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

Pretty much everything I'd read about this little gem is correct. Great pictures, very impressive video and an intuitive menu system that makes the camera an absolute joy to use. Some reviewers criticise the mode selector knob but mine clicks into place and holds it's setting.

I would like to have seen fittings for a neckstrap and spare batteries are a bit pricey. You will need a high spec computer to edit AVCHD but there are some useful bits of software like "FreeAVCHDConverter" from Koyote Soft that can turn your files into something more useable on a lesser PC.

Like any camera you need to spend time learning when to switch away from auto mode and tweak the settings to turn a good picture into a great one but the TZ7 is all many people will need for both stills and movies. Superb!!!

I bought this camera for my wife and after a short time experimenting with it myself I have renamed the IA function "blonde" mode. She insisted on having a RED one (I'm sure the look of the camera is more important than its performance......Hmmm, maybe that's why she married me??) but despite the colour it's fantastic beyond belief. I am a top drawer cynic and sceptic with many years experience at reading reviews and technical specs. Reading all the independent reviews you will soon see that this camera is top of it's league (for a robust high quality travel camera). It's not microscopically small but it is certainly compact. The huge extending lens and the aluminium bodyshell give a pleasant stable feeling as you curl your fingers around the raised body shape at the end of the camera.

I thought long and hard about buying this camera because I had already bought a couple of high quality point-and-shoot cameras for my dear wife over the past 6 years. Despite this, 95% of her efforts are blurred, specks in the distance or washed-out red-eyed fuzzy people that bear no resemblance to anyone I know. I'm sure she squeezes the camera and not the button to get these effects. We are soon off to New Zealand for a great holiday. I shall be using a compact HD video camera but I need my wife to collect good quality stills to supplement my footage (this TZ7 also has the ability to take HD video clips as well, so it's also my plan B should the camcorder fail/run out of battery etc). After just 15 minutes of testing the TZ7, I handed it to my wife and challenged her to ever take another bad/blurred picture.

I'm almost embarrassed to tell what my proof testing involved because my very non-scientific testing would make any keen/professional photographer's eyes pop out. All the following tests were done in IA mode with straight-out-of-the-box settings (max resolution pictures). In test one I set the zoom to maximum and in a fairly light (indirect sunlight) room I took a picture of some ornaments on table 20feet away whilst at the same time shaking the camera up and down vigorously as if I were roller skating over cobbles. Test two was taking pictures of a vase of flowers on the window sill against a strong sunny outside background (my dear wife has no concept of backlight). Test three involved taking fully zoomed pictures of wind blown trees (50 or 60 yards away) through double glazing at an angle 45 degrees to the glass and 3 feet away from it. Test five involved taking a picture of a brightly coloured oil painting that was on a light wall. 50% of it was in direct sunlight and the remainder in shadow. The final test was to draw the curtains by degrees (5 increments) and take head to waist pictures of my wife as the room got dimmer and dimmer. The result from each abuse was excellent crisp pictures that I would not discard. The auto flash combined with all the other intelligent features to give faithful colours until the room was 90% dark when a slight colour drain was evident and a bit of red eye occurred. Both these minor issues would be easily fixable in any post processing software.

I am not a camera reviewer so I have no have no experience of other 2009 "intelligent" cameras. There may be a few others out there that would pass my "blonde" tests. All I can say is that I have graduated through photography via the Bakelite Brownie, SLRs and non-SLR digital cameras before settling on videography as my serious hobby but I did research a lot before I made this TZ7 choice. It was expensive and I had no concept from the reviews that I was buying a true point-and-shoot camera that also captures what the eye sees. It was worth every penny. This is the first camera I have encountered that truly deals with all these issues and produces perfectly in-focus well balanced (and true colour) pictures. Stray away from the IA setting and you will need to understand the basic principles of photography. There's huge flexibility for artistic creativity with virtually every feature manually adjustable. I've told my wife that if she turns it away from IA mode it will drain the battery incredibly quickly and probably burn it's way out the bottom of her expensive handbag!!! She will never know otherwise because she'll never read the manual.

Final note. Three days on and I have been forcing my wife to take all sorts of random pictures in different conditions including from inside our car ay 70mph. We have a few magnificently vivid in-focus people and animals without heads but if I give her the benefit of doubt and assume that's what she intended then her score is 128 good shots out of 128. RESULT!!!!!!

Excellent all round camera.
Very easy to use especially if you use the full auto feature. For the pro there are a good number of settings to choose from.
The video is good but not as good as the HD video on a camcorder (I have a Sanyo HD1000) but the compromise is worth it as you never take two around with you.
It is the also the only HD video camera that allows zoom when in video mode. If it doesnt do this videoing is very limited.

Very easy to use, the 3 inch LCD screen makes viewing your shots very clear, excellent zoom for a small camera. Well worth the money.

I got this for my sons birthday. He loves it, I hardly get a chance to use it. He has produced some stunning photos and we are extremely pleased I got it. So much so That I have got one for my older boy. I have upgraded His old camera to this one. Astonishing lens quality. 25-300 optical lens! Hd video! I am a confirmed Panasonic fan. I can vouch for their after care.... second to none and miles better than Canon who in my opinion are rubbish and I will never purchase another camera from them. If you purchase this I guarantee you will love it and have Panasonic aftercare there if you need it.