The Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ7 is a 10 megapixel digital camera with a 12x, ultra wide angle lens. Other features include High Definition movies with stereo sound. You can also zoom in and out while shooting a movie. I also like the high quality, 3 inch LCD screen. Panasonic has also equipped the Lumix DMC TZ7 with image stabilisation.

The picture quality is hard to beat in this category. I also like the look of the features. If you like shooting short movies it is difficult to find a more comprehensive set of features in a compact digital camera.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
The Lumix DMC TZ7 manages to pack plenty of colour and brightness into this photo. There is a crispness to the photo that is hard to find with smaller compacts and this illustrates the advantages that can be found where larger size lenses are used.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
Digital cameras with wide angle lenses tend to find focusing difficult when the lens is not zoomed in at all. With a minimum focal length equivalent to 25mm in 35mm format the Lumix DMC TZ7 has an even wider lens than normal. There for I am very impressed and surprised to see just how sharp this photo is.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
One of the factors that I like is that the sharpness of these images only has minimal fall off as you reach the edge of the photo. With the lens fully zoomed in the overall level of detail in the shot is again striking, although there is a small amount of definition lost where the sun falls on the boats. As I often see from cameras with longer lenses in this test there is a touch of purple fringing. This is quite minor and will only become an issue with very large prints.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
This is another shot where the sharpness of the photo is some way above average. You will be hard pressed to find a compact camera capable of taking sharper shots than these.

Outdoor Portrait
As I have found with other Panasonic digital cameras colours can be quite strong. In this picture I have used a white balance setting of shady and this has given the picture quite a warm glow.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
The flash unit produces a strong burst of light. This certainly lights up the photo well. The lighting is also evenly distributed. Perhaps the Lumix DMC TZ7 overdoes the power a touch as some of the light can be seen reflecting back off the face into the lens.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
Here the camera does well once again. The photo is brighter than many digital cameras manage. There is also a good level of detail in the shot. You should be able to produce some pleasing window lit pictures.

Colours
Colours are vivid. To me they stay within the boundaries of the amount of strength I like to see in a shot. They lack some of the more subtle, natural feel produced by Nikon and Canon cameras, but you are assured of photos with plenty of power.

Macro
I feel that the macro shot often tells us quite a lot about the overall quality of the lens. Not surprisingly this is another sharp photo suggesting you should be able to produce close up shots in most situations.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
As you would expect noise starts to show in darker areas at ISO 400. Colours remain true at this level, but start to break up as you push ISO to its limits.

Overall
As you can see I am very impressed with the quality of the photos produced by the Lumix DMC TZ7. It copes very well with most photo opportunities.

The shutter lag times are solid. These are 0.33 seconds for a single photo and 9.53 seconds for five. With flash turned on there is not too much of a step up at 0.47 seconds for one photo and 12.41 seconds for five.

To turn the camera on and take a picture took 2.78 seconds. This is a standard time.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

For such a long lens this is a very compact digital camera. The lens unit dominates the front of the camera. There is also a small grip area on the front to help you hold the camera steady.

103.3 x 59.6 x 32.8mm

206g

Lithium ion. Panasonic estimates you should be able to take up to 300 pictures in between charges.

Panasonic has built 40MB of storage into the Lumix DMC TZ7. This is enough for around 10 pictures. The camera is also compatible with SD and SDHC memory cards.

Click here to save money on SD cards..

Good. There is plenty to get to know, so it will take longer to learn how to get the most out of the Lumix DMC TZ7 than with some of the more basic point and shoot cameras.

Picture quality - movie mode - LCD screen - very wide lens - small size for length of lens

Nothing springs to mind.

Another similar camera that challenges the Lumix DMC TZ7 when it comes to picture quality is the Canon Powershot SX200 IS. This camera also offers manual exposure controls.

I really like the Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ7. It scored very well for picture quality. It has a good range of features and is not too challenging when it comes to ease of use. I am happy to recommend this camera.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

Description:	10 megapixels and a 12x optical zoom
Ease of Use:	8
Features:	9
Colour:	8
Macro:	9
Indoors:	8
Value for Money:	8
Style:	8
Movie Mode:	10
Image Quality:	9
Build Quality:	8
Total:	85
Verdict:	There is a great deal to like about this camera. Picture quality is up there with the very best cameras in this class. It has one of the most advanced movie modes around and there are other great touches such as the quality of the LCD screen.
Review Date:	June 2009
Related Pages:	Panasonic DMC TZ7 Specification Panasonic DMC TZ7 Sample Images Panasonic DMC TZ7 Features
Comparisons:	Canon Powershot SX200 IS vs Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ7
Comparisons:	Fuji Finepix F70exr vs Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ7

	GBP 214.99
	GBP 259.99
	GBP 262.03
	GBP 266.73
	GBP 268.99
	GBP 272.6
	GBP 279
	GBP 279.99
	GBP 299.99
	GBP 339.99
Click a flag for prices from other countries:

Camera	Rating
Fuji Finepix F70EXR	85
Canon Powershot SX120 IS	85
Panasonic DMC TZ7	85
Canon Powershot SX200 IS	85
Samsung WB500	84
Sony DSC H20	81
Fuji Finepix S1500	81
Olympus MJU 9000	79

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Panasonic DMC TZ7