Customer Reviews

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX7K 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Image Stabilized Optical Zoom (Black)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Before I bought this camera, I used one of the tiny Casio Exilim cameras. My biggest complaint about the small digital cameras are that the small size makes it easy to shake and therefore take blurry images. With the Panasonic DMC-FX7, its still a small camera but with the image stabilization, pictures are very sharp. Initially, I thought it would bother me that there's no optical viewfinder, but I don't notice it at all now.

pros:
- huge 2.5" screen
- image stabilization works and takes sharp pictures
- small form factor
- 5.0 megapixels
- uses SD cards (a 1GB card is about $70 or less now)
- solid construction (feels solid and metal finish is high quality)

cons:
- weak flash (which is common to many small digital cameras)
- more expensive than other cameras
- battery life is OK. (I'd get an extra battery if you're taking this camera with you on vacation)
- no optical viewfinder (but as mentioned, it's not an issue for me)

overall I love this camera for the size and the quality of pictures it takes!

I bought this camera after much research. It is superior to its Sony counterpart T-1 in almost every way:

+It is about 50 g lighter than the T-1, which is quite substantial. It weighs no more than my cell phone when I put it in my pocket.
+Image stabilization!
+The material the camera is made of is better looking than the dull T-1.
+Cheap memory cards, it uses SD cards, not the Sony Memory Sticks, which is 1/2 the price of the Memory Sticks
+It's NOT SONY!
+LCD screen is bigger than the T-1
+Cheaper batteries than the Sony T1

One thing I have to warn you though, the movie mode spits out .mov files, which is only compatible with Apple QuickTime. Personally, I much prefer the .avi format other cameras offer, but it's a worthy tradeoff, I never use the video mode anyways.

Overall, I highly recommend this camera, I've gotten countless "oohs and ahhs" from people, which is more than I can say about the Sony T1, as way too many people have that.

The battery life is poor. Don't let this be too distracting, however. A second battery is about the same size as the plastic cases that come with SD cards. It's too bad Panasonic couldn't design a battery that could better handle the large LCD and OIS but I still feel that the extra features are worth it.

Images taken without flash in low light conditions are GRAINY. If you mainly want a fun pocket camera for taking non-invasive shots of people in dimly lit locations without a flash, DON'T buy this camera.

Given decent lighting, the image qualty is really great. The images have a nice, filmic level of contrast right out of the barrel that I usually have to perform minor Photoshopping to achieve with other cameras. Leica optics!

The OIS is amazing. I used an FX7 (as a passenger) in a moving car on a semi-bright day driving over hills and shooting through a dirty windshield (without flash, obviously) and came up with a few traffic shots that really presented well. There was no blur whatsoever even considering the motion of other vehicles captured in the frame.

If you're interested in this camera it should be because you specifically want a super compact and feel that the unique Leica lens and available OIS outweigh the battery and grain problems. Don't compare this to a mid-size camera and don't expect it to produce mid-size results in a cellphone-sized package. It will produce reliable image quality. It will not serve as an all-purpose camera for people seeking semi-pro results.

Artistic photographers looking for a good pocket black-and-white solution for shooting 8x10s (or smaller) should pay particular attention to the FX7. Casual snapshot takers may just as well be better off with one of the Canons.

I agree with a lot of the things already said in the reviews, but just wanted to add that this is a great compact one to have as back-up to your more heavy duty digital or 35mm camera. I have always been a huge fan of Leica and the lens on the panasonic lumix models just can't be beat. Other manufacturers like Canon or Nikon may make smaller, cooler looking digital cameras, but the picture quality cannot be matched. I had a Panasonic Lumix DC40 (discontinued now) for a couple of years before buying this one, and knew the lens contributed a lot to the quality of my photos. When I began shopping for a more compact model, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get one with Leica lens. Plus the image stablization system is unique to this line. For most people, 3 to 4 MB is plenty for picture quality but having 5 MB didn't hurt, of course. I compared this to Casio Exilim Z-50, which is also a good compact camera for average shoppers - took pictures of the same object and compared color, texture, depth, etc. - and you can tell clearly that Panasonic takes a more true-to-life, three dimensional colors. People often describe this as a negative factor, saying that Panasonic's color is less than vivid, but I would say this is because we are too familiar with electronically adjusted color schemes. In other words, Panasonic colors are what they are in nature. You can see more texture and depth to them because they are not overly saturated.

I have this camera for over a week now, and have tested it out quite well to feel good enough to recommend it.

I won't go into details that others have already covered, but what I consider useful.

I did spend a lot of time comparing the picture quality of various ultra-compact cameras including Sony DSC-T1, Canon SD300, Pentax Optio S5i, Casio Exilim EX-Z55, and Panasonic DMC-FX7. These are pictures posted by the professional reviewers at steves-digicams.com, dcresource.com, dpreview.com, and megapixel.net.

Based on my personal judgement, the pictures taken by the FX7 are almost-always sharper, and have more details, which is what I consider the most important quality I look for in a camera.

The Image Stabilizer feature does help, even though it may not help much in low-lighting condition.

The battery life is short, but since I've been getting a minimum of 60 max-resolution shots (all with flash) per full charge. I consider that good enough for my need. I do have a spare battery (bought from a guy with id "imode technology" on eBay) with me all the time, though.

I also use an ultra compact case Tamrac 5686, which fits the camera just fine while still have a small pocket for the spare battery and/or spare SD card.

For SD card, I use a Sandisk Ultra II 512MB due to its speed.

Anyway, I'm keeping my FX7 as I'm quite happy with its looks, quality, and performance.

This is a fantastic camera. I've owned several film and digital cameras and this is by far the best of them all.

The size is very small -- very pocket friendly. It is also light. After it's been in my pocket a couple minutes, I forget it is there as I do with my little cell phone. I've been carrying this thing everywhere with me; this is the first camera I've ever done that with. That said, it is also very sturdy. I usually keep it in my back pocket, and it's been sat on many times with no ill effect. It feels solid in the hand. It feels like a relatively expensive camera should feel.

It has a ton of features, most of which I've only ever seen on my film SLR. You can adjust the shutter speed, aperture size, etc. I'm definetely nothing more than an amature photographer, but this little thing could allow me to do a lot more. It does have a simple mode that is very easy to use and conveniently hides all the extra stuff.

The picture quality is very good. It's a 5-megapixel camera, so you should be able to blow up pictures to something like 8x10 and it won't look grainy. This also means you can crop your pictures to your heart's content and the resulting pics won't look grainy either.

The LCD on the back is HUGE! It also has a great quality and is very viewable in direct sunlight. The brightness is adjustable, and their is a "superbright" button you can push to quickly increase the brightness for use outdoors. Very convenient. I don't miss not have a viewfinder to look through. Who wants to look through a tiny little window at a scene that doesn't match up with what the picture actually looks like? The LCD is great and the viewfinder is not missed.

The only little problem I have with the camera is battery life. After using it on a trip over the course of 5 days the battery signal was flashing red. In my opinion, 14 days of "vacation" style usage should be the minimum. In reality, I'm a typical guy and don't take too many pictures away from an outlet where I can charge the batter. The short battery life issue is lessened by the fact that the camera comes with a separate battery charger. Hooray! You can charge a battery, but still use the camera if you have a second battery. I hate having my devices chained to a wall because a battery is charging.

This is a fantastic camera, well worth its price. You will not be dissapointed.

I bought this camera from Vann's one week ago. The camera is extremely easy to use and every small detail is well thought out. I am most impressed with the optical image stabilization (go to panasonic.com for some cool animations that show how it works). I am consistently able to take pictures indoors without flash at very slow shutter speeds. I have taken smear or blur-free images at 1sec, 1/5sec, etc. shutters. This is amazing for a pocket camera! I had considered buying a larger digital camera with a larger lens to allow more photography without flash, but this Panasonic feature does the trick.

Other cool features:
*Infinite burst photography (takes consecutive pictures as long as the shutter release is depressed)
*12x zoom on replayed pictures makes it easy to determine if a picture was focused correctly. There's even a "map" to indicate what zoomed-in portion of the image you are viewing.
*Huge 2.5" screen! Not as high in resolution as the comparable Sony T1, but the other features more than make up the difference
*Image stabilization works quite well and allows indoor photography without flash

I'm still learning all the pre-programmed scene modes, but overall I'm quite impressed and would highly recommend this camera. FYI-I purchased this camera as a replacement to my Minolta F100.

This is a wonderful camera. I bought it for the Leica lens, because I know lens quality is even more important than megapixels. If there had been a camera this sweet with a Leica lens and fewer megapixels, I would have been happy, but having 5 megapixels is just icing on the cake. The number one thrilling feature of this camera is the ability to take good pictures in low light conditions. By low, I don't mean darkness, but I do mean for example at night in a room illuminated by one light. Pictures come out wonderfully and show the true light of the room, in focus, in detail. And that's without a flash. With the flash, you can get great indoor pictures of people. (Flash helps for people a night because people tend to move around, and in low light conditions shutter speeds are slower, leading to blurring if the subject is moving... the image stabilization of this camera can compensate for your hand wiggling a bit, but it can't make the people in your picture hold still, which is why flash is a good idea at night if your picture includes people.)

Others have said quite a bit, and I'll skip most things that have already been mentioned. To elaborate on the issue of it having a small battery, one great thing is it does have some very smart power saving options built in to the settings, and these are quite aggressive about saving power if you set them right.

Slide show mode is nice for showing off pictures without the bother of pressing buttons.

I found the UI of the camera to be excellent. I just wished for a few more geeky advanced settings, but there are quite a few settings already, and they are pretty clear and easy to use, so even a beginner and non-geek should do fine.

Made in Japan. Tripod mount. Burst mode. SD card, which means you don't need to install the included software, you can just copy files directly if you have an SD card reader.

The fact it comes with a small capacity SD card, not a big one, I put in the plus category because that means I'm not paying a Panasonic price for a large card when I can buy a large card (1GB), and a high speed 60x one at that, for $100 after shopping around.

Minor nits: I wouldn't mind having a smaller screen to save battery life. / There is a VERY bright red LED that blasts on with every picture, making it unlikely to ever take any candid shots. / The metal finger-nub protrusion on the front of the camera seems unneccessary, although it is quite nicely done and doesn't protrude much. / The camera did not come with the lens cap and lens hood mentioned in the Amazon overview (not that I care; that might have been a mistake in the overview, because this thing would only accomodate a lens cap or hood when it was turned on; that's the only time the lens sticks out). / The end of my battery cover sticks out a teensy bit (can feel it sticking out, but can't really see it, as it's too minor), as if the final fit wasn't quite right. Anyone else have this, or is mine special? / No audio output, though it does record sound with videos, and can also let you do sound annotations for stills. / Original Panasonic batteries hard to find. / No camera case included. / 1-second splash screen when turning off would be nice to disable. / Rotating an image only rotates it on the camera; when you copy images off the SD card, they revert back to their old unrotated selves. Maybe if I used the supplied software to copy images this wouldn't happen.

Wish list, but I always want more: bluetooth. / remote control. / stealth mode features (shoot without flashing LED). Tape over the LED won't work, because this camera uses the light from the LED to aid in autofocus, at least for some shots. / Sound recording. It already records during video; why not have an audio-only record mode. Probably would have added too much to the UI. / Setting to keep screen off all the time to save battery.

Even after all my nitpicking, I still say this is a very, very, very nice camera because of the nice pictures it takes and the nice features.

I think I spent several months trying to make a decision on which digi to go for, but I finally rested on this wonderful Lumix camera. I can't help but buy on design (which is why I had an instant attraction to the Sony T1), but the Lumix FX7 is not just a pretty package. It has an enormous 2.5'' LCD screen which I love. The camera is so small; exactly the same size as a business card or an iPod mini (a lil thicker, of course).
Some of the naysayers are complaining of digital cameras that don't have the optical viewfinder because it helps stabilize an image, but this digi comes with an image stablization system like the big SLRs so you don't have to worry too much about blurry images.
If you'd like more info on this camera, go to http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_fx7-review/index.shtml . Now if only I could find a nice sleeve that could fit the camera snugly.

this camera is wonderful! i took back several digital point and shoots, simply because they were too slow. but this camera is very quick--you get the pic you planned on taking! the images are very crisp, thanks to this nice leica lens. the battery life is lower than i expected, but i have never been stuck without a camera because of it. the style and feel of this camera is awesome, and the viewscreen is excellent--i highly rec. this camera for a reliable point and shoot!