The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 offers the same still image resolution as the incredible Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ6, but throws in a bigger screen and an HD movie mode, which shoots in the ultra-efficient AVCHD format. At around £280, the TZ7 is about £60 more than the TZ6, so is it worth the extra?
Positives
We raved about the TZ6's lens quality, versatility and build quality, and the TZ7 is essentially the same camera. It's compact -- for a superzoom – and nicely finished with great controls. The Q menu -- short for quick -- is especially handy, calling up a set of drop-down menus at the top of the screen for quickly adjusting the ISO, picture and movie size, white balance, aspect ratio and more.
There are some key differences between the TZ6 and TZ7, though. Namely, round the back, there's a 76mm (3-inch) LCD with 460,000 pixels. That's double the resolution offered by most of the TZ7's rivals and a useful step up from the TZ6, too.
Less obvious is the change in the sensor. Like the TZ6, the TZ7 shoots 10-megapixel stills, but it actually uses a 12-megapixel sensor to accommodate the widescreen HD movie mode. Maybe the sensor has made a difference or maybe Panasonic has tweaked the image processing, but the TZ7's results look sharper than the TZ6's snaps. When you combine that with the excellent lens, low distortion and lack of chromatic aberration, you've got one of the best-performing compacts on the market -- and that's even without the movie mode.
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User reviews8
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jadecarrison 18 March 2010
Good: Great lense, large display on back, well built
Bad: Nothing really
Comment: Great camera!! Love it
pmw194 23 February 2010
Good: Most everything
Bad: Slow autofocus
Comment: Had this camera for about six months. Somewhat slow autofocus for movies, as stated in review. Other than that, it has taken great pictures no matter what the situation. High learning curve if you want to set some of the settings yourself. Certain settings require some digging to find. I mostly use the auto mode and it figures out the settings better than I could. Many preset scene settings which I haven't even got into fully. Have found the baby setting works good. Thankfully a printed manual is provided. Found that there are non-Panasonic batteries that will work in this camera at about half the price. I always carry a spare because the battery goes down quickly when taking video along with stills. All told, the best digital camera I have owned.
adrianmol 6 January 2010
Good: Superb camera will all the right features, very well made, 25mm wide angle
Bad: A bit chunky for my shirt pocket, Panasonic desktop software is average.
Comment: I've had Canon 35mm SLR's and digital cameras from Fuji and Canon. I bought the TZ7 based on reviews because I wanted a superzoom camera with a really wide, wide angle, long zoom and a good quality Video. Much as I love SLR’s I don't want to lug one around anymore.
I bought the TZ7 from Comet.co.uk and picked it up from a store 4 months ago. It is a delight to use. It does everything I could wish for. The photo quality is amazing. It will go from 25mm (35mm equiv) wide angle to full 42x zoom filling the screen with a TV satellite dish at 100 yards on full optical & full digital zoom at 3 megapixels. Even this extreme long telephoto shot, hand held with image stabilisation is as good as my 5mp camera phone. Everything in between on optical zoom is very high quality.
The HD video is very good. There are so user many options for taking photos if you want to use them. Or just set it to auto, click and the camera works it out for you.
I don't rate the Panasonic desktop software very high but I use windows picture viewer anyway. I do recommended you buy a fast SD card if you want to shoot video.
Brill!
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