Panasonic's Lumix DMC-ZS7 may be around since the stop of January but continues to be inside the thing a great deal as of late. That's because Leica rebranded this video camera for its new V-Lux 20 level-and-shoot (immediately after giving it a substantial price tag high quality).

The ZS7 is a 12.1MP video camera with 25mm broad-angle lens and 12x optical zoom. It could possibly report 720p HD picture using AVC HD Lite and there may be developed-in GPS for geo-tagging pictures. The full specifications are accessible from Panasonic.

The ZS7 reminds me lots of your older Panasonic's ZS3 stage-and-shoot (the ZS7's predecessor). They are really both high-end customer cameras with amazing construct high quality, a great lens, and a number of zoom. The ZS7 acquired some internal upgrades in addition as some layout tweaks that fixed minor troubles aided by the exterior. The modify was relatively minor though.

The Zs7 is undeniably a high quality position-and-shoot digital camera. The steel human body only oozes top quality, as do the On/Away switch and also the Video camera/Enjoy switch (as opposed to your button) and the metal door covering the external ports. The digital camera includes a actually nice heft to it and though it's about the substantial measurement for a buyer video camera it shoots HD movie and packs in 12x optical zoom, so it's really worth a few added ounces.

The controls for the ZS7 are fairly regular, together with the heavy lifting becoming handled by a 5-way navigation place. People who employed the ZS3 will immediately note that the mode dial now uses the whole circumference, to ensure there is certainly no dead area on a single facet of your dial. About the spine of the digicam there can be a dedicated video button, which is always a good perk, after which your common controls. The 1 factor folks may possibly have to get accustomed to would be the Exposure button, which is applied for toggling settings when you are in Aperture Precedence (F stop), Shutter Priority (shutter speed), and Manual (both equally). The controls sense fantastic and they may be matched by a straightforward, effortless-to-comprehend fixed of on-filter menus.

Possibly the coolest attribute of your ZS7 would be the constructed in geotagging. If you may have this element turned on, the camera is capable of tag each pictures and movies with geographic coordinates which might then be use to map out your pictures. This is best utilized in providers like Google's Picasa as well as other photo sharing internet sites, but this EXIF records has all types of various makes use of. The system also can acknowledge up to 500,000 distinct landmarks so you may get in excess of just a site name and a few figures. Geo-tagging is usually turned off too as customized, in the event you don't want, say, the the landmark or city/town files. For travelers and map geeks, this is often a killer characteristic. The GPS can be somewhat slow to find its spot nevertheless, which appears to be a downside of slapping it using a not-so-highly effective device.

Interestingly the GPS stays on for some time even following the digicam is turned off (you'll see a eco-friendly mild blinking each couple of seconds). That is accomplished so the video camera can preserve its positioning and be all set for you personally to shoot all over again. If the digicam doesn't move it'll shut away GPS soon after two several hours, if it has it can shut away from 9 hrs right after the digicam was powered straight down. You may shut off GPS manually though, which will prevent any leakage of battery everyday life.

Shooting together with the Zs7 is a fantastic encounter-just about as beneficial as I've received using a position-and-shoot. The Leica lens on this digital camera is fairly good and it delivers good macro shots after which actually good telephoto types. Right here the car image stabilization plays a important function as holding a position-and-shoot constant at 12x zoom is no simple process. The video camera's car focus is rapid and correct and hunting is kept with a bare minimum, even in much less than ideally suited lighting. Pictures are sharp throughout the range from the lens, which can be a testament towards the Leica glass. The macro skills are specially impressive given the versatility in the lens.