Panasonic DMC-FZ7 Lumix Digital Camera

After "accidentally" leaving our Gateway digital camera behind on a recent trip to Florida (the Gateway'd been malfunctioning for months so I think the whole leaving it behind scenario was some sort of Freudian-slip thing), my husband purchased a Panasonic Lumix online after doing some research. I admit we were in semi-panic mode 'cause a digital camera with close-up (macro) capabilities is essential to my online business, while my husband wanted a camera which would provide nearly all the functionality of the traditional 35mm SLR camera. What he came up with was the Panasonic Lumix Model No. DMC-FZ7 which we purchased from Butterfly Photo online (http://www.butterflyphoto.com) for a total cost of $265.95. I can honestly say that I'm proud of the research he did and happy far beyond my expectations with this camera which is, in fact, truly almost too much camera for my skill level.

The Lumix comes with an intimidating array of possibilities, including dial-controlled modes of program AE, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, full manual exposure, macro, motion picture mode, scene mode, simple mode (for beginners) and playback mode, which allows you to review and keep or discard your shots as you go. But get this: within the scene mode you also have the following possibilities: portrait mode, soft skin mode (flattering), scenery mode, sports mode, night portrait mode, night scenery mode, panning mode, food mode, candle light mode, fireworks mode, starry sky mode, baby modes 1 and 2, snow mode and high sensitivity mode.

The camera also comes with a setting for stabilitization, symbolized by a 'shaking hand' symbol and maximum optical zoom/digital zoom capabilities of 12x and 48x.

Operating the camera itself is very simple; I spent approximately an hour or so pushing buttons, fiddling with controls and referencing the owner's manual on occasion and was taking macro pictures, the quality of which was great enough to place on my website. The camera kit we purchased came with the usual impossibly small memory card of 16mb so you can count on either using your existing, larger card or purchasing one of greater size.

The only down side I can see to the camera is that all its controls, as well as the majority of its body, are on the right side. For right-handers this means that your gripping hand and control hand are one and the same and, for myself anyway, buttons and switches tend to be inadvertently hit. Training the right hand to avoid your camera's controls, however, is a matter of habit and a small price to pay for a camera so fully-loaded with features.

You can check out the owner's manual for the Panasonic DMC-FZ7 at:

http://www.retrevo.com/search?q=Panasonic+DMC-FZ7&terms=review+manual