If your interest in photography includes subjects such as wildlife and sport you will appreciate just how useful a long zoom lens can be. Therefore you may be interested in the Panasonic DMC FZ7. This is a super zoom digital camera with a long 12x optical zoom lens. This length of lens will help you to zoom in on those distant subjects.
One downside of a longer lens is that it can make it more difficult for the camera to be held steady. On top of this when you are using the zoom to its full extent or near to its full extent the camera needs to let in extra light in order to expose a photograph correctly. Both of these factors can lead to camera shake becoming more of a problem. To help avoid this Panasonic have included image stabilisation with the DMC FZ7. This compensates for the movement of the camera and helps to ensure sharper photos.
Other attractions of this camera include manual exposure features. These include both aperture priority and shutter priority. These features together with the long zoom lens means that the camera is likely to appeal to someone who is fairly serious about photography, but does not want to go to the expense of buying a Digital SLR camera.
If you like the idea of the long lens, but do not wish to use the more advanced manual exposure controls then you can place the camera in automatic mode. This allows you to take advantage of the long lens. This is a six megapixel camera.
In terms of pricing the DMC FZ7 is a mid priced super zoom. It is less expensive than cameras with similar specifications and length of lens from the likes of Canon and Sony. It comes in two colours giving you the choice between silver and black.
Not surprisingly with its length of lens it is not one of the smaller, lightweight cameras. Although it comes with a lens cap I would also suggest picking up a case to give the camera further protection. In my view the best place to start looking for a case is at your local camera store. You will normally find a selection of cases and you can select one that suits your budget.
I tend to find Panasonic digital cameras among the more easy to use. The DMC FZ7 upholds this reputation. It is fair to say that with the extra features this camera has over a standard point and shoot model it will take some effort to get to know it and therefore get the most out of it. You should find though that items like the menu system are about as straightforward as you are likely to come across. All of the options are found in a single list and it is a case of scrolling through and finding the one you are looking for.
On the back of the camera is a 2.5" LCD screen. Above the screen is a viewfinder. The viewfinder is an electrical viewfinder rather than an optical one. This means that the camera plays back to you a movie of the scene rather than having an optical viewfinder you can see through. The viewfinder does have dioptre correction. This is basically a small dial that allows you to adjust the focusing of the viewfinder to suit your own eyesight.
