Panasonic DMC-FZ7 review

The 3x zoom lenses common to most compact digital cameras are fine for casual snapping, but if you have a specific interest such as nature, sports or candid photography, a larger zoom is essential.

So-called super-zoom cameras aren't expensive; FujiFilm's excellent S5600, which we reviewed in What's New, Shopper February 2006, costs just £187 including VAT. Panasonic's DMC-FZ7 costs more, but hopes to justify its price with optical image stabilisation, higher specifications and some well-conceived controls.

Menu navigation is done via a familiar five-way pad, but an additional joystick control gives quick access to aperture, shutter speed and focus where appropriate. Holding it down for a second reveals short cuts for white balance, ISO, resolution and compression. It's an excellent system that's quick to master and shows the camera's aspiration as a serious creative tool. The camera itself is quick, too, with just a second between shots, even with the flash, and two frames per second (fps) in continuous mode.

The 21/2" screen and electronic viewfinder have average 115,000-pixel resolutions, but sharp manual focus is still attainable. Adjusting the focus control activates a digital zoom, either in a central square or across the entire screen. There's also an option to view a close-up of the centre of images directly after capture to check whether they're sharp.

Sharp photography is impressive. Complex foliage and skin textures were captured with impressive detail. Panasonic's Mega OIS image stabilisation did an excellent job of counteracting camera shake during long exposures and at extreme telephoto zoom settings. However, at ISO 200 and 400 some detail was lost due to aggressive noise reduction, giving pictures a spidery, painted appearance when viewed at high magnification, a chronic problem with Panasonic cameras. We'd settle for more noise, but adjusting the Noise Reduction setting made little difference. The High Sensitivity scene preset unlocks 800 and 1,600 ISO speeds, but the resulting pictures were very blurry.

Otherwise, it's hard to fault the DMC-FZ7's image quality. Automatic exposure was dependable, with extremely well-balanced contrast and accurate tones in a range of conditions. We found the Auto white balance setting produced better results than Tungsten under artificial light, although the Manual white balance mode gave the best results.

High street prices are currently around £350, which is typical for a camera of this quality, but web prices of around £280 make it excellent value. Its closest competitor, Canon's PowerShot S3 IS, costs from £330 online. We'd be tempted to spend more on Panasonic's DMC-FZ30, reviewed in Labs, Shopper June 2006, which costs £341 from Savastore; it has an 8-megapixel sensor, higher-resolution screens and lens rings for zoom and focus. However, if £300 is your budget and telephoto photography is your objective, the DMC-FZ7 is the best camera for the job.