Panasonic is pitching the TZ7 as a 'hybrid' camera: one that can shoot both high-quality stills and movies. It does a pretty good job. The movie definition is good -- only available in 1,280x720-pixel resolution, though, not 1080p HD -- and the 12x zoom makes it as versatile as a pocket camcorder, with the added bonus of that 25mm-equivalent super-wideangle lens.
You also get to record stereo sound, and the super-efficient AVCHD format means you should be able to squeeze nearly double the footage on to your SD cards as regular MPEG-4 -- quite a factor when you make the switch from standard-definition movies to HD.
Negatives
Let's not get too worked up, though. The
movie mode is good, but sluggish. For some reason, the zoom slows down
to a crawl, the focus changes with the zoom setting and the TZ7's AF
takes an age to catch up. You can shoot great movie clips with this
camera, but you'll either need to plan them carefully or do some crafty
editing later.
While the AVCHD format does give you much better image compression, it's less straightforward than MPEG-4. You need AVCHD-compatible editors and playback devices, and it's not just as simple as dragging across a movie file from your memory card and double-clicking it to play it. The good news is that you can swap to motion JPEG format, even if it does make the files fatter.
Conclusion
If you only want stills, get the TZ6.
You'll pay less, too. If you fancy HD movies on your superzoom, get the
TZ7. Both are brilliant cameras, so it just depends on what you want to
do. You could be picky about the slow zooming and AF in movie mode, but
this isn't a pro camcorder, it's a hybrid -- and a really good one.
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters
User reviews8
Add your review
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!
See all 8 user reviews