had wrongly assumed that TZ-7 battery will be the same as TZ-5(for which I already own a spare).This one is a new pack to discourage non-Panasonic (compatible) battery sales. The battery also gave me some cause for concern as my fully charged battery, at the end of camera set-up and not many test shots, displayed just 50% charge.On the basis that Li-ions need to go through a few recharge/discharge cycles before attaining peak performance, I am hoping for the best.
As my sole interest lies in being able to produce good quality still images, I cannot comment on movie or computer aspect of this camera. All in all, not only am I going to enjoy using my "brownie" as much as I have my TZ-5 ,but will love owning it even though it may not be 'True Brown'.

13.05.09. - FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON TZ-6/7 BATTERY:- There remains no doubt in my mind that these batteries have very poor capacity in comparison to other Panasonics. I understand a chip exists somewhere in the system to prevent the usage of compatible brands (similar to the anti-consumer-attitude adopted by printer-ink-tank brands!) to twist the owners' arms to pay inflated prices for the brand name. Despite all this I understand that compatible batteries of reputable brands are very much in the pipeline. One cannot rule out the possibility that the reputable compatible brands will be higher grade/higher performance.

PANASONICS, on this occasion, seem to have managed to create a huge dent in customer loyalty and confidence on account of this low grade, low performance battery as well as their attitude. GREAT SHAME.

11.10.09. - INTERESTING OBSERVATION - TZ6/7 BATTERIES:- My three compacts, TZ6, TZ7 and Canon Ixus 980 had their batteries fully charged on the same day,installed, and cameras stored away for approximately three months without being used. When inspected after this period - TZ6&7 showed as NEARLY fully discharged (without use!!) whereas Canon showed as fully charged. WHERE IS THE PROBLEM WITH THE TZs??? Could it be the camera circuitry??

21.10.09 - Since above, I have checked all of my compacts, mostly Panasonics,including TZ5,ALL except TZ6/7, showed nearly fully charged batteries despite being stored without use for upto one year. In-camera rate of discharge of battery in TZ6/7 even without use is phenomenal.

I won't write War and Peace about this item like some contributors.

Good Points:
1. Focus in INSTANT and RELIABLE
2. Video quality is OUTSTANDING
3. Lens is great - very WIDE (with unavoidable distortion) with a huge range of focal lengths
4. Anti-shake is fantastic (though it kills the battery - see below).
5. The screen is VERY BRIGHT (but again, kills the battery)

Bad Points:
1. Battery life is APPALLING - if you are going out and taking a days photos, take a spare battery with you - I had to buy another. I can't put into words how shockingly bad it is.
2. The MODE dial at the top of the camera is constantly being knocked leaving you in the wrong preset.
3. Flash exposures are POOR and the flash mode button requires you to cycle through the flash modes and then press another button to select each one - crazy, slow and out of the ark. The fill-flash mode isn't as good as my 5 year old Canon which I had to use to get nice flash shots of my daughter's birthday party.
4. The zoom control is a bit hit and miss and coarse in operation.
5. There is a simple push control on the back of the camera to cycle between Photo and Video Mode - this also gets knocked and puts you in the wrong setting - REALLY IRRITATING. Considering how relatively rare will be your use of video, this button should be out of the way.

All in all, this is an outstanding camera, in many respects but it does have flaws.

The quality of results it can produce are excellent but I can tell you that's it's little foibles do get to you from the moment you first use it and don't become any more appealing over time.

I'm keeping mine because of the spec which is quite simply unequalled on any other camera but I can't say I love it because of the drawbacks that reduce its appeal more than you would think.

Bought a TZ7 from Amazon as was looking for a compact companion for my D-SLR, which is just too large to take with me when I've traveling with business or for casual use. I chose the TZ7 because it has a wide angle lens 25mm equivalent in 35mm terms, which is great for capturing scenes. It zooms out to 300mm equivalent too, helped by a very effectiveness anti-shake system. All in a compact package that fits easily in a jacket pocket.
Panasonic have resisted the trend to squeeze more megapixels out of a small sensor and the result images are far better than I expected. I watch a jetski race at the weekend and was amazed that this little camera could freeze the action so well, zooming in to capture the race in well-focussed, vibrant colourl. The high-definition video capability is very sharp too - good enough to leave my camcorder behind if I just want to travel light. The video capability helped me choose the TZ7 over the bulkier Canon G10, which like most of the TZ7's competitors can only shoot a max of 28mm wide angle.
This camera has no noticeable shutter lag, powers-up quickly, and has a good set of custom features.
Anything I don't like? First - it isn't weather proof, you need to take care at beaches and in the rain. There's no optical viewfinder, you must rely on the excellent LCD which in fairness is viewable even in bright sunlight. Also the battery life so far isn't brilliant - especially if you take lots of video, but I would expect that to improve after a few cycles. You have to use a Panasonic battery at the moment (it has a chip in it that talks to the camera) which might be hard to find if you need a spare.
All in all highly recommended, loses a star only because of the battery life and lack of weather/sand resistance.

My partner owns the TZ5, which is a great little camera and I would have purchased one for myself, except Panasonic decided to superseded it with the TZ6, which for some extraordinary reason, Panasonic saw fit to reduce the size of the LCD display...why! I would have bought the TZ6. It makes no sense, the cameras bodies are identical. I can't help thinking this oversight was cunning ploy to get us to fork out the extra dosh for the TZ7, if so, it worked on me, because I bought one and have not looked back.

Apart from the stunning AVCHD video mode (you can switch to JPEG if you wish) there is another 1 million pixels at the top end to relish, bringing the camera up to 10 mega pixels. The zoom has grown from 10x on the TZ5 to a whopping 12x. There are some additions to the `Scene Mode', all the TZ5's features are still there plus: `panorama maker`, still trying to figure that one out, `grain`, which gives you black and white pictures with a grainy texture, `pin hole`, which puts a halo around your pictures, kind of spooky, especially in B&W, `transform`, where you can have fun making your subjects appear tall or fat or slim etc, and finally `flash burst`.

Pictures are of an excellent quality, especially on Macro and Marco Zoom. The only criticism I have, is the battery, I am going to have to buy a spare, the camera eats the things, why Panasonic? My partners TZ5 battery lasts three times as long. Apart from the daft battery, this little beauty, in my opinion, is the best compact on the market bar none.

So go on, treat yourself, you won't regret it.

Panasonic Lumix TZ7 Digital Camera - Brown (10.1MP, 12x Optical Zoom) 3.0" LCD
Brilliant compact full featured camera, with good picture quality, and HD video as well as stills. Pocketable, and can be used as a point and shoot in intelligent auto, whilst tons of options are open to those who are more adventurous. The wide angle, macro and long 12x zoom are incredible features. And,a key feature is that the zoom can be used in video mode. BUT - Mac users should be warned that the HD video is not compatible with iMovie (unless you buy 3rd party conversion software), and the included software is PC only. This is a bummer for me, so I'm sticking to the lower res. quicktime mode, until - hopefully - iMovie is made compatible with the Sony/Panasonic proprietary version of HD. The camera also has an infuriating limitation in that letterbox movies (16:9) cannot be shot in Intelligent Auto, so if you forget to switch out of this before shooting video, you'll end up with a mixture of 4:3 & 16:9 footage. To be honest, as a Mac user wanting a single camera for stills & HD movies, this doesn't quite hit the spot after all - but I'm stuck with it now.