Panasonic's DMC-FZ7 Digital Camera Still Best Buy

For quality of shot, degree of versatility, and ease of use it would be hard to find a better digital camera value than the 12x zoom, 6 mega pixel, Panasonic DMC-FZ7. The DMC-FZ7 may be a 2006 model, but if you need a digital camera that takes print-quality photos to supplement newspaper, magazine or online articles; to take make entertainment or instructional videos for YouTube; or to take family portraits or nature shots for your personal pleasure, this is definitely a camera to check out.

We (my Life Partner MJ and I) may not be technically challenged, but we aren't necessarily the most technically inclined individuals either. In addition, we haven't had the time to explore the multitude of features the camera offers. If you are like us, one of those people who don't have a vast amount of time to learn every feature of your equipment, but want to get down to using it immediately, this is an ideal purchase.

We have used the Panasonic DMC-FZ7 since October of 2006, and I must say that we are very pleased with the product. We wanted a camera that would take quality photos for our print journalism assignments, but we also wanted one that we could use to videotape our golf and tennis swings, and take miscellaneous photos. And of course, we didn't want to spend a fortune. We can honestly say that this has been one of our most satisfying purchases.

Things We Like Most
Panasonic's DMC-FZ7 is a high-quality digital camera that is easy to use and extremely versatile. Virtually all of the controls, including a joystick for important setting controls, are within easy reach of the fingers of the right hand, so you can make basic setting changes on the fly without much fanfare. If you prefer to just point and shoot, there is a setting that allows you to do that. If you want to incorporate high-level photography knowledge, you can do that as well with the manual settings.

There are eight primary shot settings with numerous menu options that allow you to take still and motion pictures in a variety of ways (including self-timed of course), depending on the subject distance, the lighting, the amount of motion, etc. The dual viewfinder option (using the large 2.5-inch LCD or the Electronic Viewfinder) is a valuable feature if you intend to do outdoor shooting in bright sunlight. The LCD visibility in bright sunlight is not as clear as we would like, but you are likely to find that that is the case with most digital cameras, so the dual viewfinder option is a definite plus.

Among the neat array of features that we didn't find in many models was the ability to add audio to still pictures. This is really helpful later on to help identify specific photos. You can do almost all of your photo editing directly on or from the camera; you can convert still images to movies; you can choose different resolutions for your movies; you can use burst mode to allow you to take quality stills of a moving subject. In fact, there are so many features available that it would take much more space and time to tell you about them than we have here.

A Few Limitations
The DMC-FZ7 has a few limitations that you may want to consider prior to purchase. The storage capacity of the camera is limited to 2 gigabytes. We haven't found that to be a problem yet, because even at 30 frames per second, we have more than an hour's worth of video recording capability. However, if you are a movie maker, you may need more storage capacity.

Another small inconvenience is that the media card and battery are underneath the camera, and if you are using a tripod you have to remove the camera to replace either. Again, due to the long battery life, plenty of storage space for our purposes, and infrequent tripod use, that has not been much of a challenge for us.

Also in the realm of video recording, we are not thrilled about the fact that you can't zoom in on your subject once you begin recording, and night shooting at athletic events has not produced the best images. However, the latter may be due to the fact that we haven't explored the optimum methods for using the camera at night.

More Information
The bottom line is that there is far more to be pleased about than not with Panasonic's DMC-FZ7. As noted above, there are far more features of this little gem than we can provide with our time and space limitations, but Digital Photography Review is an excellent source for a more detailed review of Panasonic's DMC-FZ7 and other digital cameras. They provide component and specification analysis and side-by-side comparisons with other manufacturers and models.

These days you can certainly get digital cameras with higher mega pixel resolution, and even higher zoom capability. However, for under $300, the quality of images as well as the ease and versatility of use make this an outstanding purchase.