In their review yesterday, PC Magazine gave the Panasonic
Lumix DMC-FZ7 a solid four stars and named it their Editor's Choice for budget superzooms, making it the third Lumix
FZ to hold that title. I tend to agree with their assessment, especially given the sub-$400 price, but it's important to
remember that the category is budget superzooms. With noticeably--although apparently not crippling--shutter
lag; slight purple fringing around highlights and a somewhat finicky LCD, this is a solidly consumer camera, form
factor and 12x f/2.8 zoom notwithstanding. With that in mind, the 3.3 sec. start-up time is acceptable and the 1.6 sec.
recycle time and 1500 line resolution are well above average for a moderately priced 6MP camera. Color and clarity are
both good, barrel distortion at 6mm is very slight, controls are well designed (curing a personal peeve I've had with
Panasonic in the past), the built-in flash seems well-designed, and image stabilization is excellent.Sounds like a winner to me.
1. Looks like a great buy for someone looking for a decent long zoom camera. I picked up the FZ15 last year, and have loved it ever since. The shutter lag isnt bad at all, it takes great pictures, and its probably as close as you can get to a dslr without spending $1000+
Posted at 1:11AM on Apr 21st 2006 by Mike