Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS7 12 1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 0 Inch LCD Black
The DMC-ZS7 features a 25mm ultra wide-angle 12x optical zoom f/3.3-4.9 Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens. Incorporating Panasonic’s advanced optical technologies, this lens system is comprised of 10 elements in 8 groups, with 2 ED (Extra Low Dispersion) lenses and 2 aspherical lenses/3 aspherical surfaces while preserving compactness. This lens system enables a remarkable 25 to 300mm range of focal length in this compact body. The powerful zoom of the DMC-ZS7 can be freely controlled even when shooting motion images. Inheriting the fine rendering and outstanding quality of the Leica Elmar lens, this easy-to-carry camera delivers beautiful images any time, any place.Thanks to the intelligent resolution technology, the intelligent zoom is available with the DMC-ZS7 which extends the zoom ratio by approximate 1.3x maintaining the picture quality even combining a digital zoom. This means the 12x optical can virtually extend to 16x equivalent. Furthermore, the extra optical zoom function that extends zoom power to 23.4x by using the center part of the large CCD to bring subjects even closer.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Forget the Sony DSC-HX5V the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 is “The One”.
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 is an incredible compact camera with a great set of features and build quality that the competitors simply do not offer. I’m not going to carry on about this camera as there are already plenty of websites and detailed reviews out there. I have I should mention tested both the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 and the Sony DSC-HX5V and the Panasonic is by far a superior product. Also I unfortunately didn’t order mine from Amazon as they didn’t offer the best price at the time. I ended up using pricegrabber and getting from Abe’s of Maine for $15 cheaper than Amazon with Free Shipping and No Sales Tax. I suggest to anyone thinking about making the purchase to go ahead and do so as its a quality camera that will surely make beautiful photos and videos for years to come, I was still using my five year old Lumix till the new one arrived last week. I partnered up this camera with the SanDisk Extreme 32GB card and am now ready for a vacation!
5 Stars Panasonic Luminix DMC ZS3
This is my 5th small size digital camera. Love the compact size, excellent hi zoom 12X optical performance, the photo quality, the smile detection, the hi-def movie performance, and the S/W.
It does need a second battery as battery life is less than 300 pictures especially when using flash.
Best picture quality of all my compacts and intermediate format digital cameras!
4 Stars Almost Perfect 4.5 stars!
This is a great camera for a beginner—Point and shoot. Lots of control for advance photographers. I’m sorry to say I don’t lug around a camera bag and tripod anymore. Just slip this in my purse.
I waited a long time to upgrade from the first generation Panasonic Lumix TZ1 (complete with dangling lens cover & 5MP) Glad I did. The best improvements are the quick power-up and lack of a shutter delay for catching fast action. If you leave it in the completely automatic mode it does an impressive job—and if you need control there’s plenty and then some. Lots of programs plus aperture and shutter priority or complete control.
Other notable improvements are in the macro end of things where capturing very fine close-ups are greatly improved—my TZ1 was always focusing on the background if I could get it to focus at all. This does an incredible job! Almost too much detail (if that’s possible) Every speck on the petal of a flower is exposed. This camera is slightly smaller and has a larger display screen. Most of the functions and dials are similar and I find easy to use but that may be because they are familiar.
Flash is improved over the first generation.
The zoom on the original was 10X. 12X even better. I took incredible photos of bullfrogs 15 feet away. Unbelievable detail.
This camera isn’t perfect and no camera will ever be. It would be nice to have a more powerful flash and nice if you could shoot in lower light with less noise without flash and it would be nice if it had a 20X optical zoom and a faster lens but for what it is its an incredible piece of engineering. AND don’t forget the Leica lens which is just plain beautiful.
All cameras have limitations and this is no exception. However it will get you a great photo most of the time. The wide angle to long telephoto range is why I bought my first Lumix. This flexibility makes for great travel photos. I did side by side comparisons of a Sony, Canon, Nikon and the first Lumix in the store and then we printed them out on the spot. No comparison. No ghosting, better color correction, better macro. And I like the ergonomics. I always place the wrist band over my wrist and hold onto the camera with fingers and pad of thumb and it feels secure. Some of the ultra small cameras are almost too small for me. (Didn’t compare to current models)
What is truly awful about this camera is that the manual is on a disk and covers this camera and its 2 predecessors making it a bit (if Not totally confusing at times). It also does not come with MAC compatible editing software which is really not a big deal for me. One person asked if it is MAC OSX 10.6.3 compatible and it is. The only problem I’ve encountered is in using Aperture (a MAC program)it doesn’t want to import directly into a project that has other images from my other Lumix camera. Make a new project and problem is solved but irritating. (Manual software and downloading from card to MAC is compatible)
Haven’t tried uploading video yet.
DO purchase an extra Panasonic Battery DMW-BCG 10PP. Make sure it has the PP (It won’t work without it) Also you’ll need a SD Card. It’s not necessary to go to the Class 6 cards unless you are shooting HD video. A SDHC 4GB card will hold 700+ photos at full MP.For most people this will be more than adequate. I carry two cards in case one goes south. You can always find them on sale for under $20. I also like the Caselogic TBC-302 Ultra Compact Camera Case for under $8.
5 Stars Panasonic ZS-7
This is an amazing camera, all my friends want it too, it’s handy, easy to pack and has big quality for its size! Little minor thing is the GPS functionality, it’s slow. But as a gadget it’s fun!
5 Stars Progress is fast
I bought the original camera in this line (the DMC-TZ1) three years ago and have absolutely loved using that camera. I have taken over 60,000 photos with it and couldn’t be happier. I never suffered any kind of technical problem with it – I only decided to get the ZS7 (or TZ10, as it is known in Europe) because the new features I read about were so enticing! In just 3 years, this line has raced through 4 generations and the improvements are amazing – despite which the price has stayed exactly the same.
Before I go into details, I should be clear as to what I personally am looking for in a camera, so that you may judge how relevant this review is to you. Things that I care about:
- I take photos everywhere I go, often at a moment’s notice, so it must fit in my jacket pocket and be quick to use
- it must have a good zoom since that gives me the freedom to frame subjects tightly and remove them from context
- it should be good at macros since I love taking macro shots
- it needs to take photos with as close to SLR quality as possible, given that it’s a compact
If you care about other things, like the packaged software (which I never use) or the various peripheral ‘features’ (e.g. face recognition, which btw does work – though sadly not on my cat 
), then this review may not provide the information you’re most interested in.
Anyway, here’s what I’ve found in my first few weeks using the ZS7.
Everything that I loved about the TZ1 is present in the ZS7, but in improved form:
- it’s now even smaller and lighter
- I can get even closer for macros (down to 3cm!)
- I can zoom in even further (19x optical!)
- the awesome macro and zoom features now combine in the incredible ‘telephoto macro’ mode, which lets me focus on objects just 3 feet away at maximum zoom (the depth of field is simply gorgeous in these shots; bokeh like an SLR!). Definitely my new favourite feature!
In addition, I have been enjoying these lovely enhancements:
- image quality is improved along every axis:
-> noise: in addition to generally lower noise levels, ‘noise reduction’ can now be turned OFF and the overall improvements to image quality are fantastic – the ugly ‘grunge’ in the pixel noise that the TZ1 had was probably its single worst feature, and that is now completely gone.
-> dynamic range: images taken in bright sunlight are far less contrasty now, and I can take pictures of objects against the sky without ugly fringing and chromatic aberration around their silhouettes (as long as I get exposure right of course!)
-> colour balance: automatic white balance is in a new league compared to the TZ1. I was constantly changing the custom white balance settings for the TZ1, but with the ZS7 I’m happy to just leave it on automatic white balance 99% of the time (quite a relief!). Overall, colours look much more natural – they match how the scene looks to my as well as the SLRs that I have used.
- the new image stabilisation is absolutely UNBELIEVABLE – all but the most major jolts are smoothed out. This has a huge impact on the clarity of my shots when at max zoom or shooting in dim lighting (which let’s face it is not the forte of these small-aperture compacts), and the jittery videos you’d expect from such a light camera are now smooth as butter. Really, really impressive.
- speaking of video, the HD video is absolutely STUNNING. You could shoot cable TV on this thing.
- minor but very welcome improvements:
-> in-built lens cap (yay!)
-> support for SDXC memory cards (I used to empty my TZ1′s 2GB card every few days; my first 64GB card for the ZS7 isn’t even a third full yet!)
-> JPG compression artifacts are noticeably reduced
-> the new program/aperture/shutter modes give me a little bit more control under certain circumstances (though not that much, given the small lens you get on a compact)
-> the new UI is very streamlined (the quick menu is extremely useful and photo browsing is much quicker)
-> GPS works well, and it’s nice to have my photos automatically register on the world map once I upload them to Flickr.
Just so I don’t give the impression that I’m gushing uncontrollably, I should also mention the things that I don’t like:
- I wish the quick menu was customizable (e.g. I’d like to be able to use it to change aspect ratio and set custom white balance)
- I’m disappointed that zoom+scroll in review mode isn’t any quicker than before
- I really don’t like losing the ‘review’ button (review ‘mode’ resets the lens after a couple of seconds, to frequently irritating effect)
- auto-focus isn’t noticeably faster (one of the big general down-sides of compacts, unfortunately)
- there is the occasional encoding error when shooting videos, which Panasonic needs to fix in a firmware update
Those are pretty minor complaints, compared to all the great new features I’m enjoying. My old camera, beloved as it was just a couple of weeks ago, is already languishing on a shelf, all but forgotten! Before getting the ZS7, I would have whole-heartedly recommended the TZ1 to anyone that cares about the same things that I do (portability, flexibility and image quality), and the ZS7 stands head and shoulders above it in every regard. What more can I say? Get one!
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July 7, 2010 4:19 am | 
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