Panasonic Lumix TZ7

For the past 18 months and across the board, Panasonic’s digital cameras have continuously delivered strong performance. The Panasonic Lumix TZ7 has certainly helped to maintain this trend with fine looks, versatile performance and impressive image quality.

Panasonic’s Lumix TZ7 is a solidly well-built compact weighing in at 229 grams and comes in three different colours: black, brown or silver. It’s a handsome, robust looking thing. The TZ7 has a long list of features. For starters, you’ll find a 12.1 megapixel sensor under the hood but this is, in fact, a 10.1 megapixel camera. The reason behind this is that unlike many cameras in this price range, the T27 offers 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 aspect ratios without any cropping, so whichever aspect ratio you choose you will get full 10.1 megapixel images. Those who take a lot of landscape shots will undeniably appreciate this.

There’s also an excellent 25mm wide-angle Leica lens with 12x optical zoom and image-stabilisation to help avoid those blurry snaps while on the move. You’ll also find a large 3-inch 460,000 pixel wide-view LCD and impressive 720p HD video recording with stereo sound and progressive optical zoom. Finally, a rechargeable Li-ion 895 mAh battery completes the package, and should be good for around 300 shots on a single charge.

Performance in pretty much all areas is reportedly great. Users have experienced start up times of under two seconds, and image quality should be great thanks to the impressive Leica lens and sensor which has been designed to produce natural yet vibrant colours, very fine detail and neigh on perfect exposure every time at the lower ISO settings. The flash is also reasonably powerful, with a maximum range of 5.3m. The movie mode looks hugely impressive in both picture and sound departments, and is said to match the performance of–dare we say it–dedicated camcorders.

The Panasonic TZ7 is a versatile performer with no let downs in any area. There’s some strong competition at this price point, but the TZ7 is up there with the very best of them.