Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7

A light digicam with a long view of things

When a drop of water catches the sunlight, it’s as lovely as a diamond, and capturing a crystal-clear photograph of such a moment can make you feel as rich. I went out for a walk with the new Lumix FZ7 digital camera on an unusually warm February afternoon when the snow was melting in Philadelphia and found myself in a city alley watching the sun light up a spray of drips as they bounced off a black fire escape. Now, the FZ7, the latest in Panasonic’s popular Lumix line of compacts, has sixteen remarkable specialized scene mode settings. You can choose “fireworks,” “baby,” “candle,” “starry sky” or “soft skin.” But my city walks tend to be filled with things digital imaging engineers have yet to codify: “cast iron railings,” “peeling paint” and “roaches the size of hockey pucks.” I like a camera that’s able to zoom fast, stabilize and play off available light for surprising shots that in the end are more interesting to me than “party.” (I’ve yet to find the technology that could socialize me appropriately.) At 310 grams, the new Lumix is a light companion, just small enough to fit in a wide coat pocket, but I liked the ergonomics of the grip design so much that I kept it right in my hand as I dodged splashes of snow melt.

The Lumix FZ7′s predecessor, the FZ5, got a reputation last year among techies as a hybrid camera with very good glass, the kind of camera you’d take along on a day trip if you didn’t feel like lugging your D-SLR and accompanying lenses. That model offered 5-megapixels, a 12X zoom and Panasonic’s “image stabilization” technology which cuts way down on camera shake. Lumix users even formed online communities so they could post their favorite shots and congratulate themselves for finding a low-cost alternative to Canon’s Rebel.

Panasonic has responded to the FZ5 fans with some upgrades for its next generation Lumix…but not all the same features. The FZ7 has a sweet-sized 2.5-inch poly crystalline LCD display, but the resolution is actually lower than the FZ5′s. The newer model is up to 6-megapixels now, my personal minimum for shots I’d potentially want to print or post online. Panasonic is generous with features, from a beefy, long-life battery to unlimited consecutive shooting. The excellent 12X optical zoom is back (36-432mm, 35mm equivalent), and that baby cooks, moving in super-fast as your thumb barely touches the camera’s new joystick located just behind the shutter release. Panasonic now calls its popular anti-shake technology “MEGA Optical Image Stabilizer,” and it comes in two modes depending on how automatic you’d like to operate.

For my sunlit alley shoot, I chose “Simple Mode,” easily recognizable on the mode dial by its bright red heart icon. (I’m not sure what was ever “simple” about matters of the heart, but maybe Japanese designers are just lucky like that.) This is an entirely automatic setting, engaging the image stabilizer for every shot. Toggling the zoom to the max, I was awed by how well the camera accentuated natural light and crisply focused in on my water show. Switching to manual, I was impressed again with the alacrity of this compact’s controls. You can focus lightning-quick, even at high magnification, and an AF assist lamp kicks in to help fill shadows and sharpen your subject. Still, once I switched to playback, I found that only one in five of my shots avoided blur. The manual suggests photographers work from a tripod when shooting ultra-zoom. It’s just gonna be that way for a while yet in digital imaging, claims of “MEGA” aside. But the beauty of digital, of course, is that with a fat memory card, you can shoot unlimited takes, just like the pros, and I have to say, the few shots that didn’t blur were phenomenal. You only need one, right? The one the FZ7 delivered for me was a sparkling representation of light frolicking with water, each jewel-drop given its own bouncy projectory on the image, enough bling to make the FZ7 a city girl’s best friend. –Audrey Gray

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7

$399.95

6-Megapixel

12X optical zoom

2.5-inch LCD display

Weight: 310 g

Manual Focus (joystick)

Normal/Macro (dial)

Self-timer

Unlimited Consecutive Shooting

SD Card Slot

www.panasonic.com