Panasonic TZ7 Revelation
Published by Digital Camera Guru on Tagged PanasonicCheapest: panasonic t7z
The Panasonic TZ7 comes with a completely new streamlined 12x zoom image-stabilised Leica lens with a maximal aperture of f/3.3-f/4.9 and a focal length spectrum corresponding to 25-300mm, an impressively highly detailed 3.-inch 460,000 dot wide-view LCD monitor, a dual-processor Venus Engine HD, and most importantly has 1280 x 720 pixel HD video recording with stereo sound as well as full optical zoom capability.
It makes use of the state-of-the-art AVCHD Lite recording procedure, a video encoding format devised for solid-state camcorders. The TZ6 is very comparable, but is short of the HD video mode and has a small 2.7-inch 230k monitor.
Like the prior models in the TZ range the TZ7 is sizable and solidly constructed. It measures 103.3 x 59.6 x 32.8mm and weighs about 229g which includes battery and card.
This is in fact slightly leaner and roughly 10g lighter in weight versus TZ5, but it’s still a big camera. The body is all aluminium, finished in a semi-matt texture, and it is offered in black, dark brown or the plain silver finish.
The TZ series has commonly been sold as a travel camera, and the TZ7 is designed to overcome a bit of challenging treatment.
The general construction is particularly good quality, and pretty much all the control buttons are robust and solidly affixed. There’s one exception, and it represents one of my few real grievances in regards to the TZ7. The most important mode dial on the top plate is very wobbly and has a very weak ratchet, and due to this fact it is really easily turned unintentionally and can end up between settings.
Considering that the camera is not going to shoot unless the mode dial is successfully placed this may cause annoying delays if you’re trying to shoot rapidly on the spur of the moment.
The length and width of the camera really does mean that it’s nice and simple to handle. There does exist a compact but comfy handgrip on the front, and a bumpy thumb-grip area on the back which make it simple to hold securely, and despite the huge monitor screen the controls are well spread out and there’s lots of room to grip the camera without having them getting in the way.
The monitor itself is extremely good. With a resolution of 460,000 dots it’s twice as sharp as many other compact camera screens, and has an exceedingly wide viewing angle in all directions. It also offers intelligent brightness control, and despite the fact that it is a bit reflective and susceptible to glare, it is bright enough to see clearly in bright daylight.
Independent of the irritatingly loose main mode dial, which I’ve previously mentioned, the TZ7′s controls are pretty decent. The zoom lens control is particularly wonderful. It is smooth and non-stepped, and the control has a progressive action, so it zooms more rapidly the greater you turn it. The buttons are all metal and are solidly mounted, functioning with a nice positive click.
The only problem could be that the control keys of the D-pad have etched silver-on-silver labels, that are difficult to see in poor light. The primary on / off switch along with the shooting/playback mode selector are smallish slider switches, even though this is an excellent idea for the power switch (it’s very unlikely to get switched on unintentionally), by using a switch to select shooting or playback does imply that for anyone who is reviewing your pics and all of a sudden see something you desire to photograph it’s not possible to just tap the shutter button to go back to shooting mode; you’ll have to slide the switch.
The TZ7 is made to be fairly simple and easy to use, and does not have features like manual exposure or focusing. However it is still equipped with a fairly wide range of user possibilities, which includes a variety of AF modes, three metering modes including spot metering, a limited range of colour options, three-shot burst and continuous shooting, ISO settings from 80 to 1600 and the usual variety of white balance options.
It also has an unconventional set of aspect ratio choices. In most other cameras, picking out 3:2 or 16:9 aspect ratio simply crops the image straight down from the 4:3-ratio full-screen sensor. However the TZ7 in fact has a 12.7-megapixel sensor, so even the 10.1-megapixel 4:3 aspect ratio is cropped down. Choosing the wider aspect ratios uses a wider section of the sensor, so they actually cover a wider area than the 4:3 setting. What this means is that your widescreen formats are brilliant for landscape pictures.
The different controls are utilized via the typical main menu, but can be changed from the on-screen Quick Menu.
Together with the full range of options the TZ7 has the benefit of Panasonic’s Intelligent Auto system, which sets exposure, ISO, image stabilisation, tracking AF, scene mode and face recognition on auto-pilot. I am not usually a big fan of “idiot modes”, preferring much more manual control, but I must say that the Panasonic iAuto system does produce superb results in virtually all situations.
A few of the 27 scene mode programs likewise have some fascinating variants. The Baby and Pet programs have the option to include the subject’s name and age, and also the age is auto-magically updated each and every year. There’s a high-speed burst mode that can shoot at 10fps until the memory card is full, although it’s tied to at the most 3MP. Other interesting options include pin-hole camera and film grain simulations, a flash burst mode and an underwater mode for use using the optional DMW-MCTZ7 diving case, that is waterproof to a level of 40m.
Regardless of how big its lens the TZ7 starts up in well within two seconds, even though it takes just about three seconds to shut down again. In single-shot mode at the finest quality setting it’s got a shot-to-shot cycle time of amply under two seconds, and that is pretty speedy, however in continuous shooting mode it can manage 1.8 frames a second, which is pretty fast. It also has a three-shot burst option that is even faster.
Source: panasonic tz7 review test
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