The Panasonic Lumix Tz7
I recently became the proud owner of a Panasonic Lumix Tz7 after upgrading from a Casio Exilim EX-Z1000. The Casio was an awesome little camera and had lots of features crammed into its slim and elegant case, but while trying to photograph fast-moving cars that were travelling at a distance at the Nürburgring back in August, it became apparent that I needed something bigger/faster/better for next time.
An SLR would be the obvious answer, but I didn’t want something that I’d be forced to carry around all the time – after all, taking photos is only half the story at these events. I wanted something that I’d be able to fit into my pocket so that I could forget about it when I wasn’t taking photos.
The Lumix has 12x optical zoom, an infinite burst mode (assuming free memory of course) and 720p video recording among a host of other features. It’s just a little bigger than the Exilim yet it has features and specifications that rival some SLRs. The picture (and video) quality is fantastic, and while it’s not going to replace my HD dedicated video camera for recording important video to burn to Blu-Ray, being able to take videos of such quality quickly and easily is a great bonus for what was already an impressive photo camera.
For a full review of the Lumix, check out CNET.
How do you like the camera?
I like it a lot! It’s noticeably larger and heavier than the Casio, but for that extra few grams and mm you get a lot of extra features.
The zoom is phenomenal in a camera of this size. I used it over the weekend in Cardiff when I was watching Wales vs Australia. We were sat behind the posts on the East side of the Millennium Stadium, yet if you compare this photo (http://www.gareth-jones.co.uk/flickr/album/72157622915408494/photo/4150691151/wales-vs-australia-november-2009-wales-vs-australia-cardiff.html) with this one (http://www.gareth-jones.co.uk/flickr/album/72157622915408494/photo/4151450476/wales-vs-australia-november-2009-wales-vs-australia-cardiff.html), you can see how well the zoom works – the choir is on the far right in the distance of the first one.
The sharpness didn’t turn out too well on some of these photos, but that was because of the manual non-flash/long exposure that I had on – which I now regret using a little. I should have used the sport setting which would have given much better results.
The HD video is also of superb quality and plays back a very impressive video on my plasma. The zoom is a little slow while recording video, but it’s not too bad and I guess that helps prevent you from making nausea-inducing videos.
Mine didn’t come with a case so I had to buy that separately, and the included charger forces you to remove the battery so it’s worth getting a proper charger for it too I think.