 Panasonic TZ7 camera |
| Review Date: March 15, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Mr. Thomas Heeran, England |
| Looking at previous reviews of this camera may put you off slightly, there is mention of poor battery life and loose dials, I bought this camera recently and have not found these a problem, the dial may now have been corrected as I have not had any problems with this. The battery is probably not as good as my Olympus mju700, but I have not found the battery to be poor I was initially looking into buying a spare but since I have not had issues with it I am now not considering this. The picture quality and ease of use of the camera makes it an excellent purchase, I am very happy with this camera, the video function is better quality than my video camera!!!! |
Disappointing washed out colours
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| Review Date: March 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: BDLC, London, UK |
Was really excited by such a well reviewed camera and wasn't disappointed with overall quality -- e.g. lens, built, ability to zoom in movie mode, sound quality -- but had to return it the end because:
1) Colours where extremely washed out no matter what settings being using -- intelligent photo mode was always spot-on in focus, flash, etc. but colours where always very disappointing especially when compared to our old Canon A70 (camera being replaced). The Panasonic was always out-performed by far in image quality, producing pale skin tones, low contrast and white balance had consistently a hard time getting the colour temperatures right even at manual setting.
2) Also lack of a proper handgrip was hard to get used to -- some texture in the camera body for the fingers instead of the polished material would have been very useful for a more confident handgrip and to help balance the weight & size of a compact camera in the hand, especially for those situations where only one hand is free such as when holding a baby or carrying some bags. |
An excellent all round camera
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| Review Date: March 10, 2010 |
| Reviewer: M. Roylance, UK |
I have been looking to buy this camera for sometime, but some of the comments re. battery life and 'loose dial' had made me be a bit hesitant!!..but in the end 'bit the bullet'and purchased one a few days ago. Have tested it thoroughly, the dial has not budged!, and have hammered the video, and have taking nearly 100 pics, used the zoom and flash often, and have replayed the pic replay with music many many times! The battery after all my 'hammering' was still at 30% plus as of today...not too bad at all.
The quality of build is superior, and the pics so far are brilliant.
This is a camera....to buy. |
Great Video... Average photo's...
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| Review Date: March 10, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Memphis, Cannock |
Just purchased TZ7 (9-3-2010) and...
Pros... Excellent video although not quite as good as a proper camcorder.
25mm Wide lens.
Excellent 12x zoom, quiet during video.
Stereo sound.
Quick reliable auto focus.
Fast shutter release.
Intelligent auto picture options, great for difficult light.
Image stabiliser.
Looks and feels well made.
Cons...
Only average photo quality, although not bad.
Can overexpose in some situations. Use iA.
Hi in-camera image possessing leaves little latitude for post adjustment.
10 mega pix means nothing if crammed on to a small CCD.
Video button is in an awkward place, its easy to press accidentally.
Originally very expensive, but can be found for around £200.
I would recommend this camera but you need to experiment to get the best out of it. As mentioned, iA is very useful in difficult light. |
Superb camera but watch out for EU-limited video
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| Review Date: March 6, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Martin Pointon, UK |
As so many others have said, this is a feature-rich and superb quality camera which I overall cannot fault. But I sadly am sending it back. I don't want to as, for the money, it really can be everything: a still camera with an excellent lens and superb zoom or a video camera capable of churning out 720p video to shame many a camcorder. All in a pocket-sized bundle. But it is not fit for my purpose. Why?
Owing to EU tax laws which differentiate still and video cameras (still has no tax, video has 4.9%), Panasonic have crippled the video recording time to 15 minutes. There's nothing to stop you shooting lots of 15-minute clips but you cannot record indefinitely in one go. I need to be able to as my hobby is gliding and that means being able to just leave it running. A shame because this camera's lack of bulk is exactly why I bought it - it's a one-stop still and video camera which I need to use and/or mount in a highly confined space.
Only the TZ7 has this restriction, the ZS3 for other markets doesn't. Amazon really should mention this in the main literature as there are over 150 reviews for this camera which one can't be expected to read all of. Consequently I didn't come across this shortcoming until I read about the restriction in the manual and then found more information on the web.
So, it gets four stars because of this. It really is a fantastic device but make sure you don't want shoot long videos. |
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